Thursday 14th Jan...

Binoculars – check, camera – check, map – check. We are ready for our koala expedition and set off early to Kennet River – which isn’t a river at all but a nature reserve. As the road is gravel, we park the van at the bottom and start the steep walk up. The first part of the reserve is a bit scraggy but as we walk a bit higher the eucalypt trees are in abundance and we have our first koala spotting of the day. And then another, and another, oh and in that tree there are two together and before we know it we are seeing koala everywhere. Large, small, a couple with babies, most asleep, but some awake. One on the move up the tree, one eating and then wow right in front of me, at head height almost within touch is a koala, and its awake. Although it appears to be looking at us we have been told that they have extremely poor sight and can only see us as shapes but their sense of hearing and smell is acute and the koala definitely knows we are there. After a while it becomes nervy and starts to climb down, the last few feet going down with a thump and then it ambles off into the forest, hopefully to find a safer tree away from all those humans. On the way back we meet several people on their way up also on the hunt for koala and we are suddenly the experts pointing them out for everyone to enjoy.
Driving along the coast road we stop off at several viewing points to admire the beaches and cliffs. We find a campsite which for once is fairly quiet and has plenty of space. It is in a lovely location at the top of a hill overlooking the river.
An afternoon drive to Port Campbell, and a quick look at the 12 Apostles which we will spend more time at tomorrow.

Back at camp we sit and watch as a herd (is that the correct term) of kangaroos come out to graze.

Love and fluffy koala hugs
Janet and Jeff xx