12.10.2018

12.10.2018 8 days at Billabong Sanctuary.

Animals are awesome.

This morning Kim was late as usual. I cuddled with Timmi on the way there and started the day at the kangaroo enclosure.

I had to get their food just outside the enclosure. Because it was only one step away, I left the gate open so I could just walk right back in again. However, when I turned around, I saw that 2 kangaroos took this chance to follow me. There was a secondary gate so they couldn't get out, but it took some help from Ranger Jess and quite a bit of persuading and gentle pushing to get them back in.

We continued with raking and cleaning some other enclosures. I helped Kim with some reptiles. While she was cleaning the snake enclosure, the snake kept trying to bite her while she was changing his water and placing down food. So she had to hold it off with a stick the entire time.

I prepared some food and later saw that the people who usually get the sandwiches from the cafeteria came back with a whole bunch of sausages, bread, and tomato sauce. They had a lot of leftovers at the cafeteria, so today it was hotdog day for us. Nice change from sandwiches.

On my way to get my free slushie, I saw Ash on the ground and currently climbing the fence of the wombat cage. Ash can't fly and spends the day up in the trees on a construction made of wooden branches. So it was very weird to see him not there. When I went to pick him up, he didn't hesitate for a second. He immediately jumped on my hand and jumped off it when we were in reach of the branches. He is such an idiot.

I fed some animals with Jess and while collecting the garbage, I saw a turtle out of the water. Most of the time, the turtles run away when you get close and only come out if you have food. But this one was just sitting there. Then I saw that it had dug a hole and was currently laying eggs. Something I hadn't seen until now. The goddamn ducks and geese started to get close, trying to get the eggs, but I stayed next to the turtle and defended her! Though honestly she could have picked a spot that wasn't so full with ducks. She chose like the ducks' main resting area.

After doing some dishes, I went to the wombat talk again to get some more good pictures. Ash seemed to have a bad day today since he didn't want to climb on my hand at all. I wonder why. I asked Jess to help me. She told me to try it without my hat and without sunglasses. But he still didn't want to. Jess tried and he ignored her as well. I asked her if they even have a single person that's able to get him every time and she said, 'Nope, we mostly rely on the volunteers since he likes strangers.'

'So all the other volunteers already left. What do we do now?' I asked. And she just smiled and said, 'Don't worry, just get Kim.' And Jess left. I was confused. I thought nobody was able to get him and Kim told me that she wasn't able to pick him up either. But still, I asked her to help and she smiled at me, 'Of course, what's up?'

'Well, Ash doesn't want to get down, so Jess told me to get you.'

Her smile cracked a little, and she sighed, 'Sureeee......' We walked back, and she told me to try again. I told her that I already tried, but it didn't work. Kim just nodded, 'Trust me.' So I tried again, and while I was holding my hand out, Kim approached Ash from the other side. Not a single second of hesitation as Ash jumped on my hand.

I stared at Kim, and she just smiled, 'No worries, if Ash doesn't want to come down, then we can just rely on his hate for me.' With that, she walked away, a single tear rolling down her face. I think that's not really the thing you want to be known for as a Ranger.

On the way back, I held Timmi again, who was frequently licking my arm instead of eating the sweet potato I gave him.

I spent the evening at the hostel. It was raining tonight, pretty rare here. Other than that, I've watched some videos, wrote some stuff, and spent my evening nice and calm since 1. I still look like a zombie and 2. I am really tired from the day.

Have a good night.