These piccies are a glimpse of the day we went on Koala Watch with Echidna Walkabout Tours [who donated Libby & Garry's fees to Little Forrest - ad]. It was a cool and slightly windy day, with occasional drifts of light rain, and we had the most fantastic privilege of walking in the quiet woodland amongst a colony of wild Koalas. With our guide, Roger Smith of EW, we successfully spotted five of his known Koalas, each one identifiable by either shape of nose or ears or marks on their coats, all of which are recorded for that purpose. I can tell you, craning the neck to peer up at a bundle of fur high up in a gumtree, and attempt to identify him or her, is not easy.

So when I found another furry blob, topped with large ears and clearly in the prime of health, I called to Roger to come and see. He was ecstatic . . . this was a new individual, a male, one clearly intent on making his presence in the colony apparent. We named him for another brave, maybe foolhardy, but nevertheless powerful male . . . Genghis Khan.

GK scrambled down the trunk of his tree, not realising how close I was as he descended. To my amazement he came within three feet of me, leapt across my line of vision to another branch lower on the trunk, and stayed there while we held our breath.

This is the day we spent in the woodland looking at the wild population of koalas. Libby & Garry appropriately in their Aussie yellow jackets, beside the Aussie Floral Emblem, the Golden Wattle. This Koala is a new boy on the block; he'd not been sighted in this group before, so we named him Genghis Khan for his bravery in taking on an established colony, hoping to make his mark within it. The large gland on his chest is used for marking territory. Sue writes: I was the lucky one to first sight him, and my luck was even greater when he descended the tree and came within a metre of where I stood concealed behind the trunk of his tree. Sue writes: I rather love this shot of him; he put himself here, nicely silhouetted against the evening sky. It was quite a breathtaking moment to have a wild koala within arm's distance. I didn't dare to blink.

GO TOPAGE 18d