Tony and his new sponsored 'son', Becker

Meet our new 'children'! On Saturday Tony and I delivered the proceeds of the Spring Equinox Circle to the wonderful Colleen Wood and the koalas she rescues at the Southern Ash Wildlife Shelter in Rawson, Gippsland. We feel so honoured to have been invited into Colleen's world as the shelter is not open to visitors to ensure that the koalas heal and retain their wild instincts so that Colleen and her volunteers can safely return them to the wild as soon as they are fit. On this visit we had the extra special treat of going into the 'joey rumpus room'!! There were about 4 orphaned joey (baby) koalas and as you can see from the photos, they were totally adorable - in fact so gorgeous they looked like toy teddy bears hanging in the trees!

Tony is seen here holding Becker a young joey of about 8 months who was found alone on a highway with scratches on his nose, presumed orphaned after his mother had been hit by a car. We also got to visit Cindy again who looked so much bigger and healthier than when we'd seen her 6 months ago that I didn't recognise her - what a compliment for Colleen's hard work. Cindy had a moment with me when she looked very deeply into my eyes and I heard the message: 'Don't forget us'. Our beautiful koalas are really under threat from so many human diseases and the encroachment of housing estates into their ancient trackways and habitats.

Koala joeys in their 'rumpus room'

So how do we do our small bit so we 'don't forget'? The Southern Ash Wildlife Shelter really do the most incredible work and Colleen Wood is an expert in koala care - the shelter has just released an exciting new program to sponsor your own koala and Tony and I are the proud new sponsors or Becker and Cindy. If you'd like to become a sponsor it's very easy and only costs $40 a year - a little bit of money that will go a long way to help, and what a great Christmas gift! To sponsor your very own koala, please go to: www.samthekoala.com.au or pop in and have a chat on their Facebook page.

Cindy pulling me up for a chat on our last visit

Colleen and Alvin one of the koalas now back in the wild!