Camouflage

I was just outside and came across something I’d never seen before.
At first glance, it looked like a batterd, slightly curled up gum leaf, or a piece of bark.

It was originally stuck to the back of one of my outside chairs – one I was about to sit in. So I went to brush it off, but then I noticed something kind of odd about it.
Instead of brushing it off, I picked the chair up and shook it a little, the leaf thing stayed on the chair, but it MOVED.
So I looked a little closer, and it appeared to have a body sticking out from under it.
At this point I thought maybe it was some sort of catipillar thing under the leaf – maybe both caught up in a web or something. But no, no web to be seen, and the body appeared to be physically attached to the leaf.
Whilst it had moved little when I shook the chair before, it wasn’t moving at all now, and it was starting to look like just a leaf again. So I turned the chair upside down and shook whatever it was off.

It fell to the floor, and then FLEW to the trellis on the deck where it again resumed its motionless leaf impersonations.

At this point I decided to get out the camera and take some photos, because I’ve never seen anything like it before.
I’m still not entirely sure what it is – I THINK it’s a moth, but I’m not entirely ruling out butterfly either.
It appears to have feathery antenae like a moth, and doesn’t hold its wings closed when at rest like a butterfly does – but the wing shape itself is not the standard triangle I’m used to seeing in moths.
Here’s some better pictures of it, where you can see that it’s certainly not a leaf, but at the same time can see just how much like a leaf or a strip of bark from a eucalyptus tree it looks like.

It actually reminds me of some of the nature fairies in Zanzara..heh





Update: Still no idea what it is, except that it’s definitely a moth. No amount of googling has given me an answer.
You can see some higher quality photos and a few better angles here.
The wing span is about 5.5cm tip to tip, or just over 2 inches. It actually let me put a tape measure right next to it and didn’t budge. It’s still out there now.
Update 2: It’s a Circopetes Obtusata (thanks to Heather for making the appropriate inquiries).