Lunch with a koala

There aren't too many jobs around where you can be joined for lunch by an inquisitive koala. And I apologise that I'm so much of a technophobe that I don't know how to use my phone as a camera or know how to upload the pic from my phone if I was smart enough to do so. So, you will need to use your imagination as you read the words on the screen.

It's a beautiful day up here - great big blue skies, very light breeze and temperatures around 26 degrees I would think. So rather than eat my bean enchilada with double guacamole (hold the sour cream, I'm getting fat) at my desk, I walked across to where three wooden picnic tables and benches have been thoughtfully situated under some shade trees and close to a small stream and associated rainforest garden. I was happily reading Mungo MacCallum's weekly column/rant in The North Coast Echo when I heard a rustling sound behind me. Thinking it was a large water dragon, of which there are many in this neck of the woods, I turned around and was face to face with one of the cutest koalas I have seen in a long time. Well actually, not quite true because I'm pretty sure I saw this cutey yesterday evening a few metres from where I was sitting.

S/he was two thirds grown I would think, with the most beautiful light grey fur changing to white under the chin and on its chest while its nose had some cute pinky blotches on it. It wasn't at all perturbed by me, but looked me in the eye and held me in its gaze for almost a minute. At this stage it was about 60 cm up a gangly looking tree fern, which really wasn't the most suitable thing for it to be attempting to climb.

So without any fuss, it jumped down to the ground and walked the three metres or so across towards where I was sitting so that it came within 60 cm of my legs. It then continued in front of me and then jumped up into a leopard tree, which, and I'm no koala, is not the most sensible of trees to be climbing, as it soon found out. Leopard trees have VERY smooth bark and our teenage koala slid down the trunk at an alarming rate until it managed to sieze the trunk more firmly with its claws. It then looked like a young Fijian boy propelling himself up a coconut tree by springing up from its hind legs and grabbing on with its front legs. (Not that I am suggesting that young Fijian boys have hind legs and front legs).

So that was my lunchtime highlight for today.