05.10.2018

05.10.2018 day 3 at billabong sanctuary

                              Ash

I still had a sore throat but it was getting better. However with a final punch my throat decided to hit my voice as well. So for the entire day I sounded like back in puberty hitting different high and low notes while talking.

The morning meeting started with the sentence: 'today nobody is allowed to make short jokes'. There was a special tour for 'short statured' people today. Basically a group of Lilliputians who had booked an extra tour here.  

I started again with raking and then went on to do some dishes and food preparation. I also helped with cleaning some bird and a koala enclosures. I did see the group of Lilliputians walking by and just commented with a quick 'good morning' but it sounded very sarcastic as my voice made it sound like 'GoOd MoRNinG'

Today I was working with a volunteer called Kelly. She told me a lot about the things she had already encountered at this sanctuary. She also told me a lot about Ash. He was the red-tailed black cockatoo that I got to bring in yesterday. 

During lunch, she told me that in order to make him like her, she always carries around sunflower seeds and since the months that she's been here, she spent time with him every day and gave him some seeds whenever she walked past. 

Over this time she managed to win his trust which not even some of the rangers were able to get. She can get him out of his enclosure and put him back without any trouble. She can make him call out or show his feathers and wings. I was very impressed.

After we collected the trash, fed some of the other animals (also some very cute dingos), Kelly went to bring Ash in for the day. 

She had to get him to a lower branch because she wouldn't be able to reach him otherwise. So she tried to call him over but he just stayed put. So she showed him a sunflower seed and he started to move. However, when she held out her hand, he didn't react. She gave him some more seeds but he just walked back to one of the higher branches. 

Kelly said: 'oh he probably just didn't have a good day, uh sometimes when there are multiple people he doesn't behave so uh could you?' So I walked back a few meters and watched from a distance. She kept offering him some seeds which he did take but he still wouldn't go on her arm. After a while, she took her hat off and put it away: 'He is not a big fan of hats so I am just gonna take it off real quick'.

She kept trying and trying but Ash wouldn't move, especially when she ran out of seeds. So she said: 'well, that's really weird, haha, why don't you try?' So I walked up to his branch and held my hand out. Without hesitation, Ash climbed on. 

Kelly was a little frustrated: 'oh! How could you?!' 'Ash!?' 'I thought we were friends!' 'Every time I gave you seeds!' 'I can't believe this' she ended with the comment: 'he has a thing for strangers'  I wanted to ask her if she could take a picture but I think she probably would have broken my phone or my face, or both. 

We brought Ash back and then started to clean whatever was left. A little later Kim was done and she brought me back to the civic guest house. She told me that she had the same with Ash when she just started but then after some time he didn't want to climb on her hand anymore. I guess Ash is kind of a jerk. But pretty funny. 

Back at the hostel, I took a shower, during which the lights went out. As you must know, the lights for the bathrooms are always outside the actual bathrooms in Australia. It took me a while to get used to that. So I yelled from the shower to whatever idiot turned off the lights. It took a while but the lights went back on again.

Since it's technically the weekend, I did go to the Empire Bar just for a short time.

There was a girl celebrating her birthday. This was a very important thing. Because that meant there were a lot of drunk people who put a credit in the flipper machine and then forget about it and walk away. I played like 5 free games😁. Though while I was there all the electricity went out again. I guess Townsville is just having a bit of a problem at the moment.

After that, I brushed my teeth and went to bed. Goodnight.