Woke up probably every hour from about 1.30am as I was scared of oversleeping and missing my bus as there isn’t another until Wednesday if I do. I had done a dummy run last night to check where the bus stop was so I would at least know where I was going. Got up quietly at 5:30 and quickly got showered and dressed then posted the keys to the room in the box near the gate. I’d got my $20 deposit back last night as I knew I’d be leaving early. The guy took a swipe of my card in case I lost it in between last night and this morning, tut.
I headed over to the bus stop and was there a good 20 minutes before the bus was due to arrive at 6:30am (or so my instruction told me). When the bus came at 6:30 I was informed that this was not the correct bus and the first one would be 8:30am GGGGRRRRR. Not happy ! I could have been in bed all this time. So while I waited I read a load of my book “The killers Wife” by Bill Flloy, it’s a real page turner. Also got myself a sandwich and a chilled coffee from the 24 hour store.
Eventually the 8:30 Trans North bus came and I was told it took me as far as Atherton and I would then have to change and get the 11:00am Trans North bus over to Ravenshoe which would get me there for 12pm. I wasn’t sure if there would be anybody waiting for me to take me to Eagles Nest Wildlife Sanctuary as I had emailed to say I'd be there at 9:30 and as I’d be getting the 6:30am bus (or so I thought).
I read more of my book on the journey to Atherton and then was dropped off at the Trans North bus stop so at least I was in the right place for the next bus. When the 11:00am but came right on time the driver asked if I was being met by anyone at the other end. He obviously knew it wasn’t the kind of town to attract a lot of tourists. I explained that I was hoping to be met but there had been some wrong info given me about the bus times. He said he would give Harry Kunz a call if nobody came to meet me (the owner of Eagles Nest). When we got there it didn’t look like there was anyone waiting for me, so he said he would do his last drop off and on the way back if I was still there he’d give Harry a call.
Nobody came so true to his word 10 minutes later the driver very kindly came back and found Harrys number in his phone book and explained that I had come on the first bus there was. The driver left and advised Harry was on his way. About 10 minutes later a guy in his late 50’s with a beard went past in a van and waved as he u-turned to come over to my side of the street. Harry is of Austrian descent but speaks good English and seems like a pretty up-beat kind of guy.
I explained the hoo haa as I got in the van and he advised me the first bus was at 6am and came straight to Ravenshoe, so global-experience obviously have been giving out the wrong information. We drove for about 10 minutes and then came to a gate, which led to his place which was down a dirt road. He opened the gate and drove in a few feet then got out and closed it behind. We came to another gate a few feet down and repeated the process so I’m guessing animals of some kind roam freely.
On the way I had asked if he had many volunteer with him at the moment and he advised that there was just one other, a 16 year old girl from Germany. She was staying with him for 6 months to learn English and also work with animals. She was in the house when we arrived and seemed very quiet and shy. She had long blonde hair tied back and was a relatively stocky build for a girl her age. He showed me to a caravan to dump my bags then said to go back to the house for some lunch. Myself and Saskia where asked if a sandwich was okay as they hadn’t cooked as they didn’t know if I was coming when I wasn’t there at 9:30am. We had ham and cheese sandwiches and I was shown where things were in the kitchen. After lunch in came Karin who came about 5 years ago but who now lives with Harry, Karin was also German.
Karin then showed me around the grounds. Kangaroos, Wallaroos and wallabies all roamed freely around the large confines of the grounds. There were various Avery’s for the different kinds of birds of prey, owls, lizards, snakes, guinea pigs, cows, you name it he they had them. A lot of the animals that had been there a long time were ones that they were unable to release back into the wild. Some had broken wings that had been allowed to set badly by bad owners or from being in the wild with an injury. Others were new to the place and they were waiting for feathers to re-grow, which could take anything up to a year.
I asked if they needed me to do anything once Id had a look around but was advised that they don’t expect you to the first day its more about getting used to the place. I had a wander round on my own to check everything out and take a few pics then went back to the house. In the house hung on chairs were 4 kind of hand made substitute Kangaroo pouches fitter round a coat hanger so they could be hung up. Inside the four on the backs of chairs were 4 baby’s of different species. Two were Wallaroos, one was a kangaroo and the other a pretty faced wallaroo ( I think that’s right) will check tmrw.
They have a fresh coffee machine in the kitchen that Harry seems to use quite a lot so I had a couple of cups while he chatted to me about the sanctuary. He is going through a big battle at the moment with the local authorities as they came and raided the place and seized the 95 rabbits he had on the property. Apparently rabbits are considered vermin in Oz and it’s illegal to keep them. The problem is that he keeps the rabbits as food for the birds of prey as he has to feed them live food so that they learn to hunt. One of the rules about keeping birds of prey to release back into the wild is that it must be eating 95% of its diet before release of its natural food source. As birds of prey only eat local wildlife or rabbits, and its illegal to hunt the wildlife so he uses rabbits which are enclosed and so no threat to the local community. It seems to be going round in circles as one department is saying the opposite to another etc.
Had beef stroganoff with pasta for dinner, followed by apple pie and cream. Straight after dinner Saskia and me washed the dishes and cleared up and Karen took the 4 baby Roo’s to her caravan to feed them some milk before bed as they need to be fed every few hours when they first come in and have no mother. Some don’t make it, let’s hope these 4 do. Harry explained he gets calls at all times day or night is someone has an injured animal the want to bring in and he takes them from a wide catchment area in Australia as there aren’t many other places like his. No sooner as neighbours finished on the telly at 7pm and everyone was saying Goodnight….WHAT???? I asked what time we had to be up and he said we started work at 7am so obviously get up and shower etc and have breakfast meant about 6am. That explains the early night. I’m sure I will get used to it and the sleep will do me good.
Went to my caravan at 7pm and wrote up my journal, then thought I’d try and get some sleep as up early in the morning for first real days work.
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