Stuart - ProfilesArchive

About Me

I'm 28. I've quit my good job at a museum and now I'm travelling in Australia on a journey of penance paying. Three years ago, I visited Australia to help save it's wildlife after finding that European settlers have wiped out half of the country's cute little bouncy creatures. I volunteered in some very remote regions, got eaten alive by tropical bugs, fished on a crocodile infested river, crashed a hire car 300 miles into the outback and survived a cyclone. But it wasn't all good fun. In trying to protect Australia's fragile eco-systems, I also killed 6 endangered animals while driving around with some other volunteers after going to the pub. And whilst trying to construct a pathway through a rare strip of rainforest, I accidentally ran a mini-digger into some sacred aboriginal trees that took 400 years to grow. Now I have returned to Australia to pay back the damage I did on that trip. I'm volunteering again, this time at a wildlife sanctuary that runs the only active breeding programme of the critically endangered quoll in the world. But unfortunately, it looks like all I have done so far is taken off where I left the last time I flew home from Down Under...Check out the blog to see how I'm getting on!

My Interests

I'd like to meet:

Happy people who can read, write and take a bit of an insult every so often. You might also need a sense of humour if you intend to read my blogs, or you might well feel a little bit traumatised.

My Blog

Kakadu Washout

There was one big reason for me travelling all the way from Adelaide to Darwin on the longest train journey I am ever likely to encounter. It was in Darwin that two years ago, my four week wilderness ...
Posted by on Sun, 18 Mar 2007 15:32:00 GMT

Back in Darwin

It's been nearly 3 years since I was last in Darwin. Little has changed, I am pleased to say; the same shops are still in the same places, the same bars are still open til late and the Coles supermark...
Posted by on Mon, 12 Mar 2007 11:24:00 GMT

Leaving the sanctuary

Today is my last day at the wildlife sanctuary. In five hours time, I'll be whisked away on the Ghan cross continental train, 3200 kilometres to Darwin on the north coast. It's been getting pretty col...
Posted by on Fri, 09 Mar 2007 11:43:00 GMT

Back in the city

I've made a big decision over the last few days to stay at Warrawong Sanctuary for another week. The appeal of backpacking around Australia has slowly lessened the longer I have been settled in one pl...
Posted by on Fri, 23 Feb 2007 23:06:00 GMT

Quoll Attack

I've only officially got 3 more days left at the sanctuary. I haven't got a clue what I'm going to do next but staying here has seemed like the safest option for the last few days, to avoid getti...
Posted by on Tue, 20 Feb 2007 17:00:00 GMT

It's not all fun, fun, fun

As you already know from reading yesterday's entry, I spent the day yesterday wandering around Adelaide in 40 degree heat and it was actually so hot that I more or less had the whole city to myself. I...
Posted by on Sat, 17 Feb 2007 18:47:00 GMT

Things don't always go to plan...

I'm having a bit of a nightmare today. Even typing is being a bit of a problem; you wouldn't believe this but it has already taken 5 minutes to write these first few words. I blame it on the heat. It'...
Posted by on Sat, 17 Feb 2007 13:10:00 GMT

4 weeks in, 2 animals dead.

I've survived my first 5 weeks working at a wildlife sanctuary in the Adelaide Hills of South Australia. It hadn't been entirely as I had expected for the first week. I was expecting that having arran...
Posted by on Mon, 12 Feb 2007 17:42:00 GMT