Hello To This Roo, Caught On CCTV Hooning Through Adelaide’s Dead-Quiet CBD

I used to downplay the stereotypes which shadow life in Australia. Our days are not spent exclusively at the beach or the pub, I’d tell friends from overseas. Notions of our culture as particularly easy-going are false, and for every person who imagines themselves as a modern-day Ned Kelly, there are a hundred lining up to be the guy who shot him. You get the idea.

I also broke the news that kangaroos don’t actually bound down our city streets. That changed when I clocked a mob of roos hanging out near my childhood home in northern Adelaide, munching grass between a trail line and an industrial park.

That’s a roundabout way of saying I am not surprised in the slightest at new security camera footage released by SA Police, which shows a roo bouncing around Adelaide’s empty CBD. The myth of ‘Australia’ can prove itself true once in a while, I guess.

Shot on Saturday, the video clips show old mate hopping around Tarndanyangga during the city’s coronavirus lockdown. The big unit can be seen cutting across barren streets before turning down an alleyway. Maybe he was chasing brunch at Argo with a session at the Exeter. Who could possibly say?

Footage of the roo has spread worldwide, with American and British news networks presenting the clip as evidence of daily life in South Australia. At this point, I am finding it increasingly hard to dispute the way the footage depicts my hometown to the world: Quiet, calm, and occasionally dotted with large marsupials.

Clock the videos below:

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