snipe?

Hi I have been absent for a few days, sometimes our days are so full it is hard to find time to sit down at the computer and write even though I am full of things to say.

We have been busy gallivanting all over the countryside on different adventures. The first one I am going to tell you about is our quest in search of the koala bear. Maybe 40 miles from here is a koala bear reserve called Tucki Tucki. It is small area in which they planted two of the types of eucalyptus trees the koala likes. I think it is the blue and the red gum tree, but don’t quote me on that. When we arrived it was evident that this grove had been planted some time ago, I would say 25 years ago. There was a very nice rock path through the trees that looked like it had been there for some time as there was lichen on the stones and some moss in between the stones. Someone put a lot of hard work into this path that wound thru the trees, it was a work of art in my eyes. The reserve was on a sloping hill, and it was pretty much out in the middle of nowhere. Anywhere I have walked among trees in Australia there have been many different birds songs to be heard, and I wish I could include a sample for you here as the sounds are so lovely. A man told me that many birds have been forced to move to the coastal areas due to the drought. There was much jubilation in certain parts of central Oz yesterday when they got the first rain they have had in 7 years!!! As we were told last night, the area around Yamba always seems to get enough rain. Anyway, back to the koala story.

So picture Greg and I creeping our way as quietly as possible down this stone path, sure at any minute we will see a koala. We are scanning the sunlit treetops for signs of these adorable creatures; after all, we are in a koala reserve, right?! After about 45 minutes of neck scrunching scanning of the treetops, we begin to suspect that koala may be the Australian word for snipe. The reserve is beautiful, koala sighting or not, so we aren’t to bummed, but do wonder what qualifies it as a koala reserve if there are no koalas.

We decide to split up, that way doubling our chances of spotting one of the elusive creatures. It would have probably been helpful if we had had some “koala sighting tips”, but we had noone to ask, only my limited knowledge of koalas, the fact they eat eucalyptus, and they sleep 80% of the time. Apparently the eucalyptus has toxins that it takes a lot time and energy to neutralize.

Fortunately we did have a pair of small binoculars Greg had had the foresight to bring with us, and by this time I had kind of lost some of my fire about seeing a koala and was instead enjoying a flock of some small pretty birds with red heads that were chattering in the bushes. I wasn’t sure where Greg was, but hoped he hadn’t gotten lost in the underbrush.

Then I heard my name softly but insistently being called, three times. So I hustled back up the path to find Greg pointing off into the trees downhill from him. He whispered, “there’s one in the tree over there”. I looked for about three minutes before I saw him, even though I knew the general direction to look in. Sure enough there he was. Through the binacs you could see him pretty well, he was eating (koalas spend 3 of their 5 waking hours eating, mostly at night). Binoculars are hard to work; as soon as you put them up to your eye you lose all bearing. I got a good view of his face and then it was Greg’s turn, and he just could not seem to find the koala through the lens even though he knew where to look. Finally he found him! Boy, I have to tell you I was trying my hardest not to laugh Greg was having so much difficulty, and he was getting so frustrated, (hope he is patient with me when something like that happens to me).

Interesting fact from Wikipedia:

The Koala has an unusually small brain; with about 40% of the cranial cavity being filled with fluid, while the brain itself is like "a pair of shriveled walnut halves on top of the brain stem, in contact neither with each other nor the bones of the skull. It is the only animal on Earth with such a strangely reduced brain."[6]

We were so excited to finally see this guy. I have to tell you koalas move at a fairly glacial pace. We wanted to get a better pic of him so we started to creep through the underbrush as quietly as possible (I am sure it sounded like crashing through the under brush to the koala), not wanting to alarm him. He seemed almost disdainfully uninterested (maybe due to his “walnut brain” or sleepiness). So we got close enough to see he had some handsomely sharp claws about the length of your fingers and the cute face that we have all seen somewhere, but it is different when you see a “real” koala. After a short chat with him, we retreated to let him get his needed rest.

All in all we felt like we had seen an important part of the Australian image. Another very prominent part of the Australian image while we are at it is there are over 800 different varieties of gum trees here. It is amazing to see so many varieties and just plain so many of them. We think we have so many eucalypt in California, but they amount to a mere sprinkling compared to here. Enough for tonight I must go to bed.