First Day Away!

This morning we were off at 9 to go into town.  It is very exciting because I haven’t left the sanctuary in about a week; I crave the human world a bit.  I slept the way there, no surprise.  We got into town and I was able to get my sister a beautiful little ring and a birthday card, even though it isn’t for another 25 days I thought I’d get a head start.  So mom/dad, if a letter comes in the mail for Devi, hide it from her until her birthday! 

Michaela the new volunteer arrived shortly after; she is 18 like me with blonde hair.  She is also from Washington, kind of makes us automatic friends considering where we are.  She is so tiny I couldn’t believe she was able to carry her 75L backpack. 

After grocery shopping I walked down to the liquor store with Cat and Nina.  We ended up running into Kingscote’s very own mentally eccentric towns person.  He sits in the middle of town on a bench, fat belly spilling out between his legs, and wears a silvery white wig.  I enjoyed making small conversation with him. 

I bought my first two bottles of wine; both Australian.  I am very excited to try them! 

After we got home we briefed Michaela, unloaded groceries, and then headed to Hanson Bay!  It was a little windy and the water was really cold but I was so happy to be down at the beach and take my shoes off.  I walked all along the jagged rocks barefoot; nothing I haven’t done before.  Michaela, Nina and I went for a hike up the cliff and got a great view of everything.  The cool ocean spray was such a nice relief from being in a sanctuary all week.  We spent a couple hours just walking around and I was sad to say goodbye and head back to the sanctuary. 

I was on duty to help with the night tour and of course Michaela came along to get her first taste of nocturnal wildlife.  I’m not sure what was up with the koalas but they were all over the ground making their grunting noises!  We even had a mother and joey came down and cross into another tree feet from us!  It was the best tour I have been on yet! 

Woke up this morning with a nose that could not be more plugged.  Not like I was going to let it get me down though, I have bees to take care of today!  

Got to see this tree frog in the morning as well!

Mic the beekeeper took me to the farmland where he keeps the empty boxes and tools that he needs for the job.  

Then we headed of the take care of a swarm that he had seen a couple of days ago.  It was absolutely incredible to see a colony swarm like that!  We cut it off the branch and shook them into the new hives.

There were two swarms!

Some of the hives.

Off to the next site where we had to open nukes; four or five frame hives for smaller colonies.  Four of them were so full with honey and brood that we had to put them into bigger boxes.  I got my fair share of honeycomb that I ate fairly quickly.  It was so awesome because Mic let me do one of the boxes myself! 

My very fresh honey.

Mic... that's his actual smile.

On our way back to the sanctuary he took me to Vivon Bay, I was overly pleased to be by the ocean again.  It felt so nice to look out onto the ocean.

As soon as we got back to the sanctuary around 1:30 my nose decided to become so stuffed I can’t even breathe out of it.  Not sure if I should do the night tour tonight but I will defiantly do my best to get better fast!

Michaela the new volunteer arrives tomorrow; she is from America and will be staying a month.  Tomorrow Nina and I will also be going to Kingscote with Cat and then we will hopefully go to the beach or to Kelly Caves!  It will be a fun day and hopefully I will recover by then… if I don’t I’ll make myself!

The Best Run I Have Ever Had!

I mapped out every single turn and curve of every trail inside the enclosure today!  Dave was very impressed with my GPS skills and how efficient I am at getting things done.  I was very pleased with myself and thought a run would be a good prize.

It was a very good idea to go on a run!  At the start I ran around the enclosure for 7 minutes or so before deciding to go into the forest and explore.  It wasn’t long before I saw an echidna digging for food.  Any sudden movement and the echidna would curl its head under and press its body against the dirt.  It was very cute.

I crawled under an old barbed wire sheep fence and started down a well-worn animal trail.  The trail stayed very close to another fence that seemed to go on forever.  After 20 min the trail got to the corner of the fence and I turned along with it to follow another trail.  I saw three echidna along this trail; I was pretty impressed with my choice of path and adventure.  

I actually did touch one of it's spines...

This is one of the three echidna I saw!

The forever going trail I adventured on.

Second.

Third.

After about 40 minutes of walking I finally came to an opening with lots of kangaroo and a dirt road.  I was starting to get a bit worried that Dave and Ninna would think I was hurt or something so I started running again hoping to get back to the enclosure fence.  I scared so many kangaroo I was surprised that none of the males came after for disturbing the peace.  The enclosure was now in sight, I looked down just in time to miss running over a baby chick.  I know the name of the bird but I forget it right now unfortunately, which doesn’t really help you.  I got a really close up photo of it because the parents weren’t around, if they were I would have been dive-bombed and wounded with a beak.  

After that my run was pretty uneventful.  

I returned home to our new guests all hot and sweaty, Mike and Peggy are echidna and Rosenberg goanna specialists.  I saw both those animals today, which is pretty cool.  Tonight we are having a barbeque for their niece who has just arrived from Texas.   I was just happy to have a shower, in which I now have never felt cleaner since arriving in Australia… and it only took 7 minutes!  Not that you need to know my showering habits but I have become very efficient in the conservation of water.  I might still be into water conservation when I get home.  Walking towards the visitor center to hear Peggy’s presentation about goanna and echidna… I saw my first kookaburra!  It was a fantastic way to end a great day!

Off to the barbeque now, wish me luck! 

 

No Kookaburra!

It seems that every time in the morning I ALWAYS miss the kookaburra that comes to the back yard.  It is so frustrating! 

Saw a lovely mother koala with her joey that is starting to get more adventuress, it like to jump from branch to branch.

Afterwards we walked about in the enclosure to track the sand pad activity.  Not much happened, except we saw a bush stone curlew chick that followed us around, it is about the height of your palm!  It is a very rare bird to see and we got to see its chick!  Dave is an Australian researcher and says he has never before seen one in his life.  I still haven’t seen a silly kookaburra but I have seen rare bird, imagine that!

There is a specialist coming in today with his wife and niece to talk about echidnas!  They will stay the night in my house and we will be having a barbeque for them as well!  I am in need of a run even though I am walking about 3 hours everyday, I still need a run.  Hopefully I don’t scare an unsuspecting kangaroo while I run and get attacked… hopefully.

Just a quick glimpse of the Tamar Wallaby

The baby Bush Stone Curlew is very well blended.

The Goanna are very difficult to get close to, best shots I could get from so far away.

The day has been pretty good so far, my feet and legs are getting tired from all the walking and my back needs a good stretch from all the gardening work.  I cant wait though until I can start seeing more of the island, which should be in the next couple days!

End of my Day.

I was right… today wasn’t too exciting.  I got some more things planned for my travels and will be doing the night tour tonight.

The day got better as it came to a close today. The sun came out at the last minute and I did some reading.  I am very happy about that because I hate having a bad day!  On a different note I was able to dry my laundry out in the wind and sun today, it smells absolutely fantastic! 

Later in the Afternoon.

The rain seemed to stop so suddenly and it got humid really fast!  I got the chance today right when the sun came out to a café with Nick, Claire, and Laura to listen to live music and eat Thai food.  It was a lot of fun until it started raining again and the power went out for about 45 minutes.  I still enjoyed myself because there was lightning and cracks of thunder nearby!  I spent about 4 hours at the café today just chilling out and having fun. 

Claire and Nick.

Lauren likes to take random photos of us while we aren't looking.

Enjoying Thai food and music.

Entertainment for the afternoon.

When I got back I popped my bathing suit top on and headed into the forest to clear some paths and tan my torso at the same time, I am very productive that way.  Not sure what is going to happen with the rest of my night because all night tours have been cancelled. 

 I might just sit here and enjoy this mother and joey. 

Toadlet is its actual name.

Overcast all day long.

Today nothing much has happened so far.  Ninna and I did a koala count in the morning and counted 37 koalas at the front of the sanctuary!  It is really cold outside and I am feeling a bit run down at the moment which probably doesn't help my mood.  On the bright side I saw my first goanna! It was pretty cool and I am counting on seeing more.  I will most likely sweep more paths in the enclosure today and finish my first load of laundry.  I don't think today will be too exciting...

Mornings at the Sanctuary

Very early this morning there was a huge thundershower that was so extremely exciting!  It stopped though in time for work to get started which I suppose is good. 

 After a huge group that seemed to be ordering loads of cappuccinos and coffee, I got to go check the sand pads for animal prints.  We had kangaroo and wallaby prints, which means so far there are no wild cats in the enclosure. 

Dave and Ninna observing Sand Pad 1.

 I made it back to the visitor’s center just in time for the rain and thunder to start again!  People were ordering hot chocolates and chai lattes… I got the extras in a cup for myself.  Someone had lost their kangaroo crossing sign outside, so I casually walked out into the rain to go find it.  Didn’t take me long cause I am a pro at looking for things but I was a little upset I didn’t get wet.  It continues to rain here, that isn’t good for the bees I was supposed to help out with today in regards to harvesting their honey.  Maybe tomorrow if it is sunny the beekeeper Mic and I will do that.

A magpie early in the morning.

Wild Native Iris.

These callayilies are a weed in Australia because they are absolutely everywhere!

Last Nights Events

There was one koala in particular that seemed to capture everyone’s special attention.  He was about a foot and a bit off the ground!  The only thing I was unpleased about is that people were silly enough to start touching him and putting their faces right next to his.  It was incredibly stupid and I had to very politely ask if they could step away from the wild animal.  After that, I was on koala guard making sure no one got too close to him.   He was quite the star, sitting and posing at the base of every tree!  It was very exciting for everyone, including myself.  Ninna and I were relieved when he picked a suitable tree to climb up and make home for the rest of the afternoon.

I didn’t have to do the night tours tonight so I stayed home and had some homemade veg soup and watched Pokémon.  Afterwards the staff that lives on site had a big bonfire!  We all sat around a huge table, drank wine and beer, ate banana caramel cream pie with fresh honeycomb and had lots of laughs.  It was such a fun night but I was very happy to go to sleep.

Most Active Day Yet!

Earlier this morning Dave, Ninna and I went to go check the sand pads we had laid out in the fenced off area.  The pads are meant to track the numbers of feral cat numbers inside the NO cat enclosure.  We might have one cat so far, but we can't be sure.  We carried buckets of sand around for about an hour creating 9 new sand pads throughout a certain area.

Later in the day I spent about an hour and a half clearing the path in the fenced off area so it can be easier to walk.  There are so many fallen trees that it was near impossible to do it all.  I got one trail done and now I have about 3 more to do.  Dave will get his chainsaw and take care of the fallen trees so we can make that area as nice as possible!

Just some quick pics of my day!

Wild Mushroom

Sleepy koala that people ket touching!  Surprised he didn't take a swipe out of them.

Making his way down the tree.

Made the best call at the base of this tree.

Having dinner

This is mom and her joey!  They were so cute and so active today!  The joey has the fattest and most round face I have ever seen!

And that has been my VERY exciting day!

Today after the last tour left, Lauren chased me down and accompanied me back to my house where we got to talking about how I am going to make my way up to Brisbane after Kangaroo Island.  She has been to almost every hostel along the coast and was really helpful with suggestions on where to stay.  Afterwards she invited me to the staff member’s house where we had some tea and then went back down to my house to make dinner.  We made some vegetable soup, which I had to eat awfully quickly if I was going to make it in time for the night tours.  I think Lauren is going to be a good friend while I stay here.

As Dave and I were walking back to our house he leaped out of the way and I just about walked into a huge male koala!  He was casually walking up the path and I got about two feet away from him.  Dave has had some bad experiences with koala and wasn’t to keen on having another.  The koala first went after me and I got backed up against the fence!  I stayed motionless hoping it wouldn’t get any closer and try to climb me.  Dave seemed to capture its attention so he went for him instead.  Dave was jumping here and there trying to dodge it.  They are extremely fast when they want to be!  We both managed to escape and had a really good laugh on the rest of the walk back, always turning around though to make sure we weren’t followed.  That was quite the ending to another day in Australia!

Two males about to fight... the one on the right chickened out.

Very unclear photo of Tamar wallaby.

Momma Roo with her joey.

After the morning rounds of koala spotting Ninna found a Tiger snake!  It is the eight deadliest snake in the world and the second deadliest in Australia!  They are very docile and stay away from humans.   I got eight feet away from this one, it was very exhilarating! 

These are just some funny caterpillars, couldn't figure out what they are called.