statcounter

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Hello Possums!


I heard Dame Edna Everage's catch-phrase many times - "Hello Possums!"


A couple of weeks ago we spent ten days in the Western district of Victoria, at Lake Fyans, in the Grampians National Park.  The first night we were there, we were sitting on the cabin verandah when suddenly, down scampered a little possum.  It ran along the railing and sniffed at our table.  I didn't have an apple but ran in and brought out a few slices of grain bread.  It immediately latched on to my hand and started nibbling and I snapped it with my other hand!


The Common Brushtail Possum (Trichosurus vulpecula, from the Greek for "furry tailed"
and the Latin for "little fox", also known as Phalangista vulpina),
is a nocturnal, semi-arboreal marsupial of the family Phalangeridae;
it is native to Australia and the largest of the possums.
Source: Wikipedia


The next night we had a barbecue at our friends' camp
and were delighted with the company of two more mates.
And, so it went on every night we were there!


They rummaged in our Esky, trying to open the bag of dirty plates!
After a tummy full of scraps and apple, they retired for the night


and we were left alone
to enjoy our portable camp fire.

12 comments:

Jane and Lance Hattatt said...

Hello Lainie:
This whole scene looks absolutely magical and we love the picture of the possums retiring into the tree.

Of course we have never, ever seen them face to snout and had no idea that they could be so adventurous and tame.

steven said...

cute little guys!!! dame edna was a fave of mine . . . . . steven

alaine@éclectique said...

Jane and Lance....it was a lovely experience; they're so cheeky.

alaine@éclectique said...

steven...dame edna is rather 'over-the-top' but never fails to make me laugh!

Betsy Brock said...

Your possums are SO much cuter than ours! ha.

karen said...

They're quite cute...and pretty friendly. They're tails are different than the ones we have here. Ours have a tail that looks more like a rat's tail...rather long and skinny. Yours look more soft and fluffy, and so to me they look a lot more friendly than ours here in the states, and more approachable. Very cute little rascals! Great photos.

alaine@éclectique said...

Betsy...I didn't know you had possums there; I've just looked it up and yes, ours are much cuter!

alaine@éclectique said...

MG...Karen, yes, I just looked it up and apparently you have opossums and they do look rather rat-like and fierce!

Julie@beingRUBY said...

haha.. how cute.. although.. I know some neighbours who don't think them so cute in the roofs at night!! hehe

I hope you'll show us some day shots of the Grampians.. somewhere I'd love to visit...

Take care xxx ciao Julie

alaine@éclectique said...

Julie....I can imagine they would drive you crazy getting into your roof...lack of sleep would do me in!

I will be posting some shots of Lake Fyans and some of our trips around and about but, unfortunately, we couldn't get into the Grampians because of major landslip with all the rain they had in January...boulders as large as a house broke up the roads...we couldn't get to any of the lookouts. It's going to cost millions and at least a couple of years to fix.

gésbi said...

Wow! I didn't know (o)possoms could be cute. My memories of them from Louisiana are of little fiends with long horrible, hissing faces. I even tell my children that they are the only baby animals that aren't cute! I will have to rectify my too broad statement!!

alaine@éclectique said...

le style et la matière...I saw photos of yours the other day and they are fierce looking. Ours look cuddly but I think they'd put on a hissy fit if you tried. The Ringtail Possum is the cutest; my brothers and I had one as a pet years ago, kept it in a box inside and fed it rose petals and apples. I shudder today to think of that poor little thing in a box!

Nice to see you back!