Island eatery serves up Kermit
Strangely , the recently new Drop Bear Cafe at Arcadia , Magnetic Island , is named after a fictitious , carnivorous , predatory Koala- like creature, as big as a Leopard , which drops out of trees on unsuspecting victims .
With the scientific name Thylarctos Plummetus ,it is part of a folk legend ,especially aimed to scare tourists wandering about in the bush .
It just so happens that Magnetic Island has a large cuddly Koala population which does not eat tourists. Admittedly , a Frenchman did get scratched by one some years ago .
The Drop Bear Cafe cashes in on the Killer Koala legend .Going along with the fun, the Australian Museum no less states you can repel these killers by putting forks in your hair or spreading Vegemite or toothpaste between your ears . It adds that there is no evidence to suggest that any such repellents work.
Artwork inside the entrance to the cafe (below) apparently shows the fearless Weatherup Townsville Magpie atop a tipped over jar of Vegemite and , presumably , a large predatory Drop Bear , with a smaller Koala . What could be a Drop Bear about to drop on some bush birds is also visible in a wall mural .
The popular cafe , formerly Gilligan's , as in Gilligan's Island , naturally, attracts many tourists , who often take photos of themselves with a whopper Drop Bear on a chair .
Almost unnoticed at the front of the cafe is a Green Tree Frog which dropped into, and took up residence, in the container which collects runoff from the cafe's cool room .
