05/01/2023
Huge excitement on Kitikana on New Years morning
We were anchored about 20 metres from Raymond Island to watch the Paynesville fireworks. And about 5.30 this morning we were woken by a KOALA inside the boat!!!
He had swam out, climbed up the back steps and onboard!! After walking around the deck leaving dirty footprints everywhere he then came inside, through the lounge and down the steps into the hull where our bedroom is. A Koala is def not what you expect to see thumping around inside your boat on New Year's morning!!!!!
Huge thanks to the Raymond Island Koala Wildlife Shelter - they launched their boat and came out and captured him. After a bit of observation "Ralph Lauren" has now been released.
Very special start to 2023. 🐨🐨🐨
This is the story from Koalas of Raymond Island with an update of Ralph.
Well 2023 has started already at Koala Central. A very early call, before 6am, regarding a koala trying to hijack a luxury catamaran moored near Montague Point off Raymond Island.
The koala had swam past a dozen other boats moored along the shore and under cover of darkness had boarded the catamaran Kitikana, a very professional job so far, but the sound of his claws and possibly a tumble down the stairs gave him away.
Natalie and friends discovered a very wet and confused koala below deck and decided to name him “Ralph Lauren” because of his excellent taste in choosing the catamaran to “holiday” in.
Natalie called KoRI and Cath, Lionel with Liz set off in their boat to go rescue this wayward koala. It was a beautiful still morning fortunately so climbing aboard was easy. Ralph was removed from the bathroom vanity unit, placed in a basket and taken off the cat for the trip back to the KoRI shelter. Natalie mentioned that “Ralph” had left paw prints all over the deck before going below.
Back at the shelter the 10kg otherwise healthy boy was dried off and put into a cage with fresh leaf and will be observed to make sure he hasn’t ingested any water. All being well he should be released in the next couple of days.
It’s not unusual to find koalas on boats moored at the jetties but it’s a different matter when they’re moored out in the water. We did have New Years fireworks last night so he may have been spooked into the water.
What a way to start 2023! 💕🐨💕