Location: Wild Life Sydney Zoo, Sydney New South Wales, Australia
Who wouldn’t want to meet a koala? I mean, come on! They must be the cuddliest looking animals on the planet! While it is now illegal in Sydney, NSW, to actually touch a koala without a licence (a koala touching licence! ha!), you can still get pretty close. Naturally, I jumped at the chance.
So I busted out my wallet and forked over the day’s budget to get 5 minutes with the koala and get my picture taken. And I was stoked!
Well, turns out that is was my lucky day! I was the only one signed up for that time slot and got to spend 30 minutes inside the enclosure with the animals and the trainer!
It was a personal challenge to fight the urge to reach out and squeeze them (although the fact that the a good percentage of the koala population is infected with chlamydia did the trick).
Seriously, can you tell how excited I am?
Ah, shucks.
One of the koalas, Erica, woke up just in time for my visit (they sleep 18 hours a day!). After she finished her lunch, she was quite playful and even posed for me!
Koalas have a hard cartilage plate on their backside which helps them wedge themselves in between branches: that way they stay nice and secure in the tree without much effort. And, in random koala facts, they have two thumbs!
Seriously, is this not the cutest thing you’ve ever seen??
Dear uncomfortable traveller,
Your latest blague entry is a great source of comfort to me. This confirms my earlier suspicion that you have joined a travelling circus. I kind of figured that Bearded Lady was a dead end job, so I am glad to see that you are pursuing other employment opportunities in the carnival field (tent?). Another super entry in the LifeLongLearning box of your CV!
Living with Koalas can be very rewarding (two thumbs up Julie!!) but it does present a new set of challenges. Do you think that tourists will accept you as Jane Goodall’s replacement?
I do like the carnival barker’s announcement:
“Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the My-Ain (main) attraction at NSW Koala Kamp. You will be mesmorized by the cuddly cuteness of the Can-eye-dee-yun Koala Whisperer Julie “Kid Koala” Savage. Julie has recently es-kyped (escaped) the wilds of BCC, an untamed jungle ecosystem where all kinds of highly dinegerous (dangerous) and highly credentialled species lurk. Julie has agreed to live, eat, and sleep with the Koalas “for as long as it takes” and has applied for a special “free-run” visa.
“Please remember that touching Julie is not permitted until infection control receives three consecutive negative swab results for Chlamedia.” “Remember don’t touch but do clap.”