Doing the Koala count

Every year for the last 22 years a group of dedicated volunteers have counted Koalas in the villages along our coast. I recently chatted to Ray, one of these guys about how they do it and how the numbers are going. They have about 10 people and each one walks exactly the same path on the same one day of the year and does a count. He does a section behind our township, Wye River and this is what he's found. In 1986 he counted 2 Koalas. In 2008 he counted 36. Wow!! That pretty much confirms my estimation too. When we first purchased "Treetops" about 10 years ago we'd see a Koala about once a month. Now we see them every day and even have George, our resident literally living in our backyard. We do love George, he's pretty entertaining for a Koala that sleeps 20 hours a day, especially when he drops down onto the balcony and sits with the birds for breakfast. We hope he decides that "Treetops" is his home for a long time to come.

Eucalyptus trees - a Koala's favourite meal

Eucalyptus (from Greek, ευκάλυπτος meaning "well covered") is the name for over 700 species of trees that dominate the tree flora of Australia. Most of them are only found in Australia with a very few in New Guinea and Indonesia.
Today however the trees can be found in places as far afield as California, India and Israel. Especially in newly devoloping countries the eucalypt can be a fast growing source of wood, and oil which is used as a natural insecticide and cleaner.
The leaves come in many different shapes from almost round to long and thin, but all have the beautiful distinctive aroma of eucalyptus when you crush them in your fingers.
The eucalyptus trees come in small (up to 10 metres high), medium, (up to 30 metres) and tall (up to and over 60 metres high).
All of the eucalypts are evergreen and the distinctive flowers and fruit (called gumnuts) come in all sorts of different shapes and sizes. Some look like stars, others like spears or round like rocks.
The flowers with their fluffy stamens may be white, cream, yellow, pink or red. Some trees flower so much the color overwhelmes the tree but others have only a small sprinkling of flowers so small they are almost impossible to see.
The eucalyptus trees around Treetops holiday house include the spectacularly tall blue gums and the soft flowered manna gums.

First Koala to travel overseas

The first official record of a Koala going to an overseas Zoo was in 1880 when the London Zoo bought a Koala from a private dealer in Australia. At the time it was hard to get fresh eucalyptus leaves so the keepers fed it on dried leaves for about 6months until they got a supply of fresh leaves from Australia. But sadly the Koala died only 18 months after it got to the zoo because it was allowed to roam free in the superintendent’s office at night where it got its head caugh between the slats of some furniture and died from asphxiation.

Stephen Jackson has been working with wildlife for almost 20 years. This book covers the fascinating story of the koala, its behavior and the threats to its existence, such as disease and habitat loss. He also explores the controversial debate about how to best manage the remaining populations of the koala in places where they’re heavily overpopulated. He’s written a passionate story that goes back to pre white settlement about what is probably our most well known animal icon. Everyone committed to this beautiful marsupial’s long-term survival should read the book. The book's available at most book stores or Amazon.

What is the Great Ocean Road?

The Great Ocean Road is one of the world’s best drives, a ribbon of road following the rugged coast of southwest Victoria, Australia. In the NY Times bestseller “1001 places to see before you die” Patricia Schulz describes the road hugging cliff tops while the visitor gets magnificent views of ocean, coast and sky at every turn.
The history of the road started after World War 1 when the building of a road employed many returned soldiers from the war. Thousands of them flocked to the area and the diggers toiled with their blood and sweat using equipment we would see as basic today. Picks and shovels were used to dig and move mountains of earth along a rocky and dangerous coastline supported by horses and drays. As well as a magnificent engineering feat the road ended up a permanent memorial to those who died in the First World War.

Where are the townships on our coast?

The best quiet peaceful towns along our coast are Seperation Creek, Wye River and Kennett River. Beautifl villages with comfortable accommodation and a few places to get a great meal and good coffee but amidst the tranquillity of stunning natural environment. Come visit soon!

George's ripped rump

We were at our holiday rental house Treetops again last week and George came down to the balcony once more. I noticed yet again the marks in the fur of his rump. He has long rip marks from a fight with another male. The marks are healed though, so we guess it must have been some years ago.
Our guest relations man, Jim, who lives in Seaparation Creek, just 3 kilometres away said he saw a little female on our property last week. Who knows, love may be in the air? Jim was pointing her out to some visitors on holiday from England and they were so impressed.
Some interesting research I found the other day. It doesn’t look like Koalas are fussy about habitat. To the uninitiated it looks like they hang out anywhere with a few trees to keep them happy. But according to a study by the Australian Koala Foundation in Brisbane and the University of Queensland they need a range of at least 100 hectares of bushland, with 40 to 60 per cent of it covered in eucalyptus forest.
The study says iIf they have smaller patches of land than this the population won’t survive. This has serious implications for Koalas in built up areas but it seems to me the Great Ocean Road should be a good long term habitat as the town boundaries won’t be expanded in the future and there is massive forest area.

Phillip Island Koala Conservation Park

We took a quick trip down to Phillip island on Friday, it's about a one and a half hour drive from Melbourne. Years ago it was THE best place to see Koalas in the wild close to Melbourne but sadly numbers have really been depleted in the last decade due to dogs, cats and increased numbers of cars on the roads. Now you have to go to the Conservation park to see them. Which in a way is a shame but still its good to support the work of the Park (entry fee $10) and we saw about 4 females with quite large joeys. One female jumped to another tree over a mtere away with her big joey on her back - wow, that looked dangerous, but she made it. Another female placed her joey on a branch and shoo'ed it away, encouraging it to eat leaves on its own.


So VERDICT for Koala spotting - if you are going in that direction to see Penguins then by all means drop in, but for an experience where you can see so many more Koalas, in the wild, for free, the Great Ocean Road, the Otways Coast is definitely better.