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KangarooIsland
KangarooIsland lies just a 45 minute ferry ride off the FleurieuPeninsula.National Geographic named it the number one island in the Asia Pacific.With 540km of coastline, it is the area's third largest island.The island is home to sea lions basking on quiet beaches, koalas munching on gum trees, echidnas wandering in search of insects, kangaroos, goannas, wallabies, penguins and 267 species of birds…………….. and about 4,500 humans.
Another early start this morning as we got up at 5:00 am to get ready for our 6.25 am bus pick up.Unfortunately, I thought it was 6:35 and the bus was already waiting for us when we got down to reception at 6.30 am!!!Luckily the driver was waiting as he didn't have a passenger manifest and didn't know who he was picking up.After a 10 minute ride to the Central Bus station, we boarded another us for the two hour journey to CapeJervis where we caught the ferry to KangarooIsland.The ferry crossing was only 45 minutes but incredibly rough with the south westerly winds tossing us around.The ferry docked at Penneshaw where we caught another bus for the transfer to Kingscote, the main town on the island.
We arrived in Kingscote at roughly 11:00 am where we were met by Mark, one of the employee volunteers from Hanson Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, our home for the next 4 weeks.After a drink at the local café, we set off to explore Kingscote (well, its one main road) and buy our booze for the next week.The place we are staying is 100km, an hour's drive from Kingscote so all provisions have to last a week until the next trip to Kingscote!!This includes all the food for the volunteers for the week which we helped Mark shop for - imagine a shopping bill of £500 a week, 3 trolley loads!!!!
KangarooIsland is a true wildlife sanctuary. Owing to its isolation from the mainland, the Island has suffered less from the impact of European settlement and retains more than half of its native 'old-growth' vegetation - a vast area of some 2,250 square kilometres.Similarly, the Island has been spared the damage done by foxes and rabbits, ensuring the integrity of native bushland.
Result? Animal and bird populations have thrived.
The Hanson Bay Wildlife Sanctuary is situated on the western end of KangarooIsland, between the KellyHillCavesConservationPark and the FlindersChaseNational Park.It was once a sheep farm, and in 1997 it was bought out as a private animal sanctuary.The Sanctuary is famous for its abundant native bird and animal wildlife such as:
KangarooIsland Kangaroos: the Island's isolation has seen some species evolve differently from the mainland species. This is evident in the KI Kangaroo, a subspecies of the Western Grey Kangaroo which is smaller, darker and has longer fur than its mainland counterpart. Kangaroos and wallabies can be seen over most of the Island.There are approximately 250,000 kangaroos on the island.
Tammar Wallabies: the Tammar Wallaby has smaller and finer features than the kangaroo and is abundant on the Island. Mainland populations are extinct in southeastern Australia, with only a small population surviving in Western Australia.There are about one million on the island compared to just 1,000 on mainland Australia.
Heath Goannas: a magnificent lizard that grows up to a metre. A predator of smaller reptiles, young birds and eggs, it is often seen on warm days basking or scavenging on dead animals along the roads.We have one living here with us on the sanctuary called Stumpy as he has lost half his tail.
Echidnas: an egg-laying mammal occasionally seen foraging for ants with its sticky tongue. KangarooIsland echidnas have distinctive 'blonde' spines.We saw 2 the other day, an adult which we all got to hold and a baby we called Eric.Eric seemed to have lost his Mom so we started to take care of him.Unfortunately, he got out of his bucket and the enclosure - I hope he found his Mom again.
Koalas: one of the Island's most famous characters. The koala (like the platypus and Ringtail Possum) is an introduced species and their numbers have exploded. Unlike on the mainland, you don't have to try too hard to get your first glimpse of a wild koala.Our Koala Walk is open every day for Koala viewing and is recognised as the best place on KangarooIsland to see a sustainable population of Koalas in the wild.
Other natives: Brushtail Possum, Short Beaked Echidna, Southern Brown Bandicoot, Western and Little Pygmy Possum, Bush and Swamp Rat, six bat species, six frog species, Black Tiger Snake and Pygmy Copperhead.
After introducing us to the other volunteers (Rosie, Nick, Andy, Simone, Estelle, Nathalie and Ariane), Mark took us down to the farmhouse where we have our own room with a private bathroom!!! This is because there are too many volunteers for the main house (it can only sleep 7).At the moment we have the farmhouse to ourselves but normally the other rooms will be let out to paying guests.When we got there, there was a huge Huntsman spider on the wall - this has been my worst fear about coming here.Lesley (one of the consultants who are also staying at the farmhouse) tried to remove it with a mop, but it ran away.We will keep our bedroom door closed tonight!!!!
The volunteers take it in turns to cook dinner and tonight, Rosie had made pasta (including a veggie option).After dinner, there are evening duties including the washing and drying up!!!The other night time duties are:
- Feeding the chickens
- Putting out hay for the wallabies and kangaroos
- Putting oats down on the night time walking trail
Mark showed us how to do all of this but our full orientation will be tomorrow.Each night there is a night time tour on Koala Walk.Unfortunately there were no bookings on our first night so Ed (the other employee volunteer) took us on a mini night time tour.The animal activity at night is amazing.At night, the wildlife comes to life and we saw koalas, wallabies, kangaroos and possums all feeding and drinking.Ed also took us in to the enclosed area of the sanctuary (this is to protect some of the native trees, birds and more vulnerable animals) where we met Amy.Amy is an 8 year old kangaroo who was hand reared till the age of 2.5 so she is a little bit too trusting of humans to be completely released back into the wild.We fed her oats as Ed held open her pouch and showed us her 4/5 week old joey.Amy has had 5 joeys already and is probably still feeding a 12 - 18 month old one as she is carrying her new one.Joeys leave the mother's pouch at 11 - 12 months but still take milk until 17 - 18 months.The mother will make 2 different types of milk for the different aged joeys.
We also got to meet the bachelor boys - this a group (mob) of adult male kangaroos who failed to get mates this season so they all live together until next mating season when they will try again.After a very tiring but exciting day, we headed off to bed where we slept very well!!
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