KOALA CAPERS

In earlier posts I have mentioned that we have the privilege of living in a rural setting, surrounded by tall gum trees. These gums are a great attraction to the local koalas, and we often see them or hear them growling nearby. When this happens I race out with my camera and try to capture them, as in these pictures.

However, over the last month we have come across them in a few different locations, and I managed to catch these on camera too.

ENCOUNTER 1
We were driving up our track (which is 1km long) to get to the public road.  Suddenly, ahead of us a koala appeared and ran across the track. Martin stopped the car and I followed the little chap, who wasn't terribly cooperative about having his picture taken, but nonetheless I got this one.

ENCOUNTER 2
We started on our way again, but only about 20 metres further up the track on the left bank sat another koala.

This koala was one of the prettiest I have seen, beautifully marked, and with no visible battle scars, and he/she was very happy to pose for me.

About 2 hours later, on our return home, this koala was still in the same area, but this time was not so sociable and climbed up the nearest tree to escape this nosy human.

ENCOUNTER 3

 Our third koala encounter was last weekend, when I was heading down to our vegie patch. Imagine my surprise when I came across this little fellow - a juvenile - on the ground near our house fence.


He was intent on getting over the fence but was thwarted by the barbed wire on the top.

Martin took charge of the camera, and I tried to guide him to a safe area without success. I even tried to lean logs against the fence so that he could climb to safety, but to no avail. He was not impressed with my attempts to help.

Finally he decided to give up this method of escape, and climbed one of our trees. Thankfully, when I checked later he was nowhere to be found, so obviously he had worked something out!