This week at Every Inchie Monday we have another Australian animal, the very appealing little Koala. We don't have any living wild in Tasmania, but I have seen them from a distance high up in the eucalypt trees in the bush near Ballarat (thanks to cousin Mervyn), and very many, quite close up on Raymond Island, a tiny island just off the town of Paynesville in the Gippsland Lakes in Victoria, which is reached only by ferry and is well known for it's large koala population. Raymond Island is called Bunjil-baul in the local Gunai dialect.
My inchie this week is a photograph of me with a young koala joey. It was taken at Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary in Queensland when I was seven.
My dad was in the Tasmanian Police Rifle Shooting team and one memorable year mum, dad, my older brother David and I all drove from Hobart to Queensland for dad to take part in the National Competition.
It was my first trip away from Tasmania and gave me many exciting experiences. I was sea sick all the way across Bass Straight due to a rather vigorous storm. I wasn't alone...dad and a young school boy were the only to passengers to front up to breakfast in the morning before we docked at Melbourne...I lost my purse containing all my precious savings on the second day of the holiday, we camped quite often and stayed at motels occasionally (another first), and I bought a pineapple at a roadside stall for tuppence. (Dad found a three penny bit on the footpath and gave it to me, I bought a huge pineapple and still had a penny change!) Good days, good memories...The one thing I really remember best though was just how warm the sea was compared to what I was used to around Tasmania...
I was feted very well by my own children...flowers, telephone calls from everyone, cards even gifts which I always veto with a vengeance (but my daughter is almost as stubborn as me), along with morning tea with the girls. It even was a splendid day weather wise...I am so very fortunate...
Di