Hello, Possums

Sitting outside Coffs Harbour council chambers in the dark the other night, waiting for Sara to finish work, something moved in the bushes at the bottom of the steps. A large possum emerged, with head-lamp eyes and a huge, erect bottle-brush tail, and stalked confidently across the road to the park. He was followed shortly after by a female with a young possum clinging to her back. They didn’t brave the road, though, and on seeing me, scrambled up a palm tree.

I’ve seen possums twice before – two fighting on the roof of a bed-and-breakfast in Bangalow and one peering at me out of tree one night in Canberra.