A South Australian woman says she and a friend were injured when they were jumped by a kangaroo while cycling.
Sharon Heinrich, 45, said that she and her friend Helen Salter, 47, were cycling side by side along a tourist route in the South Australian wine region of Clare Valley last week when she saw a large kangaroo standing on a slight embankment.
As they passed, the kangaroo bounded across the path, landing with his long hind legs first on Heinrich's left torso and then on Salter's back. It knocked both from their bikes before hopping off, apparently unharmed, Heinrich said.
"I've gone to ride past, I thought: 'He's cute,' and he's just jumped me and taken out the side of me," Heinrich said. "As I'm falling, I felt him push off me and then he's flown to Helen and taken her out.
"He looked peaceful. He didn't look angry," she added.
Heinrich said she broke three ribs and will undergo surgery this week to replace ruptured breast implants.
"They worked as airbags and have been ruptured by the ordeal," Heinrich joked.
Slater suffered concussion and whiplash, Heinrich said. But Slater managed to cycle on Heinrich's bike to a nearby business to call an ambulance for Heinrich.
Slater could not be immediately contacted for comment.
Heinrich and Slater work in a nursing home in the town of Clare and are used to seeing kangaroos in the area. But she never suspected a kangaroo might jump a bike, and is grateful their injuries were not more severe.
Heinrich's husband gave her a stuffed toy boxing kangaroo as a memento.
"It's all you can do now: laugh about it and heal," she said.