Kaola Kapers

By shear luck we discovered last night that our accommodation in Port MacQuarrie was just round the corner from Australia's first Koala Bear Hospital. We decided to give it a look before heading to the Hunter Valley and weren't to be disappointed.

The hospital and refuge takes in Koalas that are found injured, mostly as a result of road accidents, or ill by members of the public. The hospital came to notice in 2002 following the serious forest fires that killed and injured many animals. A photo of a badly burned Koala at the hospital came to be the image of the tragedy that the World saw. It was nursed back to health and survived for 5 years.

When we visited this morning there were 10 Koala patients in their own enclosures with a eucalyptus tree to climb. The blip is of one of three baby Koalas that were orphaned last year when their mother was killed in a road accident. Mick, a lovely old gent from Galway in Ireland who has been in Oz for 35 years and is now a volunteer in the hospital, wasn't sure if this particular female was Laura or Anna, but in any case she was now 18 months old and would soon be released into the wild near Newcastle, where she came from.

From the day a Koala comes into the hospital the aim is to reintroduce it into the wild at the earliest opportunity. This means physical contact with humans is avoided unless absolutely necessary. The exception is baby or badly injured Koalas that cannot fend for themselves. Volunteer "mothers" look after them at home until they can be returned to the hospital. Currently there are 120 volunteers like Mick who care for the Koalas, including some who come from overseas for a few months. So popular is the work there is a 2 year waiting list for overseas volunteers!

A wild male Koala took up residence in the trees beside the hospital a few years. According to Mick, he was a bit of a Romeo and fathered 2 baby Koalas to 2 of the hospital's female patients. The young Koalas were later released into the wild and the father was given the name "Randy". He stills hangs about in the hope of another romantic adventure! Seeing "Randy" and all the other Koalas was a lovely hearty-warming experience.

A 3 hour dash down the Pacific Highway and we got to Pokolbin Hill in the Hunter Valley just after 1 o'clock, where we sampled a few wines and bought a bottle of local Shiraz. The area is stunning and the weather still and warm.

Tomorrow its off to the Blue Mountains, before hitting Sydney for the last leg of our Oz adventure.

After posting the Koala, me and Mrs B went for a walk down by the lake overlooking the vineyards where 4 Kangaroos were grazing as the sun set. The perfect end to another great day!