What sounded pretty straight forward in the Workaway listing turned out to be anything but. Not in a bad way, just in a very interesting, unusual and intriguing way.
Where to be begin?
Friends, Mark and Jody, drove me all the way to the farm/rescue center. It was a large house sitting on 110 acres and was home to 23 rescue wombats along with lots of ducks, birds, sheep, donkeys, dogs, and wallabies. The couple who own and run the place are in their 70’s. Lyn explained in the first five minutes that she does this work as a payback for surviving leukemia.
The couple also care for two of their grandchildren (I think they are from Don’s children). The children, 5 and 2, live here full time but occasionally visit a parent.
So imagine a house where there is a high chair at the kitchen counter, a busy little 5 year old demanding attention, 12 baby wombats needing to be bottle fed, two very young wallabies needed feedings every four hours, one wombat with an injured foot who needs special care and 6 wombats that are being acclimated to outside so they are carried in and out several times a day. There are more wombats in an outdoor pen.
I went to the house around 8 am to ask if there was something they wanted me to do. The answer was, “It’s a busy day, we have to go into town. Tomorrow we will have a list of chores.” Not the start I was hoping for but I was up for seeing what the next few days would bring.
Okay?? I kept the kids occupied while Lyn got dressed; it was all I could think of to do to be helpful. They needed the kids to be quiet while Don was feeding the wallabies.
Don and Lyn are very friendly, caring people. I haven’t heard the stories behind the grandkids but it is surely one of personal sacrifice.
The smell in the house from the wombats was a bit overwhelming at first. Also, if the wind is right, the smell from the pigpen next to the modified bus where I was staying was knock-your-socks-off bad. Fortunately, the wind was usually in the other direction.
Did I mention the adult kangaroos, former rescue animals, on the back porch feeding from a trough? There was so much going on!
So how did this turn into one of my favorite workaway experiences? Patience and curiosity won over my initial misgivings.
During the week, I got to bottle feed rescued baby wombats, feed the horses and mules and feed mice to the frog mouth owls. I helped sort the donated food that Don collected from local grocery stores. I washed 8 loads of laundry each day to keep up with the soiled bedding from the babies. I learned that baby wombat are very good at untying shoelaces and biting ankles during their brief periods of wakefulness. Every day was filled with work that was meaningful and important to the operation of the rescue center animals.
Most importantly, I came to understand the amazing personal sacrifices made by my hosts. There is no downtime when you are responsible for the wellbeing of animals in need. The sustained dedication that my hosts gave to the animals and their community was inspiring. I was proud to have contributed a tiny bit of effort to support them.
