G'day Liz the S:

I think whatever koala you met must have been eating some English substitute for uts prefered eucalyptus. Eucalyptus smells fine ... and koalas smell no worse than most wild animals ... they undoubtedly think that we stink!

Sorcha: Some of our Australian 'possums are quite cute - although the ones most likely to be around outer suburban homes - the large brushtail possums, can be pretty determined to stay where they want to be (your roof ... or you kitchen pantry, given half a chance). We have a few tiny ones that weigh as little as 5 grams ... they can climb up a stout blade of grass ... and live on small insects - ar a specialised diet of nectars. (These are in remote areas ... and rarely seen ... being a fraction of the size of a house mouse.)

I often stay with friends who care for injured / lost wildlife ... and specialise in macropods and opossums. When you wander outside their house after dusk, you are likely to bump into wallabies of possums that think Helen (not Mudcat's Helen) is their mum. She relocates recovered males in remote areas, but often releases females near her bushland home, when there is room for another. One wallaby has been bringing each year's new joey back to show Helem/Mum for 6 or seven years now.

I haven't had as close encounters with the possums, apart from one ringtail that must be shortsighted - it pops down from a nearby gum tree ... then is quite disappointed to find it's only me.