Crocodiles

A little over a month ago I started to get trained on how to work with crocodiles. This is very exciting as I have really wanted to work with them for some time. I mean, how could I not, the estuarine crocodile is the largest reptile in the world! Here are some pics of the crocs at work:

 Robbie guarding the female "Billabong Belle" while Brad jumps "Snappy Tom"!

Robbie giving "Billabong Belle" a high five! (not really, he was hand feeding her)

 



Brad jumping "Riley", our longest croc at 4.3 meters!


















 Wil's last day at Billabong, hand feeding "Nipper" on land.
                          

Recently Vince, our curator left for a job with parks and wildlife but before he left, he had some fun with "Tipper" aka "Margaret Thrasher", hand feeding her on land.

                                   "Tipper" bit a keeper a while back but she let go... what a sweetie!

"Billabong belle" gracefully jumping into the water.



 

Vince and "Weipa". He can do some really loud jaw slams but he looks pretty bleh. Amazing how much power is still there even in an old crocodile. 

 

 Vince hand feeding Riley on land on his last day.

I have so many pictures of these shows and it never gets old. That is the cool thing about animals, especially large and potentially deadly ones, you never know what's going to happen. :)

Koaaaalas!

People come form all over the world just to look at koalas. They are really cute. Pretty stupid, but cute. Kinda like the Paris Hilton of the animal kingdom. Here are some photos of Bindi, a new mom!

Brand new joey girl! About 22 weeks old.

 Bindi with her joey in the pouch

 The koalas get different branches and types of eucalept everyday but we still like to give them their vitamins. What I'm giving to Bindi is divetalac, it's a supplement and the new joey is very interested!

Bindi and her joey seem pretty curious about my camera...

 Can you think of a better way to start the day than cuddling TWO koalas???!

 

The new joey has just started eating leaves, in about 9 more months she will leave her mom to be a little independent koala!

Billabong Sanctuary

        A while ago I left the RSPCA and started looking for other jobs that focused more on wildlife. After about a month of no trabajo Robbie told me about a position at Billabong Sanctuary where he works! I went and interviewed on my birthday and a week later got the job as a Ranger! It's been really fun and even though it's been packed for the busy season, I still enjoy working with these wonderful animals. Here are some pics of some of my favourites:

Doing a mobile exhibit holding a croc with Ash on the perch.

Chilly morning hanging with Jacko the sulfur crested cockatoo.

Tonka the bare nosed wombat cuddling his wombat teddy.

Roos are always bouncing through the park.

Danni, a real gap volly from the UK and Ash, the red-tailed black cockatoo.

Me and Mojo the Galah

The first echidna I've ever seen, so cute!

 Houdini, my favourite koala riding around on my back while I clean his enclosure.

Robbie flying Yasi, the whistling kite.

 

Three week old red-tailed black cockatoo now being hand raised by my boss!

        Some major improvements in my life as you can see! Not that what I was doing before wasn't any fun, just that I am better suited and qualified for this line of work. New things are always happening at Billabong and especially after Yasi many new enclosures and exhibits will be popping up! I have a new animal adventures everyday and will continue to update you as the fun continues!

Time flies when you are in the busy season.

 It's been a bit since I updated; I am sorry for leaving you in the dark for so long but here is a quick catchup to what is going on in the world of a Dixie Gypsy in Oz:

I had been living in a cruddy neighborhood with a friend for a couple months and finally found a place where I can settle in for bit and be away from the city while close to work and with enough land for horses. I found this place in Alligator Creek, that's right folks, ALLIGATOR creek. Weird. It has it all. It has solar heating and raincatching barrels and bore water plus city water. 2 1/2 acres, a pool, three bedrooms, a large open plan kitchen/living/dining area, a back deck, two verandahs a mango orchard containing 13 mature mango trees, a creek "alligator creek" separating the front and back paddock. A really awesome shed where I can have my reptiles, nice gardens and a chook (chicken) coup minus the fencing, a large house yard for the dogs, a peacock, yeah, a nice handsome peacock named Jorge, mountian views with multicoloured sunsets in the background of jorge flanuting himself in the front paddock, wallabies in the morning and evening, warring kookaburrahs, flocks of lories, several other specie of bird, spectacular star shows at night. Needless to say, massive upgrade, here are the pics:

The side yard looking at our shed and my car "Possum"

From the shed looking to the front yard

Yes, cats in a cage. Ming will not live here.

From the shed looking towards the pool

Nice little pool to cool down in the summer :)

Hammocks and a BBQ on the back verandah

The view from the back deck into the front paddock

The back deck off of my bedroom


So pretty sweet digs! It's only a ten minute drive to work too (I will cover where I work in my next update)!

As a bonus of course, it's only a 15 minute drive to Cungulla beach and when the tide is low you can walk forever... I like to go there with the dogs after work. :)

Life is good.

My last birthday party....

Another year of survival and I've managed to turn 29. Ick, that's just one away from....30. So I've decided this will be my last birthday, not like I'm going to off myself but more in the way of I refuse to turn 30. So go ahead, throw me a party next year, it'll just be my 29th, again.


This year did hold some interesting times as my second birthday in Oz rolled around. My dear friend Carmen came to visit from Brisbane for the weekend.

I met Carmen when she surfed my couch in San Antonio, since then we've been great friends!

Carmen got to hang out with our three dogs while in rockin' Townsville. (left to right) Rosalinda, Kye, and Delta.

As per anyone paying me a visit, I must take them to Magnetic Island for a look and what a lovely day to do so!

 

Having Carmen here for my birthday was pretty awesome and it was great to catch up with such an awesome friend but still.... there was more celebration to be had...

 The following weekend A.J. (my flatmate) and I decided to have a Safari themed fancy dress party. This is the house all decorated with faery lights, balloons and streamers.

A.J. made me a chocolate cake topped with berries and dragonfruit, all from scratch!

Wil and Mel came as Shingleback Skinks

Robbie was a Black-Breasted Kite and I was a Green Fluffy-tailed Lizard

                                         A.J. was a butterfly but it got cold so she had to cocoon up! 

 It was a great party, and we had a lovely menagerie of party animals, unfortunately those pictures are on A.J.'s mum's camera. 

Eagle's Nest Wildlife Hospital

Now that I've told you about where I'm living in the Tablelands, here's a bit about what I do while I'm there.


     Eagle's Nest  is a non-profit organization aimed at rehabilitating and releasing ALL native wildlife. In the recent years it's hit some hard times as a result of the economic crisis and Harry Kunts' (the director) ailing hip that desperately requires surgery. My goal is to get things in ship shape order and keep the place running while Harry goes through surgery. This was supposed to happen in February but since the cyclone the surgery has been pushed back with no new date in sight.

 

In the meantime, here are some of the animals that I get the joy of caring for!

                                                       

 

One of the pea-hens sunning herself with a few wallabies running around in the background.

 There are three types of macro-pods here: pretty face wallabies, a eastern grey kangaroo and a Mareeba rock wallaby. All having a typical relaxed day in the gardens.

 This is a little pretty face joey, he's been a bit humanized so now he wants cuddles instead of running away... to be honest, it's hard to resist!

                      This is a little kestrel, she is non releasable due to a wing injury.

 This is a mutant creature I call the "turken", as you can see it appears to be a cross between a chicken and a turkey... weird.

This is Oscar, the razorback hog. He was originally food but then Harry developed a bond with him and claims he's got more personality than any dog. (I'm not so sure)

Another pretty face wallaby grabbing a snack!

                                    Hanging around the back of the property, more wallabies!

 55 roosters were donated as food for the wedge tailed eagles, this one is a silky and he's my favourite; we're saving him...

 The pride of the sanctuary are two albino blue-winged kookaburras. As you can understand, they wouldn't survive in the wild so they are now permanent residents. They arrived here in '05 and are doing great!

This blue-wing kookaburra may be the oldest in captivity at 25 years. He can't be released due to a broken wing. 

 This is a currawong begging for food. One of the challenges in wildlife caring is separating yourself from the animals so they rely on nature for food, not you.

 This brightly coloured bird is a swamp hen. She also can't be released due to a broken wing.

 This was a female pacific koel (pronounced "coil") that flew in from Papua New Guinea. As you can see, she didn't survive the journey so as the cycle of life continues, she became quoll food.

This is a sooty owl, very shy but had to catch a glimpse of me as I renovated her enclosure. 

 This is a barking owl named "Harry Potter" he is also humanized and will sit on your hand without a glove! The barking owl may be behind the Aboriginal mythical creature the Bunyip. It is said to be an evil water spirit that screams like a woman being murdered and will eat you up!

 

The day starts at 7am and finishes just after 4. Harry has all of the diets listed and is sure to emphasize the importance of giving "wader" to all of the animals.

 I'll end this with a little piece of Harry's wisdom. We could all use this as a guide! ;)