The Koala walk is actually two walks in one. The popular bitumen trail of the Eucalypt Forest Walk and the bush track of the Peppermint Trail. It is impossible to complete both walks without doubling back. The Peppermint Trail leaves the Eucalypt Trail and rejoins near where the two footbridges cross Mountain Creek at each end in a horseshoe shaped route through the forest. Matty Davies and I walked the entire Eucalypt Trail a couple of weeks ago.

1st February 2018, Craig and I parked the Rav4 in the car park next to the koala walk and strolled up to the entrance and entered the compound via the double safety gates. The entire enclosure is surrounded by an electrified fence to keep out unwanted and feral wildlife. Immediately in front of us was a zoo-like enclosure that contained a family of koalas. (Originally the enclosure was home to over 20 koalas before the destructive bushfires of 2003 wiped out all but one animal. The survivor was a badly burned koala named "Lucky", who became a symbol of the reserve's recovery in the years after the disaster until she passed away in 2008. A bronze plaque on a large trackside boulder on the Eucalypt trail is a fitting memorial) A track started to the left and returned on our right. We started off on the left track, walking through eucalypt forest on a very civilised bitumen footpath. We kept a look-out in the trees above us as the forest is host to a large number of koalas that are not kept in the enclosure. Signs showing koala droppings reveal where to look for the marsupials, but there were also tagged signs revealing that a koala can be seen in the trees above - Unfortunately the signs were a few days old.

There were other signs of life though. A large number of red necked swamp wallabies were seen as we made our way along the trail, some very close to the track, others bounded off at our approach. As we near the first bridge over Mountain Creek there is a side track marked as the Peppermint Trail. This natural track climbs a small hill and passes through trees that, if you are lucky enough to see, contain some of the koalas mentioned earlier. This is a very enjoyable walking track that goes for a length of just under 2km, yet provides the opportunity to see not only koalas and wallabies, but also the rare long nosed Potoroo. These small rat-like hopping marsupials can be seen wherever there is fallen timber and it's hard to miss them as your eyes catch the movement from the side of the track. Craig and I saw many of them during today's walk, but seeing them was easy, taking a decent photograph of them was not - maybe on another walk here in future.

The track descends gradually, crossing another footbridge over a small creek feeding Mountain Creek before again rejoining the Eucalypt trail after we pass a number of native animal feeding stations. We have a small distance to walk back to the Koala enclosure and a quick walk back to the car.

Information on this walk gleaned from "Exploring Tidbinbilla On Foot" by Graeme Barrow.