Now I definitely can’t vouch for the truth of this one, and I don’t even remember the guys name, and I am not sure the goanna’s specifically go around tree’s before climbing them. Still, a good yarn.
Dad (as a young kid) was out fishing with a couple of mates, and their dads. One in particular, was a real old guy, that had lost his leg in the war. He had a wooden leg from just below the knee. As most amputee’s will tell you, your average wooden leg is not the most comfortable thing to wear, so this old guy would grab his billy full of tea, some bait, his rod, and then settle himself down with his back to a tree. He would remove his wooden leg, and then sit there and fish for a few hours, drinking his tea straight from the billy. Meanwhile, Dad and his mates, would be wandering around the bush, too young to bother with sitting for hours with a stick in their hands, chasing spiders and snakes. One day, they came upon an enormous goanna, which was not impressed with being bothered by a bunch of young boys. After hissing and spitting at them for a while, this lizard spun around, and ran straight for the tree the old guy was leaning against. When it got to the tree, it ran straight around the base, and straight up the trunk, not noticing the old guy sitting there. The claws ripping into his chest and face, and without his leg, he couldn’t get up fast enough to get out of its way. Dad said that the sight of this old guy, standing on one leg, waving the other one at him, with scratches and claw marks all over his face, was funny enough to be worth the belting he got from his dad.
