IT WAS the sightseeing companion Karl May never expected.

The Noosa resident was travelling on the highway back towards his home from up north when he was stopped in his tracks just before Murgon at Kinbonbi Falls.

There, in the middle of the road, was a koala.

"He was just sitting there in the middle of the road. He wasn't moving and didn't seem scared," Mr May said.

"I parked my bike and quietly walked over.

"I knew I had to try and get him off the road, he'd die otherwise."

Incredibly, the lost wild koala allowed Mr May to give a little scratch behind the ear but still refused to move to safety.

He shuffled the furry behind with a nudge of his riding boots. Metre by metre he moved the koala close to a tree.

"He wasn't interested though in the tree really, I'm not sure what was wrong with him but I wasn't game to pick him up," Mr May said.

"I've travelled 50,000km around Australia and never come across a koala like that before."

He travelled to a campsite up the road and left the koala care in the hands of some local lads, before continuing on his way home.

It was a pit stop he would never forget.