Sunday 11 October 2009

Visit from a Koala

James came in this morning to tell me there was a koala by the spa in the patio, so I jumped out of bed pretty quickly.
By the time I grabbed the camera it had climbed the tree just outside the study, then moved onto the large rainwater tank. We've had a few near the house in the 4 years we've been here, but none had hung around long enough for photos before today.
It spent most of the day like this:
(and no, it's not a eucalypt!)
Late this afternoon it was back in the patio again, but the presence of the dogs meant it climbed back up the tree fairly quickly.
It sat there happily for ages watching us less than a metre away, and happily let James pat it gently. Unfortunately the sun was starting to go down, so all the photos were either into the light, or a bit dark without flash.

The next photo is terrible, but it was taken through my study window, from where I sit at my sewing machine; it's sitting behind the branches:
This picture shows just how close it was all day; that's my machine in the foreground, and the tree in the centre was where it spent most of the day sleeping:
For those of you wondering, we're in the foothills of Adelaide; still in suburbia (20 minute drive from the city centre), but the blocks are large, with lots of big trees. There's a big National Park nearby, and quite a bit of native scrubland.

11 comments:

thehummingcat said...

I hope he's still there when I come! To cute!

thehummingcat said...

But no match for an Alpaca!

Anne at Film and Thread said...

Great pictures! A koala is so much cuter than the skunks/wild turkeys/etc. that we get here!

Victoria Findlay Wolfe said...

What a cool surprise! You are so lucky you got to have a Koala in your back yard. They are just so cute! We are new with your blog but my name is B and my mom is V (she made her blog not me I am her daughter but I still get to comment on other people's blogs). V's blogs name is BUMBLE BEANS, She loves to quilt, cook and do stuff with me. I'm 9 and I love to read, ride horses, and play with animals.

FlourishingPalms said...

What wonderful pictures you've taken! And how fortunate to have been able to have a front row seat to koala-viewing for a day! I'm quite envious. I hope you get to see him/her more.

Unknown said...

This is what I love about this country - for most of us, even those living in the suburbs, encounters with wild life happen frequently! Although, not all of them are as cute as yours!

sibylle said...

That is just so cute! I have never seen one in the wild, we don't have them in the West. Think I need to come and visit, too ;)

Lily Mulholland said...

How wonderful! Your house looks beautiful.

Helen said...

Wow Em! How cool is that? The kids would have loved it!

Annieofbluegables said...

How amazing to have one of those outside your window and have it let your son touch it. I cannot imagine. . .

Thimbleanna said...

Wow -- that's amazing! I would have been so excited I would have just spent my whole day watching him. Do you think he was young to be so tame?