Legends from our own lunchtimes

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

How much can a Koala bear?


We woke up this morning in the cold and drizzle with at least some of the big winds gone, along with the hot water from the showers in the camping ground at Port Campbell, so  sulked off along the Great Ocean Road without taking a photo of our overnight location.

We added to our inglorious start to the day by declining to pay the fee* to view the Twelve Apostles, (considering the light and rather atrocious conditions perhaps one could expect to get paid to wander over there),  and later deciding that a visit to the Cape Otway lighthouse really wasn't worth the $16.50 each admission fee when we'd seen lighthouses before including several today.  All that considered, for reasons which don't seem particularly obvious, we ambled down the twelve kilometres of Otway road anyway, to see what we could see.

And we saw koalas.   

Big mobs of koalas.

A plague of koalas methinks, and mostly quite close to the ground and within a normal lens' reach. 

What a sensational day!

*or were we sold a pup?  Our decision (this time) was based on conditions not dollars, but confusion currently reigns over the 'carpark' costs.
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5 comments

Joan Elizabeth said...

Sensational! Koalas are usually so hard to see in the wild, even when you know they are in the trees.

Julie said...

I shall control moiself here ... it is NOT a bear.

And I am devastated that you have to pay for either the Twelve Apostles or the Cape Otway lighthouse. Bloody Victorians ...

And another thing ... must be this luverly CabShiraz ... another thing ... did youse sulk or did youse skulk?

Hah ... my word verification is Moortica ... how wonderful!

bitingmidge said...

Oh no we sulked alright, and we did it without a hint of skulking. And bear although technically far from the truth, didn't seem as rude as 'bare', and this is a family show.

As an aside, we have found the Victorians quite pleasant on the most part (except for all those admission things), and surprisingly perhaps, many of them understand our accents so well it's almost like being in Australia.

myletterstoemily said...

if not a bear, what are they? and how
skittish? what a fun encounter.

bitingmidge said...

Hi myletterstoemily, no they are not all related to the bear family, the actual taxonomy was described in the early 18th century: Phascolarctos cinereus, meaning 'pouched bear' and 'ash coloured', presumably because they were a little bear like in form.

Skittish is not usually a word to that describes Koalas, they live high in the trees, curled up in little balls, sleeping by day, I have a photo on my flickr pages if you are interested. Cheers!

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