- We have to make a new enclosure for the Alpacas with a shelter so they can get out of the weather, so Ged has been up in the bush with Nathan, who is the fiance of Shannon who helps with Ben and Ben adores! Shannon volunteers at the Koala Hospital and has worked in bush regeneration for years in Sydney so she is our resident expert on all things native. When I found scat and scratches on trees a few months ago, she checked them out and confirmed they were koala marks and droppings. I have since examined every tree I come across and according to the markings we are over-run with Koalas! As I spend my life looking down at the ground checking out the grasses and weeds, and where to put my feet in case of snakes, I haven’t seen any . . . so I have been training myself to look up all the time but haven’t seen anything bear shaped.
But when the boys were up in the bush cutting down tallow woods and I had gone up to report another tractor fault (oh no, Mummy broke the tractor AGAIN!) Nathan spotted a koala watching in horror as they chopped down another major food tree. The poor thing lost 6 trees from its home range that afternoon and now I have made Ged promise not to cut down any more tallow-woods, they are sacred trees at Avalon from this moment on . . .
Anyway, he was beautiful. Not old and very healthy and just stunning to see one on our own property. Incredibly exciting. I had a koala as a small child (probably made of roo or wallaby skin in those days) which I wore all the fur off with my loving. I was as excited as any child to see this one (if only he would come down for a pat and a cuddle!) Ben was nonplussed as he sees them at Billabong Koala Park all the time!
And it just goes to show the power of positive thinking and what you focus on comes to you . . . for 3 years I haven’t even thought about koalas but for the last three months I have been thinking about them, looking for them, calling to them in my mind . . . and now one answered that call! thank you, Mr Koala . . . here he is . . .