On the koala side of the street

They don't call it Koala Street for nothing...

Ocean Roy
From brokenpuzzle's gallery.

There's a street here in Port Macquarie called "Koala Street". It connects Ocean Drive with Kennedy Drive and is one of the few streets in Port that has a 60km/hr speed limit (rather than the usual 50km/hr).

Despite the street's claim, I've never personally seen a koala in that street, and so until today I thought it was an arbitrary rather than descriptive label. Then, driving up Koala Street this afternoon, I had a closer look at the side streets off the main Koala Street artery and saw the following names loom up at me in quick succession:

* O'Briens Road
* Treetop Crescent
* Tasman Road

The side streets have all contributed names to koalas that have been brought into our care at the hospital; to wit:

* O'Briens Road > O'Briens Fiona
* Treetop Crescent > Treetop Boxer
* Tasman Road > Tasman Rose

The koalas admitted to the hospital are given two names: the first is the name of the street (or town) where they're found; the second is the name of the person who found the koala or contributed to its rescue.

I was reading the Country Energy newletter the other day and it had an article about a rescue rescue they helped out with. Country Energy (CE) brought in their cherry-picker (or elevated work platform, as they call it) to help retrieve a koala from a tree overhanging a busy road and near overhead powerlines. Chris Rowland, from the koala hospital, assisted in the rescue, but the salvaged koala was named after Roy Morgan, a CE employee.


From Country Energy's wildlife page.
"Roy" was rescued from the corner of Ocean Drive and Koala Street so they called him "Ocean Roy"; I guess "Koala Roy" would have been stating the obvious! Anyway, it proves they don't call it's called Koala Street for good reason!