Billabong Wildlife Sanctuary

I have now been in Townsville for two weeks and have been enjoying my volunteering at the Billabong Wildlife Sanctuary just about 15 mins south of town. After two weeks and having gotten a real feel for how the park works and having done most things I thought it a good time to update everyone on what I've been doing.

For starters, if anyone is interested, you can check out the sanctuary's website here:

http://www.billabongsanctuary.com.au/

Billabong is a really great place for people who want to have a hands on experience with animals. They have tons of things there: koalas, wombats, several types of snakes, a cassowary, dozens of other birds such as parrots and cockatoos, crocodiles, kangaroos, bettongs, paddymellons, dingos, and more. If you're not sure what any of those things are, google 'em. People who visit the park are able to get up close to most of those animals and even hold some of them.

I'm staying at this little guesthouse/hostel on the north end of Townsville, and one other person, Emily from the UK, booked this program through Real Gap like me. Each morning the two of us are picked up at 6:30 and drive down to the park so that after saying hello to everyone and getting ready we are off and running by 7am. There are only ten people on staff for the entire park, and not everyone works each day; so, they really depend upon the help of volunteers to get everything done. At 7 we all split into three groups to do "runs." These runs break up the park and our jobs are to clean out the animal enclosures on our run, feed them, and rake the paths where all the leaves have fallen each day. Seems pretty simple, but it does take a couple of hours to complete.

Then at 10 each morning we all take a half-hour break when we relax, grab a snack, and just hang out. Then at 10:30 begin the morning shows. These shows are the koala talk, wombat talk, and reptile talk. One of the rangers usually gives about a 15 minute talk about these animals and then the public has a chance to get their photos taken and handle the animals. For the reptiles, there is usually some type of snake (my favorite is the Scrub Python, longest snake in Australia), a baby croc, a bearded lizard (there are more of these as pets in the US than there are in the wild in all of Australia), and a shingleback lizard (nicknamed the head-butt lizard for the kids; google it to see why). As volunteers we back up the shows, answer any questions is we can, and get to handle the animals and help place them on the heads/shoulders of the public when taking pictures.

After lunch there is another series of shows, but this time there is also a croc feeding, feeding the dingos, and feeding the cassowary as well. As volunteers we may help out with any of these shows, do the food prep for the animals--done during the day so it's ready first thing in the morning, and I actually really enjoy doing it--random maintenance jobs at times, or any other odd job here and there.

Come 3:30 our day is done (which always turns into 4 because things run late) and I head back to my hostel. I'm having an absolute blast doing this project. The people who work at the park are tons of fun to hang out with at work, and we have all gone out for drinks a couple of times as well. It's been a fantastic learning experience too; I love animals and learning about them, and I have taken in heaps of knowledge over the past couple of weeks about animals I've loved for years and ones that I never even knew existed. I've especially loved handling the snakes; guys aim for a 6-pack and She-Hulk, the female Scrub Python, is born with a 220 pack. Pretty awesome.

I promise to get plenty of pictures in the next week or so. There are so many cool animals at this place, and Emily and I (who have quickly become good friends and has made the experience that much better) are planning on making sure we have a free afternoon to go around and get pictures with all the animals. For now it's just enjoying each day of work over the next two weeks while trying to get some sleep each night as I continue to stay up past midnight to watch as much world cup as possible. Maybe someday I'll be smart and go to bed early, but for now I just can't resist.