Koala Sightings

I've liked koalas ever since my uncle brought me a stuffed animal koala bear with its arms wrapped around a baby koala in the hospital when I broke my leg in kindergarten. It got alot of love over the years. Our favorite part of the weekend away was our visit to the Tower Hill State Game Reserve, a restored wetlands with indigenous plants and wildlife such as koalas, emus, falcons, and grey kangaroos. Tower Hill was created after a volcanic eruption thousands of years ago. Settlers ruined much of the natural habitat, but a very detailed 1855 painting of Tower Hill was used to identify original plant species, and even location of habitats. Driving along the Great Ocean Road, I had already spotted several koalas in eucalyptus trees but we were flying by with no stopping place. At the reserve, we enjoyed walking two different paths, and it was a short time before I noticed my first koala, sleeping high above us on a branch! It was quite a thrill. Later on, when we sat down on a log for a snack, we looked up and there was a koala only 25 ft. away, balancing on a branch fairly low to the ground, munching on leaves! We sat for a good half hour (all of us chewing our food) just mesmerized by this unique experience to watch a koala in action. Koalas are such an essential part of Australia, yet their habitats have often been destroyed by housing development. You can be a foster parent to your very own koala here, or just listen to them grunt. In the third photo from the bottom, you may be able to see the emus near the water. We didn't see any kangaroos (except while driving we saw a quick glimpse at the back of one), but the koalas made our day! Other koala related news- one of Mark's coworkers says that a koala lives in his parent's backyard outside the city. And there is a gorgeous photo of Bindi Irwin and family in today's paper holding a koala while at the Australia Zoo in Queensland with the Dalai Lama. She's often popping up in the news around here, usually in khaki with an animal in her arms.