Walkabout Warriors - People Helping Wildlife

You do have to do at least 2 shifts every week. You will need to do make-up shifts if you miss a regular shift.

To get the full experience, you will need to do at least 2 shifts per week and do make-up shifts if you miss a regular shift. If you are happy to have a narrower focus, you may be considered for 1 shift per week. 

We don't have a maintenance team, just our Director (Gerald) with whatever help he can get. We have a tiny team of occasional volunteers to help, otherwise it's usually Gerald on his own, or with help from the rangers. There are always things that need to be fixed. We do have to make do, rather than buy new, so this work is endless. And sometimes we build new things. If you're handy with tools and want to help and enjoy a sometimes slightly chaotic (at least, for the maintenance crew,) workplace, we need you.

Every day, we spend between 2 and 4 hours preparing food for the animals. Each species has its own "menu card". Every species is different. Counting all the birds, reptiles, mammals and frogs in our care, we have to prepare a balanced diet for over 250 animals (more than 60 species).

We do 3 kinds of food prep - Dry foods (grains and grasses), Meat (for our carnivores and omnivores), and Fruit & Vegetables. As well as chopping food, weighing it out and defrosting what's needed, we also have to manage the stores.

Three times a week we do "food sort" - this takes up to 2 hours - where we sort the donated foods we pick up from Coles and Woolworths, separate out what the animals need from the foods they can't eat, do "stock rotation" in our walk-in fridge and freezer, and store and label the food.

And then, of course, is the cleaning. Washing dishes, cleaning the store shelves and the food prep tables, mopping the floor, and packing everything away (until the next day). 

We really need your help!

We are planning to trial a "hop-on-hop-off" walkabout to introduce the visitors to our sanctuary. Some walkabouts will be about our animals and their stories. Other walkabouts may be bushwalks along the tracks, looking at the trees and the bugs and all the wild drama that is often invisible if you don't stop and look for it. You don't need to be an expert (our rangers can answer visitors' more technical questions). You just need to like people, be fascinated by the world around us, and tell a good story.

Weed control is an ongoing problem for us. There are some particularly nasty non-Australian weeds that are dangerous for our animals, so getting rid of them is an ongoing priority. If you like to spend time in the bush, with gentle animals around to keep you company, you may want to help us with weed control. Our resident volunteer ecologist Dom will give you the necessary training to remove the weeds safely (safely for people and animals). 

Our 5km of bush tracks and trails are constantly being affected by wild nature and people. Tree branches grow across the tracks, weeds emerge, roots get exposed as the ground wears away, the edging logs get eaten by termites, people drop litter, and bins need to be emptied. Keeping our tracks in good repair is pretty physical, and very satisfying. 

We check our 3km perimeter fence every day to make sure it is doing its job of keeping our animals safe. The walk is mostly flat, but there is one steep rocky climb that is a bit awkward to get up. We check the power is on and working. We check for erosion and diggings at the base. We check for tree branches leaning against the fence. We check for weeds affecting the integrity of the apron. We check for gradual wear and tear as well as sudden damaging events (especially after storms). We do minor repairs while we are out there, and schedule in the bigger work with the maintenace crew.

We use old towels and doonas for many of our animals, as well as cloths for cleaning and special bags for babies. We do between 3 and 10 loads of washing every day. We machine wash, hang it out on the line, bring it in, sort it and pack it away. Can you help with this?

We don't have a cleaning crew. Our rangers prepare cabins for our overnight guests, make beds, do the laundry, and all the fun housekeeping stuff. We'd love to have some help so we can keep the pressure of cleaning people's accommodation and laundry off the rangers, so they can focus on cleaning the animals' accommodation and laundry. Guests staying overnight, in cabins and the bunkhouse, are a very important income source for our animals.