IT is a five-day celebration of koalas with the Hastings’ popular Hello Koala Sculpture Trail to come alive with music, dance, family fun and an environmental focus for this year’s festival.
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The 2018 Hello Koalas Festival will focus on koala conservation awareness and includes everything from an ABBA tribute concert and dance party on Friday, June 8 from 6.30pm at Panthers, to classic cars, high teas with koala cupcakes, a picnic with all-day music program, koala face-painting and games, Melbourne City Ballet, and meet the artists day.
Hello Koalas will be part of the festival event at Foreshore Markets on Saturday, June 9 from 8am to 1pm and the Festival Family Fun Day and Cars and Coffee meet at Douglas Vale on Sunday.
Other events include the Hello Koalas High Teas with Ziggy on June 9 and 10 at Zebu. Indulge in Hello Koalas Lemon Myrtle Cupcakes with white chocolate frosting and Caramello Koala and Koala Shaped Chocolate Shortbread biscuits, scones with jam and cream, finger sandwiches and warm savoury treats, with a glass of bubbly, tea and coffee. Tea will be served 11am to 4pm. Bookings are a minimum of 4 guests.
Koala conservation specialists from across the country will converge on Port Macquarie in June to discuss environmental solutions to ensure the protection of the species.
The Caring for our Koalas and our Environment Conference will be held over two days from June 7-8 at Sails Resort and is the key event on the program for the annual Hello Koalas Festival.
It will be an opportunity to learn more about the NSW government’s $45 million package to protect the state’s threatened koala population.
The NSW Koala Strategy establishes the first phase of actions to stabilise and ultimately increase koala numbers which have fallen by about 26 per cent to 36,000 in just the past two decades.
Expert speakers on the NSW Koala Strategy include Trish Harrup, assistant director Public Land and Aquatic Ecosystems, Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) and Mike Roache, also from OEH, presenting on the Saving our Species program and plans for a community engagement and communications campaign.
Other speakers include Associate Professor Damien Higgins from the University of Sydney’s Koala Health Hub, Cheyne Flanagan from Port Macquarie’s Koala Hospital and Koala Preservation Society of Australia, Rolf Schlagloth from Central Queensland University on the koala’s role in community education and Nick Boyle, from Taronga Conservation Society, exploring the role of the modern zoo in koala conservation.
Representatives from Planet Art, Forestry NSW, Hello Koalas, the National Gallery of Australia Canberra, NSW National Parks, Port Macquarie-Hastings Council and more will also speak.
For the full Hello Koalas Festival event calendar, CLICK HERE.
