ZM's Fletch, Vaughan & Hayley - Fletch, Vaughan & Hayley's Lil Bitta Pod - 3rd May, 2025

Episode Date: May 2, 2025

On Today's Lil Bitta Pod; Hayley visited a classic Aussie tourist spot!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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or wherever you get your podcasts. From the ZM Podcast Network, it's Fletch Vaughan and Hayley's Little Bit of Pod. Welcome to A Little Bit of Pod. Guys, I've been in Australia, and one of the things that I was most hopeful for is that I would see koalas, because they're my favourite animal.

Yeah. And a friend of mine in Australia organised on my very last day to go and see koalas. Right. And what we did is we went, because I was like, I'm just going to go to Melbourne Zoo

because I've seen a koala there before and I'll go and see it. And last time it was like on its stick asleep. And that's what koalas do. They always look sad. Wow. Okay, and I'll go and see it. And last time it was on its stick asleep. And that's what koalas do. That always looks sad. Wow. Okay, so we go to this other place. I can't even remember the name right now.

Damn it. Wirribilly. Wirribilly Outback Experience. It's like a more open, huge kind of roaming safari-like thing. Okay. I've been to this. It's amazing. I've been booked in for the koala experience in which

i'm going to get to go into the enclosure but you don't touch them anymore we don't do that anymore oh you don't touch them anymore wait can you not hold them anymore no because it's because it fucks them up man they're wild animals i love it as cuddles no no no they don't they don't what do you mean it's cuddles it's not not to love about cuddles shut up and get back on your fucking thai, bro. Well, no, I'm not riding a koala. I'm cuddling it. If I could cuddle an elephant, I would.

Nah, you know, it's a no-no now. I've cuddled a drugged out tiger. Yeah, and I've ridden elephants twice, so it's okay. Yeah, but that was a long time ago, so don't cancel us. It was so long ago. We didn't know that drugging tigers and taking photos with them was bad. It was at a sanctuary. It was a sanctuary.

They were saving them. And they were monks, so I trusted them. I would trust the monks. So I get to this place and I was told by one of the zookeepers around, we were like, oh, we're doing the koala experience.

And they were like, oh yeah. And I was like, I'm so excited. I love koalas. And she were like oh yeah and i was like i'm so excited you know i love koalas and um she said oh yeah she said you know that you know most of the time they're pretty sleepy and stuff and you can't touch them and so she was trying to like give me more realistic expectations yeah she was managing your expectations she was so then we get around there and this guy michael yeah, Michael's waiting for us. Are you guys right yet?

Great. Okay, here you are. He takes us in. The koalas see me. They feel my spirit and they come to life. Okay. I'm not kidding you. He was like, holy shit.

He's worked here for 20 years and he has never seen the koalas so active. They came to life. They sprung up. They were climbing around. They were playing with each other. I got to like feed them a eucalyptus. They like felt me. And he said, I've never seen them behave like this with someone before.

And we were the only ones in the experience. So I was like straight up close. And then at one point my friend had to say to me like, you need to move to the side because I was blocking the view of everyone who was trying to watch these active koalas that are never this active. And I told them to get fucked. And he said, I've never seen this before in my life. Well, imagine if you did step to the side and then they shut down.

But you went behind the wall and they were like. Either that or they were excited or they were terrified. Or they could smell your chlamydia and they were like, one of us. Oh my gosh, he's got chlamydia. We've got chlamydia. Shit, it was so funny though. He was telling, so this, We've got chlamydia. Shit, it was so funny, though. He was telling... So this... I've got a video of it, but this koala, one of the koalas, Poppy and Ruby.

Traditional Australian names. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Straight from the Aboriginal tribes of the local area. Now, they... Poppy was, like, chewing on this thing. And then this guy, Michael. Now, did you know 80% to 100% of koalas have a disease? It's called chlamydia.

And Poppy stopped eating and just looked at him like, this shocked look like she's just finding out. Like she did not. It might have been the 20% though. Yeah. Or 80 to 100, Vaughn. Oh, 80 to 100. Yeah, we thought those stats were off.

You can't say most or every single one. Yeah, yeah. He was being dramatic. But honestly, I just changed my mind. I burst into tears, 100. Yeah, we thought those stats were off. You can't say most or every single one. Yeah, yeah. He was being dramatic. But honestly, I just changed my mind. I burst into tears, obviously. I was crying quite a lot. It was a bit embarrassing. For a while.

Did you get to smell them? Yeah, they didn't smell at all. They were so cute. I was so close. You just weren't allowed to put your hands on them. Oh. Because. PC madness.

Because one of them in particular was, one of them was hand-reared by humans, and one of them was particular One of them was hand read by humans And one of them was saved from the wild And it screws them up But if it was hand read it's already screwed up No the hand read one here is like technically you could hold it But we don't Dreamworld that's where we held one

Do they still do that? Probably not Queensland's the only state that you can still do it So there you go And everyone around All the other zoos are like, this is bad. You shouldn't be doing it. And we're going to look back at photos of us holding koalas. There is only two Australian states where koala cuddling is permitted. And that's on Queensland.com.

So I'm assuming they're like, come to us. And you know why? It's because of all the tourists. All the tourists come over. They're like, what do you mean we can't? Michael told us. He's like, they are making bank. He's like, we could be making that money, but we don't do it

because it's not what's right for the animals. So. Ruby, Ruby. Yeah, but if you went to Queensland, you'd cuddle one? No, I wouldn't because now I'm a true koala advocate. Queensland and South Australia, it's legal to hold them. Physically support the weight of the koala would be considered holding them. Oh, okay.

So I guess that's picking them up from the front or the back. See, I'd loophole that if I had a zoo outside of Queensland and just have a one-piece. Put them in a baby Bjorn. Yeah. And then you just kind of semi-hold it. No. Hold it.

No, I'm an advocate for the koala's safety. Right, and you don't want them touched. And they knew it, and that's why they performed for me. Then, by the way, we left the experience, went around and checked out all the other boring animals, like lions and hippos and all this, came back, they were fast asleep and not active. Oh, they'd been puckered out from you. They knew.