Sydney to Brisbane Road Trip: Port Macquarrie

Our next stop was the town of Port Macquarrie, unfortunately we couldn't find any free camping so we booked into a caravan park for two nights. The guys wanted to hire jet ski's, I preferred a visit to the Koala Hospital, yes the more sedate option.
From the caravan park it was only a ten minute walk, but with all short walks in Australia, the heat made it a test of endurance.

Koala takes it medicine

As everyone knows, Koala's are the cutest animals in the world. It is a common misconception that they are very lazy and do very little. But reading the white board of sick Koala's it became clear they do have enough energy for one thing. A very common reason for admittance is Chlamydia, it seems that the average Koala likes to get around.
Unfortunately Chlamydia is deadly to a Koala if not treated and even if treated it needs to be caught at the early stages.

The White Board of Sick Koalas

The Koala Hospital is run by volunteers and often the volunteers take a sick Koala home as they require 24 hour care to get back on their feet, so to speak. On the white board I noticed the rather odd names given to some of the sick, the names are actually a combination of where the Koala was found and the name of the person who found it. Byron Peters for example, sounds like a Koala getting above its station in life, but is in fact a combination of place and person.
Often Koalas are involved in road accidents (they are out for a walk, not a drive you understand), it's very easy to usher an injured Koala into a box, you simply push it gently from behind in the direction you want it to go in. Although they appear very docile, you wouldn't want to upset a Koala, they have sharp claws and aren't afraid of using them.
Some "patients" have returned to the hospital several times, even after a few road accidents, it seems the Koala community needs some road safety talks, or of course humans need to slow down.

Helpful Hints

After a tour of the Koala Hospital I headed back to the caravan park, the guys where still out, so I decided to read for a little. Unfortuantely I wasn't alone. I heard a rustle from a near by plant and decided to take a closer look. I saw one huge lizard!
While I fetched my camera the lizard decided to inspect our camp site.

The lizard poses

Unfortunately the lizard didn't understand my boundaries with all wild creatures. It's OK as long as they don't make any sudden movements. I decided I didn't like how close Mr Lizard was getting, so made a loud stamp of my feet in his direction. However Mr Lizard misconstrued this as some kind of challenge and ran towards me. I ran in the opposite direction, fast.