90% of the population live within 100km of the coast, and while emus live in a wide variety of habitats, high density human developments isn't one of them. I didn't see my first wild emu until I was 40 years old, and I had done a fair amount of driving in this country at that stage, but mostly on the coastal roads and cities or to developed inland towns.
They are still fairly common if you're in the right habitat. For the 30-day trip I've just finished I saw Emus on seven different occasions, a total of 20 birds, the largest group numbering eight individuals. And there were some areas where I didn't see emus but I did see recent tracks.
