Unusual customer heads to South Australia bottle shop's beer fridge: 'He just walked in'

Staff and patrons at The Queenscliffe Family Hotel on Kangaroo Island, South Australia were treated to a surprise visit by a very unlikely customer this week: a koala.

Footage of him wandering through the venue attracted plenty of attention online, where it's being doing the rounds on social media.

The koala wandered in on Wednesday and spent about 10 minutes roaming the aisles, assistant manager Nicole Arthur told 9news.com.au.

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"It's not unusual to see koalas wandering sort of around the streets in Kingscote," she said.

"He just wandered down the road and then just walked into the front of the bottle shop that's attached to the pub."

The koala appeared to be looking for a cool spot to escape the sun.

Arthur said the koala wandered into the main area of the bottle shop and parked himself by the fridges for a few minutes.

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The koala didn't appear injured or in distress but staff contacted a local vet and wildlife services just to be sure.

They also provided a bowl of water for the koala to sip on while he was in the store.

"Somebody from the wildlife group came down and had a look at him," Arthur said.

"Made sure he wasn't in distress, made sure he was OK, and they just left him there."

Because it's so common to see koalas in the trees around Kingscote, where the pub is located, local patrons didn't make much of a fuss about the koala.

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Tourists, on the other hand, were delighted at getting to see one of Australia's iconic native animals up close and personal.

"We just monitored him, made sure they weren't harassing him," Arthur said, adding that humans should refrain from touching or interacting with wild koalas.

"And then he wandered back out."

Though it's quite uncommon for koalas to venture into businesses or homes on Kangaroo Island, Arthur said she doubted this will be the last time it happens at The Queenscliffe Family Hotel.

"It's just one of those things over here," she mused.

"Nothing's ever normal on Kangaroo Island."

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