Page 200 - Mit dem Wohnwagen durch Australien 2

We have visited an animal sanctuary in Ceduna where orphaned Kangaroos and Wombats are reared by a dedicated
couple and their voluntary friends. I get to hold one of the small Joey’s. It is all bones, ears and furs and nuzzles my
shirt. Then the little Kangaroo gets back into the warm pouch made up of an old fleece jacket, gets a little bib with
protein rich formula and promptly falls asleep. The tiny hairy nosed Wombats are treated the same, but as soon as
they get older, they romp around and could run you right off your feet, if you do not have your legs apart, so that they
can run through. Wombats get to be 40 kg have a bony plate at the back under their fur and use it as a weapon.

They can kill a fox just by pressing him to the wall of one of their burrows and could seriously harm humans, if they
were so inclined. In nature they are rather shy and evade human contact. They burrow a labyrinth underground and
have large and long tunnels in between their niches in which they normally live alone. At the age we get to hold
them, they are cuddly and have a soft fur. Wombats are the closest relations to Koala and still have a withered little
thumb on their hind feet from their tree dwelling days.

Our next stay was on Mt. Ive Station on the North side of the Gawler Ranges near Lake Gairdner. On this large,
normally dry, salt lake each year races with Speed cars are held. Some of the world’s fastest Speed records have
been achieved on this blinding white expanse. I stepped on it very gingerly every moment expecting to slip as on
cold wintry ice. But far from it. The salt is a thin coarse crust on the dry lakebed and but I still cannot get rid of the
eerie feeling, that it might crack any moment and I would stand on a floating Iceberg. So I quickly walk back to the
safe shore. Mt. Ive Station is a wonderful place for exploration. We drive out to an area where wombats live. They
dig huge inter connecting burrows. Sometimes the roofs on the tunnels cave in and reveal the extensive building
activities of these night active marsupials. The entry holes range from 20 cm to over 1 m in height and width. We are
glad that they are asleep during the day; they would run us over with no effort at all.

We are puzzled by a sign saying that the donkey needs feeding constantly. We saw a lot of firewood but no hay for
the donkey. It turns out that the donkey is a large old tin container full of water. Underneath it there is a low fire
burning which needs to be fed by long dry logs. This heats the water we use for our hot showers. An ingenious
contraption which was used all over Australia’s Outback in the olden days.

WE FINALLY HAVE GOT OURSELVES A PET!
You know how much we miss our dogs. It goes so far, that we lure stranger’s dogs and cats to our caravan just so
that we can pat them. Beat even bought some dog nibbles to that effect. But it is not the same as having a pet
ourselves. The visiting cats and dogs enjoy the additional attention, but as soon as their owners whistle, they are
straight back with wagging tails. Plus they are not Beagles and only Beagles have those soft, warm ears! There are
animals which would like to live with us. There are the mosquitoes, but they are so greedy. We are not stingy with
pet food but our own blood? I ask you... Flies also have tried to ingratiate themselves. They are not so greedy and
ravenous but each time I stretch out for a well deserved little Siesta there sure is at least one fly who sits on my
nose, ear or other tickly part of me. In short, not an ideal match. They get rather irksome, especially if they bring their
whole family with them. Ants have tried to sneak into ourlives; well they really brought their whole tribe and took
possession of my bathrobe. I only noticed it on my way to the showers, when a burning sensation prickled my back
and arms. I could not tear off the bathrobe there and then, for obvious reasons, what with all the other campers
there. Imagine the headline of the next day’s paper: “Wild Swiss woman doing a native dance in the nude!”I have
certainly broken an Olympic record in short term sprinting with crocs on the feet; so much for ants as friendly pets.
Well, we never actively searched for a pet, after all we are only for a limited time in Australia and what would we do
with it when we leave? Until, a couple of days ago in Minnipa, the incredible just happened. Joy over Joy! It has
simply adopted us. No discussion about it! It is not very big and does not eat a lot. So far it is very unpretentious
almost self-effacing. It is very shy. To tell you the truth, we have not even seen it yet ourselves, but it is here. We are
in no doubt. We have heard it every night. Very discreetly it nibbles and rustles our little mouse. In the first night it
found a forgotten muesli bar in our all and sundries drawer. To be on the safe side we have locked all other tempting
foodstuffs into plastic boxes. Mousy has interpreted this differently, it was everybody for itself. Last night a thoroughly
depressed Mousy has nibbled on one of my antidepressant capsules. Now we house a surely ravenous and lonely
but certainly wildly happy Mousile in the caravan and wait until it gets up enough courage to reveal itself.

We are off Mousy! It does not know how to behave. Imagine, it actually started nibbling on the dog biscuits! What a
conceited little shyster. That is simply not on. A mouse eating like a dog, just think about it.... Next thing we know, it
becomes carnivorous and you know, what that would mean for us! No, it has overstayed its welcome. We have had
it! And it too... One of us has got to go and it’s not going to be me!