Naturalist’s wild adventures

Deadly 60 fans that missed out on getting their hands on tickets to the highly anticipated Deadly 60 Down Under live shows got another chance to meet the show’s presenter in the flesh.

Broome’s Sun Pictures hosted a screening of BBC documentary Steve Backshall’s Extreme Mountain Challengeahead of the Deadly 60 Down Under live shows at Broome Civic Centre.

The documentary focuses on naturalist Steve Backshall and his crew as they embarked on a dramatic expedition, ascending Venezuela’s Tepui mountains.

The viewing on January 31 allowed fans young and old to meet Backshall and ask him about his adventures and what his favourite animals were.

Backshall, on his first venture to the Kimberley region, said he was finding Broome to be a stunning part of the world despite travelling to Broome at the tail end of the stormy weather.

“I’ve spent a lot of time touring around Australia but this part of it in particular is really new to me,” he said. “I think it’s a place I will definitely come back to in the future because it’s just amazing.”

Backshall said he was very excited to be talking to the locals about the native wildlife in the Kimberley region and was happy to hear so many people were interested in coming to his show.

“The shows have done really well in Australia,” he said.

“It’s down to the fact that the people here in Australia are really into their wildlife and I find it really heartening to see how excited people are about their wildlife here.

“I think that’s really important because the people that love the wildlife are going to be the ones that protect it in the future.”

Although Backshall was excited to celebrate the native Australian wildlife with Broome fans, he admitted he was not sure how people would react to the facts about various animals.

“What I do in the shows is talk a lot about the wildlife but I talk about the animals from a biology perspective,” he said.

“I think it’s going to be strange doing it here in Broome compared to places like Sydney or Perth.

“Over there, they don’t have as much of a connection to the wildlife as the people do up here in Broome.

“In the cities it is kind of easy, but up here I feel like I could talk about an animal and people will say ‘well, we know all that because we see it every day’ but I’m sure there will be plenty of fun to be had.”