Lulu Bell and the Koala Joey (3 page)

Everyone walked back up the beach. Lulu carried her board. It felt heavier going home than it had this morning. Her arms and legs were tired. Her wetsuit was gritty with sand.

Lulu held Jessie by the lead, while Rosie led Asha. The dogs were tired too. Back at the house, Lulu dropped Jessie's lead so she could peel off her wetsuit.

Everyone rinsed off under the hose. Zac leaned the surfboards against the wall. Mum and Alison hung the damp towels on the clothes line. Mia squirted Rosie with the stream of water. Thankfully the noise of the bulldozer had stopped.

Asha ran to the base of a gum tree, on the edge of the bushland next door. Jessie followed her. They sniffed and snuffled around the base of the tree. Lulu saw that the dogs were excited about something. She wondered what they could smell.

Lulu looked all around the tree. There was nothing there. Then she peered up.

High, high up in the branches she spied a fluffy grey bundle.

‘Look!' cried Lulu.

‘Up in the tree!

There's a koala!'

Everyone gathered around. They craned their necks to gaze up into the branches.

‘You're right, Lulu,' said Mum. ‘It
is
a koala.'

‘Not just one koala,' said Dad. He smiled. ‘She is a mother koala. Can you see she has a special little bundle clinging to her back?'

Lulu felt her heart thump with excitement. ‘A baby koala?'

‘The koalas
do
still live at Tarni Beach,' said Zac.

Lulu moved a little to the left. She could see a smaller fluffy creature riding on its mother's back. The joey peered down at Lulu, blinking in the sunlight.

Everyone stood watching the animals. Mum grabbed her camera and took some photos.

‘Do you think the koala came over here because of the bulldozer?' asked Zac. ‘She wasn't here this morning.'

Dad nodded. ‘It's quite likely.'

‘She might have been scared by the noise,' said Rosie.

‘Bulldozer got big noise. BROOOM,' roared Gus.

Rosie and Mia covered their ears.

Mum picked up Gus and kissed the top of his head.

‘I think it's time for lunch,' said Alison.

Dad shook his head. ‘You go on up,' he said. ‘I'd like to see Mr O'Connor. He probably doesn't know the koalas are here.'

‘Can I come, Dad?' asked Lulu.

‘See bulldozer too, Dadda?' asked Gus.

‘Of course you can,' said Dad.

Everyone else went inside to get ready for lunch. Lulu and Gus followed Dad around to the front of the house.

Next door, the workers had also stopped to eat. They were sitting in the shade of a big tree. The bulldozer was parked beside them.

The bush next door looked very different to how it had looked this morning. The bulldozer had smashed down a wide section of trees and scrub.
Fallen timber had been pushed into a massive pile. Tyre tracks had churned up the ground to reveal a gash of sandy grey dirt below. The air was filled with the smell of crushed eucalyptus. Lulu thought it looked sad and bare.

Mr O'Connor was talking to the driver of the bulldozer. He pointed to his watch then towards some trees to the left. He looked bad tempered.

‘Good afternoon, Mr O'Connor,' said Dad.

Mr O'Connor scowled as Dad walked over. ‘We're a bit busy right now, Dr Bell,' he said. ‘We're running behind schedule.'

‘That's what I'd like to talk to you about,' said Dad. ‘I don't think you should keep clearing right now. There are two koalas in one of those trees.'

Mr O'Connor went red. ‘What do you mean?' he demanded. ‘We can't stop work now. There weren't any koalas on this block when we checked yesterday.'

Lulu felt a knot in her tummy. She didn't like it when people raised their voices.

Lulu looked up at Mr O'Connor and swallowed. ‘It's … it's a mother koala with a little baby koala – a joey,' said Lulu. Her voice came out as a squeak.

‘We're in a hurry,' snapped Mr O'Connor. ‘This bulldozer is costing me a fortune.'

The bulldozer driver looked worried. ‘I'm sorry, Mr O'Connor, but Dr Bell is right. We can't keep clearing while there are koalas in those trees. We'll need to get someone to catch them and move them away.'

Lulu felt a flash of anger. ‘You can't move the koalas away. They live here. This is their home.'

Mr O'Connor opened his mouth to reply. Then he shut his lips into a long thin line.

‘Bulldozer go BROOOM!' roared Gus. ‘Bulldozer go CRASH!'

Dad lifted Gus onto his shoulders. He hugged Lulu close. ‘Come on, sweetie,' said Dad. ‘Let's go up for lunch.'

The next morning, Lulu was woken by a whimper. The other kids were all fast asleep. Lulu climbed down the ladder of her bunk bed and padded off to investigate.

Asha was downstairs scratching at the back door. She whined and looked up at Lulu. Asha had a worried look on her face.

‘Do you need to go outside, girl?' asked Lulu. She clipped Asha's lead on.
Lulu unlocked the glass sliding door and Asha bounded outside. It was another gorgeous sunny day. Asha raced straight towards the old gum tree next to the house. Lulu ran along beside her.

A few metres from the tree, Asha stopped and gave a loud warning bark. She looked up at Lulu and barked again.

‘What's up, girl?' asked Lulu.

Asha whined in response.

Then Lulu saw it. Waddling across the lawn was the koala. Her joey was clinging on tightly, riding on her back.

The mother koala was panting. Her fluffy tufted ears flicked back and forth.

Lulu held on tight to Asha's lead. She watched the two koalas with delight.

‘Hello, koala,' said Lulu. ‘Where are you off to?'

The koala looked up Lulu with black button eyes. The joey was adorable, snuggling its mother.

Lulu wanted nothing more than to pick up the joey and cuddle it. But she knew that she mustn't frighten wild animals. She watched as the koala walked over to the big gum tree. The koala sat for a moment at the bottom of the tree. She seemed dazed and confused.

‘Go on,' said Lulu. ‘Climb the tree.'

The koala paused for a moment longer. Then she began to scramble up the trunk. As her forepaws reached for
the trunk, Lulu noticed that the koala was injured.

‘Oh, no!' cried Lulu. She crept over. The mother koala had a graze on her arm. She had stopped in a low fork of the tree.

‘Mum! Dad!' called Lulu, loud enough to wake everyone. ‘Come quickly. I think the koala is hurt.'

Soon everyone came running. They gathered around the tree and looked up at the koalas.

‘Stand back, everyone,' said Dad. ‘We don't want to frighten her.'

Everyone stepped back.

‘What do you think is wrong with her?' asked Lulu. ‘Do you think she might have been hurt when the trees were knocked over next door?'

‘I'm not sure, but it seems likely,' replied Dad. ‘I'll need to take a closer look.'

The koala tried to climb higher but she moved quite slowly. She looked down at the humans.

‘Lulu and Zac, can you fetch some towels and a washing basket from the laundry, please?' asked Dad. ‘And take Asha with you. I want the dogs locked away just in case.'

Lulu took Asha away. She called for Jessie and led both dogs into the laundry. She found a big armload of towels. Zac carried a white plastic washing basket. They shut the laundry door then ran back outside.

Mum helped Lulu to make a nest of towels in the bottom of the washing basket. It was soft and warm.

Dad took one of the towels. He approached the mother koala from behind so she couldn't see him.
He carefully placed the towel over both koalas and lifted them into the washing basket. The koalas squirmed.

‘It's all right,' said Dad to the mother koala. ‘We'll soon fix you up.'

Dad examined her wounded foreleg. It looked sore.

‘She needs specialist treatment,' said Dad. ‘There's a wonderful koala hospital about half an hour away. The staff are experts at treating injured and sick koalas.'

Dad pulled out his phone. He rang the koala hospital and explained the problem.

‘Great,' he said. ‘We'll see you soon.'

Dad hung up. He picked up the washing basket with the two cuddly animals inside.

‘Let's go,' said Dad. ‘Who wants to come along?'

Zac and Lulu went with Dad while everyone else stayed behind. They sat in the back seat of the car with the washing basket wedged between them. Lulu could hear snuffling and grunting noises coming from under the towel.

The koala hospital was a long low building surrounded by parkland. In the parkland were several fenced yards with shelters and trees. Sick koalas were kept there until they were well enough to be released back into the wild.

Dad carried the washing basket towards the office. They were greeted by a woman wearing a khaki uniform and sturdy boots.

The woman smiled. ‘Hello, I'm Monica. I'm the hospital supervisor.' She pointed to the basket. ‘And those must be our patients.'

Dad introduced Lulu and Zac. He explained that they were up on holidays from Shelly Beach.

‘Come inside,' said Monica. ‘Let me take a look at the koalas.'

Monica led the way into the treatment room.

Dad held the mother koala while Monica gently examined her. He explained how and where they had found the koalas.

‘She's grazed her leg,' said Monica. ‘But nothing is broken.'

‘Will she be okay?' asked Lulu.

Monica listened to the mother koala's heartbeat with her stethoscope. She smiled at Lulu. ‘The koala will be fine. She's lucky you found her and brought her in, so we can treat her. Lots of koalas get into trouble when the bush is cleared to build homes for humans.'

‘When the gum trees are cut down, the koalas have nowhere to live,' said Dad. ‘They may not have enough food, either. They only eat certain kinds of gum leaves.'

Monica nodded. ‘They need plenty of trees to be healthy. If koalas are crowded together they get sick from disease.'

‘That's awful,' said Lulu. She felt sad. Koalas were so cute and cuddly. Lulu hated to think of them being in danger.

Using a syringe, Monica squeezed some medicine into the animal's mouth. ‘Koalas are very territorial. They live their whole lives in the same home range. That's why we always release them back to the very same spot where they were found.'

Monica looked serious.

‘Every year more and more trees are cleared,' she said. ‘We're worried that in some places, koalas may die out altogether.'

‘That would be a disaster,' said Zac.

Dad held out the koala's arm. Monica smeared ointment on it.

‘It sure would be,' said Monica. ‘Koalas are completely unique. There's nothing like them anywhere else in the world.'

When the wound had been bandaged, the mother koala was put back in the basket. Dad lifted out the joey.

‘This joey is about seven months old,' said Monica. ‘He'll be getting a bit big for his mother's pouch.'

Dad handed the joey to Monica. He smiled at Lulu and Zac. ‘Koalas are marsupials, which means that their babies
are carried in a pouch. The joeys are not much bigger than a jellybean when they are born. They crawl their way into their mother's pouch to suckle and grow.'

Monica checked the joey thoroughly.

‘He's a handsome little boy,' said Monica. ‘Luckily he's perfectly fine. And I think his mum will be okay in a few days.'

Monica lifted up the joey and cuddled him to her chest. ‘Would you like to stroke him?' she asked Lulu and Zac.

Lulu's face shone with excitement. ‘I'd love to.'

Lulu and Zac took it in turns to stroke the joey's fur.

‘It's so soft,' said Zac.

Monica smiled at Zac and Lulu.

‘Now comes the fun part,' said Monica. ‘We give the koalas a name. Here at the koala hospital we always give the koalas two names. The first part of their name is always the area where they were found. That helps us remember where they come from.'

‘So that would be Tarni,' said Lulu.

Monica nodded. ‘And the second part of the name is usually chosen after the person who rescued them.'

Zac flashed a grin at Lulu. ‘Tarni Lulu!'

Lulu felt a thrill of pleasure. The injured koala would be named after her.

‘And what about our little joey?' asked Dad.

Lulu thought carefully. What should his name be? Then she had it. Lulu grinned. ‘Of course! His name is Tarni Zac!'