Ever since I was a kid, I have loved koalas. I am very stereotypical in my appreciation of animals in that I love cute animals: I love dogs, koalas, pandas, and kangaroos. I appreciate tigers, lions, leopards, and cheetahs, and I’d clearly be terrified if I ever came across one near me that was not in a cage, but I’d never say I love them. Marsupials are a particularly interesting type of animal to me, as someone who grew up in the Northern Hemisphere, because they have… POUCHES. How can that not be fascinating to a human being, who relies on things like jackets and pants to have pockets to store things?

Probably to the detriment of animals across the globe that we actually need and make a true difference, the entire world is not too much different from me in their appreciation, fascination, and love of cute and relatively useless animals: tens of millions of dollars are spent by people and governments to preserve and help grow the population of koalas and pandas, another cute, fat, and lazy animal that pretty much does nothing. While both are useless and do little to help the planet, we all cannot help but gush and giggle at their silly, clumsy movements and every chew of eucalyptus leaves (koalas) or bamboo (pandas).

So that was basically me when I got to see koalas again this trip, first at the Port Stephens Koala Sanctuary, then at the Blackbutt Reserve. We got to see koalas moving along branches, chewing endless gum leaves, and simply sleeping. And with koalas, because they are so slow moving, you really have to observe them for a while to really see any “action.” Koalas spend anywhere from 18-22 hours per day sleeping. They spend the remaining time awake eating, moving through trees and branches, grooming, or mating. It sounds so ridiculous, but to this day, I could probably spend several hours standing there, watching a single koala move around branch to branch, chew on gum leaves, and simply blink their eyes, and I’d be relatively satisfied as though I were watching a live theater show.

My general sentiment in a weak defense of myself is: I’m allowed to have a few indulgences, and well, this is one of them. Not every single thing I do and like has to be to help the world progress and be better. And I suppose my love of pandas and koalas is one of those things.