There is no shortage of grey nomads who simply can’t imagine life on the road without their beloved pet. For most, that means a dog. For some it means a cat. For a few it means a budgie or a cockatiel. And, perhaps for just one pair of travellers, it means a galah!
The ABC reports that ‘Pinky’ has been travelling around Australia for the past five years with Grenville Lownes and his partner Glenda Mayrhans. He has apparently racked up more than 16,000 kilometres and, while he sleeps in a caravan at night, his days are full of adventure and excitement.
“He’s a well travelled bird and he loves getting in the car,” Ms Mayrhans told the ABC. “I put the window down at the back when we’re travelling down the highway and he’ll stick his head over towards the window and let the breeze blow.”
The galah, who was adopted by Mr Lownes as a chick 37 years ago, travels in a cage, strapped into the backseat, with a fan mounted above him.
The couple has taken Pinky on their travels from Broome to the Cape York Peninsula, south to Coober Pedy and back to Broome via Uluru. When they stop at caravan parks they take him out of the cage … and he’s often the centre of attention.
“We were at an RSL place up in Cooktown and it got pretty hot outside so the proprietor asked if we wanted to bring him in,” Mr Lownes told the ABC. “They brought him out a nip of beer!”
Although Pinky is not allowed into national parks and so restricts their travels, the pair says they could not imagine leaving him behind.
“I’ve grown to love him and I don’t know what we’d do without him if we didn’t have him,” said Ms Mayrhans.
State borders can be another headache.
Checkpoints and Surveillance at Quarantine WA says all travellers must throw out fresh fruit and vegetables at the border and, if they’re transporting birds, they need to discard all their seed and clean out its cage with a high pressure hose. Any other straw or hay that might be on the bottom of cages is also not permitted.
The Manager of Checkpoints and Surveillance at Quarantine WA, Louise Smith, told the ABC that travellers with pet birds cross the border into Western Australia at Eucla about once or twice a week.
“A lot of the time they’re the beloved mate especially when travelling solo and obviously galahs can live for decades,” she said. “Cockatiels are also quite popular, and budgerigars even more so.”
Just my blind dog, curious cat and goldfish called Ranga.
Would pinky like a friend we can’t take our wee boy on the road as we are already taking a cockatoo
I think it’s a bit strange that a Galah is not allowed in National Parks – Do the Rangers control the wild Galahs and prohibit their entry as well?
It’s a little more than the seed and bedding not allowed into WA. Ms Smith failed to mention the large number of caged birds refused entry into WA. We were told our bird would be confiscated and euthanized if we were caught with her in WA so guess were we haven’t been.
will we encounter any problems taking our pink and grey Perth to Adelaide by road?