You might say he's a real "bosstrich". Except he's an emu, not an ostrich. Anyway, the main thing you need to know is that this is one seriously defiant bird.
Emus are the world's second largest bird. They live all across Australia, from dry grasslands to our highest snowy peaks. The emu in this story was on the Alpine Way near the ski village of Thredbo last Friday, on the day when the first serious snow of the Aussie winter started falling.
Thredbo local Karen Forsstrom was driving up to Thredbo for a day's work at her business, the Thredbo Burger Bar, from her home in the nearby town of Jindabyne. Car headed towards bird. Bird said "meh, you don't scare me".
The Huffington Post Australia contacted Karen Forsstrom on Monday afternoon. Here's how our conversation went:
Ant: Emu on the road to Thredbo in a blizzard. Not moving for anyone. Tell us what happened.
Karen: It was about 9:30 in the morning on Friday. I was driving my Toyota Prado, which is a model just smaller than a Land Cruiser.
Ant: And this belligerent bird wouldn't budge in the face of that beast?
Karen: I think he had an ice cream headache and he couldn't think straight.
Ant: Haha! Do you see emus there often?
Karen: I see them most days but they're usually down a bit further towards Jindabyne in a paddock opposite the Wild Brumby [Schnapps Distillery]. This one was a lot closer to Thredbo.
Ant: Seems like you were the only car on the road. Lucky for Mr Emu.
Karen: Yeah, everyone had been pulled over to get tyre chains fitted. There were not many four-wheel drives on the road and in fact I was the only one for a while. I was only going 20 or 25 km/h due to the conditions.
Ant: You came to a stop in front of him. What happened next?
Karen: I took a couple of shots and then waited waited until he wandered back into the bush. I wanted to make sure no one collected him so I made sure he scooted out of the way.
Ant: You're a good Samaritan Karen, thanks for chatting to us.
So there you have it. If you're heading to the NSW skifields any time soon, keep an eye out on the Alpine Way to Thredbo and the Kosciuszko Road to Perisher for emus, kangaroos and wombats. They're everywhere. Also, try to avoid travel at twilight if you can.
And in case you're wondering whether they serve emu burgers at the Thredbo Burger Bar, we asked Karen that and the answer was a firm no. What they do to perfection is juicy beef burgers on proper healthy buns with a fantastic view.
Lastly, for those interested in seeing what the conditions were like on the ski hill as opposed to the bird-infested roads, this should give you some idea of Thredbo on the weekend. Nice.