Soon after, her husband and daughters realised something was wrong.
‘‘I was in bed asleep,’’ husband Richard said.
‘‘I heard my wife screaming at the front door.’’
Daughter Anika said she thought her mother was having a heart attack.
None of them knew what was wrong.
It was not until she said there was a ‘‘jolly’’ (probably not the actual word used) big fat sea lion on the front porch, that everyone understood what was happening.
‘‘It must have been just right at her feet. She was just about to walk on it,’’ Anika said.
Mrs Ayson backed away and slammed the door shut, before making her exit out the back door to get to work.
Her family said she did not appear to be impressed.
Mr Ayson said the sea lion had been in the neighbourhood lately.
‘‘It was two houses down the street last night, so it probably wasn't expected, but kind of almost was, you know?’’
After all the commotion, he said the remaining family members all gathered at the front door to watch the sea lion sleeping.
‘‘It added a bit of excitement to my daughter [Sari's] birthday today.’’
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.
As a frequent surfer at St Clair Beach, Mr Ayson said he had encountered the female before out at sea.
‘‘I spend a lot of time in the water with them.
‘‘I've probably had dealings with that one in the water a few times, I would guess, over the years.
‘‘So I'm pretty comfortable around them, and she's pretty comfortable around us.
‘‘They don't seem to worry about humans at all.’’
He said it would leave in its own time and he was happy for it to stay for now.
‘‘I do like them, so it's nice to have her. It’s a privileged to have a bit of wildlife on your doorstep like that.
‘‘She's sitting there nice and relaxed, and as long as she goes somewhere else to go to the toilet, I'll be happy — but I bet she doesn't.’’
