After finally leaving Western Australia and crossing The Nullabor we were keen to spend time exploring The Eyre Peninsula. Getting to be caretakers at Venus Bay Conservation Park for a couple of months was the perfect opportunity!
Across the bay from the “township” where all the other people stay was a conservation park on a peninsula, protected by a 2km-long electric fence to keep out ferals. They had released bilbies and bettongs into the park and had 20+ motion sensor cameras, which we maintained and monitored for sightings of natives, rabbits and the dozen cats still inside the fence.
We had an old farmhouse, several sheds, a mini-pickup truck and a very fancy All Terrain Vehicle, like a little Disney car that could go anywhere. We were entrusted with lots of important jobs to help the very stretched National parks, including driving up and down the 12-km peninsula, collecting all the memory cards from the motion sensor cameras, and examining the pics of all the animals inside the fenceline. We saw lots of bilbies, ‘roos and a few bettongs, as well as feral rabbits and a handful of cats, which they are working hard to eradicate.
We did lots of other interesting things around the property and further afield. Rod even got some photography assignments, including recording some threatened Little Tern nests on a small island on a salt lake and some landscape shots for promotional signage and brochures.
