Occurred on August 27, 2017 / Ulupna Island Murray River, Victoria, Australia

“A group of students with a sessional lecturer from Latrobe University Bendigo Outdoor and Environmental Education degree were canoeing on the Murray River at Ulupna Island. We had been on the river since Thursday and there was minor flood levels at the time which is quite normal for the area. Sunday morning we stopped on the banks to check a fast flowing section when we saw this koala sitting in the branch of a tree that was surrounded by water. Matt, one of the students paddled closer to get a photo and noticed the koala was eyeing off his canoe and looked to be trying to get closer and maybe jump on board, so he pushed the boat over closer to the tree and the koala jumped on board straight away to be ferried back to shore. Once he was back on dry land you could see his back legs were wet so we guessed that he has maybe tried to swim back to shore but decided the current was maybe too strong. Once back on shore the koala didn’t seem worried about us being there at all and stuck around for a while taking a drink from the river.”