|
|
|
South Australia Conservation project - Echidnas Prickly Customers!
The adventure starts as we leave the beautiful city of Adelaide early on Monday morning and drive down to Cape Jervis, about 2 hours away. Once there, we take the ferry over to Kangaroo Island. It's only a short trip across Backstairs Passage, about 45 minutes, but we're fortunate enough to see a pod of dolphins just before arriving at Penneshaw.
Once there, we were met by Mike, one of the Pelican Lagoon Researchers who is also our Team Leader for the week. The 30-minute drive along the coast of Kangaroo Island gives Mike the opportunity to point out some special features and tell us a little of the island's history.
 |
This is one of Australia's most beautiful locations. “KI”, as the locals call it, is paradise on earth with pure air, clean seas and abundant native wildlife.
Among the things many visitors hope to spot are wallabies, goannas, koalas, kangaroos, echidnas, dolphins, sea lions, penguins, fur seals, eagles and glossy-black cockatoos - just to name a few! One of our goals is to help with studying the Short-beaked Echidna, or Spiny Anteater, and we'll be joining world-class researcher Peggy Rismiller who has been working with these beautiful animals for over a decade. The echidna is one of Australia's two monotremes - egg-laying mammals - with the other being the Platypus, and both enigmatic animals are much-loved Australian icons. |
When we arrive at Pelican Lagoon, we are welcomed with morning tea, a safety induction and a briefing on the week's planned activities. We are then allocated sleeping accommodation in continental-style tents which are set up on wooden platforms and are moved around from time-to-time to avoid long-term impact on any one area of the bush. We are delighted to discover we have comfortable beds and we have the bonus of waking up with native animals literally on our doorstep!
The A-frame house which Mike built in the early days incorporates a kitchen, dining area, library and study space, and there are bush showers, a sauna and the dry composting toilets that were built with the help of many former volunteers out of local stone and recycled materials. Artworks incorporated into the stone, wood, concrete, metal and glass works add visual interest and humor as a personal touch from former volunteers.
This friendly possum (plus baby) often drops in at mealtimes to say hello!
Our project starts in earnest when we are given important orientation training in how to find our way around the surrounding bush without getting lost, with Mike pointing out the location markers hanging in the trees, the landmarks and different vegetation types in different areas.
 |
Peggy demonstrates how to radio track the echidnas and, after some practice with the equipment, we get started. This is not an easy task - echidnas blend surprisingly well into any type of vegetation, and can very quickly dig into the ground when they hear people coming and don't want to be found.
It is challenging but really exciting when we do catch up with her, a female that Peggy has been monitoring for 3 years. We get a really close look at the echidna's delicate beak, stomach-fold pouch, turned-around-backwards back feet and those ultra-sharp spines.
We help Peggy weigh the echidna and check the pouch for an egg (no luck) and check the radio antenna is securely glued in place between her spines before releasing the echidna back into the undergrowth. |
The next day we help Mike with an extension to one of the buildings. We learn dry stone wall technique using the local limestone and some carpentry skills, with an emphasis on safe manual handling. It's hard ‘yakka' (that's what Australians call work!), but very rewarding to see the extension start to take shape over the course of the next 4 days. Future teams will continue the work until the extension is completed.
 |
We also clean up the fire-break areas surrounding the Centre's buildings, collecting up bark and leaf litter that we then wheel-barrow out to spread along the wallaby trails that are used as walking tracks. This helps to reduce the fire risk and prevents erosion of the trails. We do just a little bit of weed control up by the public road, but there's a great understorey of native plants (no rabbits here!) so there aren't many weeds to be found. Mike takes time to point out to us the many local bush-tucker species. Clearing roadside weeds - with a great view while we work |
In between project activities, we enjoy time on the beach by the lagoon spotting a few dolphins and sting rays; become avid photographers of beautiful blue fairy wrens, silver-eyes, honey-eaters and rainbow-coloured parrots; hang out in the evenings with families of tammar wallabies, grey kangaroos and brushtail possums on the back porch and learn heaps from Mike and Peggy about the wildlife, the history of the island and low-impact sustainable living options.
All too soon, the week is over. Peggy and Mike thank us for our help and we are all presented with certificates to thank us for the important work we've helped to complete. We have great memories of a week on an island in the Southern Ocean. Mike drives us to Penneshaw to catch the Friday evening ferry which takes us back to Cape Jervis and then drive on to Adelaide. Next week, we'll be on another project, this time heading into the Adelaide Hills for a week of tree planting in Council reserves - another treat in store!
 Further information on the Conservation Volunteers Australia Project
Return to CVA Travel Stories
Return to Australasia Travel Stories
|
|
|
|
