The Perisher ski fields can be a pretty competitive environment, not unlike surfing and wave-catching etiquette.
But when one creature got in Claudine Talbot’s way on a recent run on the powder, the opportunity was too cute not to let him through.
“I was skiing with my friend Bella and we were headed down the hill when I saw what I thought was a rock,” Claudine told Today.
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The video shows Claudine laying on the ground and nuzzling with the curious wombat (Today)
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“So we skied towards it to try and jump off it, but then the rock started to move.”
And it’s a good thing Claudine and Bella didn’t use the “rock” as a jump platform, because it actually turned out to be a big fuzzy wombat.
So the pair took off their skis and ran over to meet the Aussie native, sharing footage of the adorable encounter on social media.
The video shows Claudine laying on the ground and nuzzling with the curious wombat as it explores her and her skis.
“I didn’t know I was meant to be worried around wombats until the video blew up online and I had a tonne of haters telling me that I might have chlamydia now,” she laughed.
Claudine has worked the Perisher slopes for years and has never had an encounter like this before. (Today)
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Claudine has worked the Perisher slopes for years and has never had an encounter like this before.
But she found out her new little friend’s name is Gary and he is a long-time resident of the snowfields of Kosciuszko National Park.
“Maybe I’ll go for a beer at Guthega Pub and I’ll run into him again,” she laughed.
See more of Claudine’s adorable footage in the video above