In another topic I mentioned taking pictures of koalas during my stay at a caravan park in Shoreham, Victoria, and I thought this might be the right place to share one of those pictures.
By the time I took this picture, I had been in Australia about 14 months and was SO anxious to see koalas in the bush. I actually saw two during my Easter visit! What a blessing!!
Good photo Carla, it is exciting seeing something for the first time. Glad you got a kick out of it.
Yeah, I've seen a few in the wild before, they are 1 cool animal! Nice photo, Lucky to see them ;)
Carla, I think even most Aussies still get a kick out of seeing one in the wild :)
Sunshine Coast Queensland
Lol, personally I'd be surprised if most Aussies had actually seen a koala in the wild, I mean honestly they sit in the top of trees and don't move (or the one I saw was on the road. but that was lucky as), so when are you gonna act ually see one? How did you spot him out of curiosity? Did you ehar him or just look up and see some massive grey thing? Lol actualy when the thing ran across the road a woman pulled up in the middle of the street with some strange accent (not Aussie) and asked me who it belonged to. I was like, "ahhhhh, what?!"
Ha ha Amateur, you crack me up some times. It is so good to have a younger person here, having just spent 10 days in a house full of teenagers & pre teens, I can relate to it big time!!
Here is a shot I grabbed in Noosa National Park one day, while standing in a glad full of wrens. Was scanning the trees for birds and yes.......... a bit fat grey thing was suddenly in front of me LOL
Noosa is one of the only places I have ever been successful in spotting them. The other place was in Victoria in the Grampians. Beautiful spot and every time we saw a road sign warning us to watch for something, we saw it a few minutes later. I reckon it's the only place in Australia where those road signs don't lie!!!!
Sunshine Coast Queensland
I know! I hate those road signs so much, you always expect to see a kangaroo crossing the road or some mother duck and her ducklings or something but it never happens D: Here's the one I saw :)
Here he/she is j-walking
And now on the sidewalk like a good koala
After that it ran into some trees, I'm just amazed how calm it was, it let me get right up next to it and take the photo. Wonderful experience!
Hey, too cool Amateur, I would have been over the moon if that had happened to me. They never lose their "cute" factor, no matter how many times you see one.
Isn't it amazing though, how an animal or bird looks so much more precious and special when you see it in the wild?
Zoos are educational and necessary, but there is nothing to beat the natural encounter :')
Cheers
Birdie
Sunshine Coast Queensland
Great koala stories! Beautiful pictures, too, Birdie and Amateur. The koala that I photographed was high in a tree near the toilet/shower block at Shoreham Caravan Park. I was camping/spending the weekend with a group and someone else spotted the koala and told me to look for it. It stayed in the same tree for a couple of days, but I think someone disturbed it by shaking the tree and it moved on....too close to some bothersome people. I saw another koala that day and took pictures of it, but it was very far in the distance near the beach. I think someone else pointed that one out, too. Easter was a long time ago, and I'm ready to see another koala or two!
Carla Maxwell
Ha .... Carla don't hold your breath for that :) I have lived in Oz for nearly 30 years and still haven't filled up both hands with koala observations in the wild.... although the first 23 years were in West Australia and they aren't over there.
Like birding, it is a good way to get a stiff neck LOL
Cheers
Birdie
Sunshine Coast Queensland
Great photos.
I first saw koalas in the wild only a few years ago on the Great Ocean Road, alerted to them by the fact that a bunch of cars had pulled over and people were gazing up into the trees. Very exciting. I see kangaroos most weeks and that still excites me too.