But thanks to Emily's kind neighbours in Cosham Close, she is back home safe and sound with her owners, the Helmores.

Pat Helmore has cared for Emily since she was young, with the wombat living happily in the family's backyard enclosure.

"On Monday night those incredible winds blew over a huge tree sometime in the night destroying the fence, and Emily headed for town," Pat said.

"If our wonderful neighbours hadn't found her for us, she may have done OK but the more likely outcome would have been terror, hunger, and a final end either on the road or by dog attack.

"She is now deep down her burrow, sound asleep, after eating a bit of breakfast. The fence is fixed, and all is well in the wombat world."

Emily's adventure follows a rough start in life.

"Her mother was killed by a car when she was very tiny and she was found and hand-reared by another family for some time," Pat said.

"Baby wombats are really cute when they are little, but when they begin to grow up they bite, scratch, smell, dig through walls, rip up carpets and are awake all night and sleep all day.

"In fact it is against the law to keep a wombat as a pet; all ones in care that have come from the wild have to be released again.

"Emily's' first family handed her over to a Wildlife Park when she was half grown and they kept her for some years before handing her on to another carer to prepare her for life in the wild."

Eventually, the Helmores were asked to continue her rehabilitation.

"As far as we know Emily is 13 or 14 years old now, and until she arrived in Eden in March this year she has been kept in an enclosure about the size of the average lounge room.

"She had never walked on grass, but didn't take long to realize that the green stuff was really good to eat.

"Now she is in a purpose-built 1/4 acre paddock, with her own burrow and many different types of grasses.

"Our job is to get her used to open spaces, get her eating grass only, and encourage her aggression so we can hopefully release her in the future."