So I finally get a chance to do some wildlife work at a park up in Gosford. It is a private park, who was bought my Tassin and Gerald about 9 years ago from the government. They have really turned this place around and made it a great place to come visit. They have koalas, kangaroos, devils, qoulls and many more native Australian animals plus some farm animals. Reminds me on the movie "We bought a Zoo." I left Gordon station and took a train to Hornsby and then connected on through to Gosford, where Gerald picked me up and took me to park. There were accommodating me since St Ives was so far. The lodge had a room with 10 bunk beds, kitchen area with a fridge, hot plate and microwave, and then a living area with only a table, a bunch of sofas, a tv and some DVD's. No Internet and no TV. Oh boy this is going to a long 3 days! There were 2 other girls staying there thankfully! Erin (20), from Bryon Bay. She is a employee, just doing a test run to see if she likes the job before she looks for a place to live. Mona (17), from Germany. She is staying for 5 weeks! Both are very nice. The next day was my first day to learn the daily routines starting at 8Am. I got to work with Karen, a ranger who had been at the park for about 4 years. She is very nice and funny. First task was to move the Geese from one farm to the other. We trapped the geese in a corner and then boom, just pounce! I'm a professional goose catcher! After getting them settled I had to clean out their new enclosure and set up this playhouse/baby pool. Karen had been deworming all the birds, so I assisted her with that. Not much to do except replace all their water bowls with the worming solution. Other tasks that day included helping her clean the quolls, bilbilies/potoroo, Tasmanian devil (which I wasn't allowed in the enclosure, tazzies are MEAN!) and the bat "Flying Foxes" enclosure. That about wrapped it up for day one ending at 5PM, and I was exhausted! Working in the heat all day really does a number on you!
Day Two started at 8AM again. This day I started with helping clean the farms. They have 2 Australian Mountain Goats, 2 alpacas, some chickens, a bunny and a pig! Today was a little disorganized and started off slow but once we got a hold of everything it turned out better. One volunteer ended up leaving early because she dog had gone missing that morning and she was very upset (who could blame her!). I miss my babies! Later on in the day Erin went back to house early, she wasn't feeling good. Since 2 people had left things got a lot more exciting, I got to take on some of their tasks. First was cleaning out the Eastern Pygmy Possum cages. The female is blind but very sweet, and the male is blind in one eye. He doesn't really come out his little box like the female. I swept the cage, changed the waters and water bucket that hold the branches, put new branches in and changed their food. Next I had to clean out the Sugar glider cage (Nutmeg), she was a cutie! Swept it out, changed her branches and gave her new water/food. Ended the day at 5PM again, and then went to the store to get some stuff to eat for the rest of my time there. May have gone a little crazy at the grocery store, but It was all healthy much needed food!
Day 3, and my final day before I returned to Sydney for an exciting weekend! Started out with cleaning the farm. Changed all the water buckets, raked up all the old food/poo (sound fun doesn't it!). It was all by myself so I felt accomplished! I work with Natasha a little bit after. She is another ranger, younger gal. Started out as a volunteer, then became a paid volley, and after that became a full-time employee and now she is a ranger. All in about a 2 year span, pretty good if you ask me. Good on her :). That Friday I left at 1PM, and headed back to Sydney for Shabbot dinner at the house with Meg, Ryan and Granty.
http://www.walkaboutpark.com.au/ <-- check out the park!
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