A funny thing happened on the way to the Thai place.....

The other night I ordered Thai food from a restaurant a few blocks from our apartment (the place's name is literally "In the Mood for Thai"). I started walking down the street to go pick it up and I heard a whistiling sound.

Now we live in the heart of the Parramatta CBD (Central Business District), so it's a normal downtown with high rises and skyscrapers. There are a lot of people walking along the sidewalks and the streets are usually full of cars at all times of the day. My first thought was that some one from a car was signaling to a person walking. You never know, these Aussies are a strange lot, and one can never be sure of the social norms or behaviors.

But I didn't see any of that. Then a thought occured to me that maybe it was a bird. There are all sorts of crazy birds flying around and they probably have very distinctive calls.

But then the whistle turned into more of a shriek as I got closer. I looked up and saw them. Three of them soaring not 30 feet (not sure what that is in meters, again Aussies and their crazy metric system) above me.....

Yep, Australian fruit bats.

Gotta love this country!