Love, bubs and life on our little farm

I have been asked to write a blog post on a particular theme, in aid of promoting Vodafone Infinite Plans. You can find information on the Infinite deals here and I want you to know - I am not being paid to say this, when my husband and I checked this page out, we started seriously discussing getting rid of our home phone as we would save so much on this plan.





So on to the topic of this post.


Well as many people could probably relate to, having two kids often makes me wish for infinite patience and sometimes having a property and a career makes me wish I had infinite time and energy.

But what I really wish I had is an infinite amount of trees and safe habitat for Koalas.


Yes really. I actually feel shame and sadness about the threatened state of our Koalas nearly every day. My mother is a Koala rehabilitator and the desperate little Koalas that she nurses, which have been attacked by dogs or hit by cars are heartbreaking.

People don't realise that Koalas are very fragile little creatures. They can just up and die from stress - the stress of being bailed up by a dog or not being able to find a safe tree. Koalas also can't eat all gum leaves, so if they lose their food trees they can literally starve amongst a sea of trees. They are also battling a losing fight against a retrovirus, like a version of Koala AIDS, that is sweeping through the population and are also being rendered infertile from endemic Chlamydia infections. These diseases are taking hold because the Koala population is so weak and stressed. Not a pretty picture is it.


What is even worse is that some horrible individuals who are evil and cruel take pleasure in torturing and killing these gentle little creatures, whether by gunshots or inciting dogs to attack. This excerpt from Blinky Bill never fails to make me cry when I read it.

" The Koala family lived so happily; never thinking of harm, or that anything could happen to disturb their little home, as all they asked for were plenty of fresh gum-leaves and the warm sun. They had no idea such things as guns were in the world or that a human being had a heart so cruel that he would take a pleasure in seeing a poor little body riddled with bullets hanging helplessly from the tree-top. And they had no idea this same being would walk away, after shooting a bear, content to see him dead, no matter if he fell to the ground or not. That same being might just as well take his gun and shoot baby kookaburras, so helpless were they all and so trusting.

Poor Mr Koala one day was curled up asleep in his favourite corner, when the terrible thing happened. Bang! He opened his eyes in wonder. What was that? Did the limb of the tree snap where that young cub of his was skylarking? He moved very slowly to take a look and, bang! again. This time he felt a stinging pain in his leg. What could it be? And peering over the bough of the tree he saw a man on the ground with something long and black in his arms. He gazed down in wonderment. Whatever was that, and how his little leg hurt. Another bang and his ear began to hurt. Suddenly a great fear seized him, he slowly turned and tried to hide round the tree, peering at the ground as he did so. Bang! again, and now his poor little body was stinging all over. He grunted loudly and slowly climbed up the tree, calling Mrs Koala and Blinky as he went. He managed to reach the topmost branch and now turned to see where his family were. Tears were pouring down his poor little face. He brushed them away with his front paws and cried just like a baby. Fortunately Mrs Koala and Blinky Bill were hiding in the leaves, quite motionless, and the shadows of the tree made them appear as part of it. The man with the gun stood and waited a long time, then walked away, whistling as he went—the only sound to be heard in the bush except the cries of a little bear far up in the tree."

Blinky Bill - Dorothy Wall.

What amazes (and enrages) me is that Blinky Bill was published in 1939 and yet this is still happening today.

We have a beautiful Koala that lives in the gum trees above our house, he calls for a mate every night. Sadly in the four years we have been here, we are seeing less and less Koalas and this mating season he seems to be very much alone.

So yeah, I wish I could do something incredibly useful like providing infinite safe habitat for these beautiful threatened creatures. Wishes don't do alot but there is some little things we can all do - this document covers how you can help Koalas exist in the encroaching suburbs, and most importantly of all, be very aware of your dog at all times.