Koala close encounter

Today we heard a group of dogs barking at the base of a small tree in the garden next door. Of course we rushed out with cameras to investigate. Was this a possible blip opportunity?

It was a koala which had run up a branch of the native melaleuca tree to escape the dogs that were not under good control by their owner. The scared koala was close enough to touch (not that I would), so I got this really good closeup from a distance of 2 metres. See him in LARGE.

I have never been this close to a koala in the wild before, and so it was a very special experience. Although we see them quite often, they are normally high up in the tree tops. See my previous koala blip. They are never by choice found in a melaleuca which is a bushy shrub to a small tree.

We think this one was walking along the road moving to the next tall gum tree when the dogs startled it. We knew that there were a few koalas in the neighbourhood because we heard their noisy mating last night. They sound like pigs with their grunting noises. They are nomadic and never stay in the same tree for long. Perhaps the next gum tree to them always appears to be greener!