When Espie Ayson opened her front door to go to work today, the last thing she expected to see was a body in the way.<\/p>\n
Soon after, her husband and daughters realised something was wrong.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018I was in bed asleep,\u2019\u2019 husband Richard said.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018I heard my wife screaming at the front door.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Daughter Anika said she thought her mother was having a heart attack.<\/p>\n
None of them knew what was wrong.<\/p>\n
It was not until she said there was a \u2018\u2018jolly\u2019\u2019 (probably not the actual word used) big fat sea lion on the front porch, that everyone understood what was happening.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018It must have been just right at her feet. She was just about to walk on it,\u2019\u2019 Anika said.<\/p>\n
Mrs Ayson backed away and slammed the door shut, before making her exit out the back door to get to work.<\/p>\n
Her family said she did not appear to be impressed.<\/p>\n
Mr Ayson said the sea lion had been in the neighbourhood lately.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018It was two houses down the street last night, so it probably wasn’t expected, but kind of almost was, you know?\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
After all the commotion, he said the remaining family members all gathered at the front door to watch the sea lion sleeping.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018It added a bit of excitement to my daughter [Sari’s] birthday today.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Anika said she and her sister Sari spent ages watching the female lying there because they could see a pup moving around inside her belly.<\/p>\n
She said lots of people had gathered on the footpath outside their house, and cars were also pulling over to look at the sea lion.<\/p>\n
As a frequent surfer at St Clair Beach, Mr Ayson said he had encountered the female before out at sea.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018I spend a lot of time in the water with them.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018I’ve probably had dealings with that one in the water a few times, I would guess, over the years.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018So I’m pretty comfortable around them, and she’s pretty comfortable around us.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018They don’t seem to worry about humans at all.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
He said it would leave in its own time and he was happy for it to stay for now.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018I do like them, so it’s nice to have her. It\u2019s a privileged to have a bit of wildlife on your doorstep like that.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018She’s sitting there nice and relaxed, and as long as she goes somewhere else to go to the toilet, I’ll be happy \u2014 but I bet she doesn’t.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n