Author:
Beth – @onepennybackpacker
Location:
Horizons Kangaroo Sanctuary, Agnes Water, Queensland, East Coast Australia.
Job:
General labourer for 10 days.
Daily routine:
7am: Dispensing sweet potatoes for the kangaroos breakfast
Poop-a-scooping in feeding areas (they poo a lot!) whilst fending off younger Roos (who just want to play with your scooper).
8am: discuss with the owner the next task. We did numerous jobs across the 10 days: from fencing, shifting dirt/gravel to widen the driveway, creating new parking areas, cleaning the camp kitchen, weeding and raking the paddocks.
Would suit:
Animal lovers of course! But you must also be willing to do physically demanding work, most likely in the Australian heat and getting your hands dirty.
It would suit those that are willing to work hard and give back to a local community. Those who only wish to put in minimum effort will not be greatly received.
Pros:
A unique experience, we learnt so much about kangaroos
Short hours and short commitment (minimum 3 days, 2 hours per day), but the opportunity to stay as long as you like!
Living for free, within 10 minutes to tourist hubs – beaches, surf, restaurants, shops etc.
Free camping
Cons:
You need your own transport to get to the sanctuary and to move around.
It is a small sanctuary and the likelihood of multiple volunteers at once is low, therefore if you’re travelling alone, it could be lonely work and probably more physically demanding if you do it alone.
Limited work if it is raining
Tasks can become mundane over a longer period of volunteer time
You’re living in nature so be prepared for bugs!
Accommodation:
The sanctuary has an on-site campground for electric hook up or non powered camper vans/big rigs/tents. Therefore you are working for a free pitch. With this you also have access to kitchen facilities, proper toilets and showers, dining and social communal areas and of course full access to kangaroos all day!
How did you hear about it:
We found out about the sanctuary through speaking to people on Instagram!
To sum up:
Horizons Kangaroo Sanctuary is run by a couple in their 60’s. For the past 16 years, they have tirelessly worked to rescue over 300 orphaned joeys without a single day off. Each joey costs $2000 to raise to maturity, over a 20 month time period. To help fund this, they set up a campsite and a 1 hour ‘meet the kangaroos experience’. 100% of the money raised goes towards the Roos. When we learnt about the constant hard work this couple selflessly put in for these animals, we knew we wanted to help! The volunteer work that we did each day directly helps the animals by bettering their environment, the public experience (meaning more people will visit) and of course by helping the owners it gives them a well deserved rest. There was nothing better than waking up to kangaroos relaxing by our camper van, following us around as we worked and playing with us by night. We would rate this volunteer experience a 4/5. Find out more here.
Beth:
AKA @onepennybackpacker describes herself as:
Happy-go-lucky, British girl who loves the underwater world, outdoor adventures and meeting new people from all walks of life. Living a low budget lifestyle whilst experiencing everything she can from the countries she visits. Quit her job to travel the world.
Check out her amazing, info packed feed on instagram.