May 23rd: Kool Koalas

Day 50 (Day 25 in Australia)

I was awake at 6:45 so I opened the blind to see the remnants of a sunrise from our balcony. We enjoyed our breakfast there watching the good people of Port Macquarie come to life, although workmen were already hard at work building a path on the grass between our hotel and the beach. (Photos at the end as I didn’t want any of them to be the lead photo to this post).

We checked out early as there was something we wanted to see before starting the 550km journey to Goulburn. Just 3 minutes from our hotel was the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital. We had not yet seen a koala so we’re really hoping to catch a glimpse.

We did well as early morning when they are active and feeding is the best time. They sleep for 18 hours a day. Most of those in the hospital are victims of road accidents or bush fires. Their aim is to rehabilitate them and release them back in to the wild.

We took loads of photos and videos of these adorable* little creatures so here is just a small selection.

Koala fun facts:

1) We all know they only eat eucalypt(us) leaves, right? But there are hundreds of varieties and each bear will only eat ONE type depending on where it is from. It must make collecting food for them tricky. Fussy little devils, eh?

2) Never look a koala in the eye. It will go for you! They are, after all, wild animals. Even the keepers don’t do it as they are trying to return them to the wild  (Not a problem with the one in the video, “Baz”, as he is blind following a road accident. 

3) Their fur is very soft and dense. A bit like sheep. NB: I didn’t touch one sadly but a guide had a piece of koala fur. 

The highlight of the day and it was all over by 9:30.

On the same site was the Roto House Historic Site. This is a wooden Victorian 10 room bungalow built of mahogany in  1891 and preserved largely intact today. Time pressures meant we only spent a few minutes inside so didn’t get to read all the information boards.

Then came the long drive with a brief refuelling stop (the car and us) just outside Newcastle and another, even briefer, stop at Campbelltown. 

We checked into our hotel at 5pm after 7.5 hours on the road which was about 6.5 actual driving. Not too bad considering there was some major road construction going on for a few miles halfway along. 

Our hotel for the night appears to be brand, spanking new. Or at least, not very old.

We walked 5 minutes to a local pub for dinner. It was very good. As with Roma last Friday, they had a meat raffle and ‘joker poker’ with a first prize of AU$1500. We bought tickets, of course. It couldn’t happen again, could it?**

On the way was this random piece of art on a street corner.

Walking back after our pub grub it was 4 degrees with a forecast to go down to zero overnight. A bit unexpected but it is autumn here after all, so equivalent to November back home.

Footnote: the promised photos from breakfast this morning:

Sunrise

Sunrise through the open window

Breakfast is served: granola & yogurt in a wine glass!

* there really is no other word for them.

** don’t be silly! Of course not!!