Blogging Challenge - Dream job!

Haha I love this blogging prompt, because I have already blogged about it so many times. If you check out my other blog http://www.neverdoubtnature.blogspot.com.au/ in due time.... you will notice the How I got here: studying Zoology post which pretty much sums everything up.

But as that post isn't up quite yet, I will just tell you that my dream job isn't really specific - but it would be anything to do with Australian animals! 

My dream workplace would be Healesville Sanctuary in Victoria, as I grew up visiting there and have always admired the work every department at this zoo does for Australian wildlife.

Volunteering for Zoos Victoria

KK

The story of Adam, my spotted python.

This is not a story about Adam and Eve, this is a story about one person they may have created.

Wildlife affects the best of us. As humans, we can only begin to understand the lives of our wildlife. One person who appreciated this, was a good friend to animals of all kinds. He was one in a million.

In 2009 I managed to get a work experience placement at Melbourne Zoo*. Having to apply a year before gave me the anticipation of getting a reply, but when I found out that I had successfully received a one week work placement, I was thrilled. The placement turned out to be life changing…

On my first day, I arrived at the zoo after a night of no sleep and an early start. My wonderful mother took me every morning, cutting a long hour out of her day! My equally wonderful father bought me home every night, cutting a slightly shorter fifty minutes out of his day. Walking through that entrance with no one else around made me leap! I was finally going to discover how the behind the scene of a zoo works! After orientation, I was introduced to all of the keepers, including Adam, an exchange keeper from San Diego zoo in the United States of America. He had been keeper of the hoofed animals and swapped with the kangaroo keeper at Melbourne zoo for a couple of months. Naturally he wanted to work with one of our national icons!

These were some of the beautiful creatures I worked with:

As the days went by, I managed to learn a great deal from the zoo keepers and in particular, Adam. It was only a matter of time before we became friends. I don’t know whether it was his good natured, American charm or the fact that we were both in a new world sharing an interest in animals, but day to day things were fresh and exciting.

Although I make it sound like weeks and weeks, my time as a keeper at Melbourne zoo only lasted five days. Adam and I exchanged emails and went our separate ways. He went back to America and I went back to Gippsland, Victoria.

We continued emailing for a long time and I would often have a reply waiting for me in the morning. We discussed things we’d read about animals and the blogs we had written he told me his day to day life at the zoo which I found absolutely fascinating!

Unfortunately, after about a year of continuous emails, they started to become less and less frequent. When the invention of the controversial ‘Facebook*’ came into the line of fire, I, already a member, tried searching for Adam. I couldn't find him and I smiled at the thought that he was just too good for technology. Then something caught me in the corner of my eye. It was an article reading Adam ***. I clicked on it, curious that he was in the news. But what I was about to find out made my heart skip a beat.

The American article stated that a young, zoo keeper had been killed in a car accident on a busy Highway. The man had parked his car on the side of the road and walked into oncoming traffic. Several cars had hit him and the man died at the scene. I was gob-smacked. All I could feel was a sharp pang in my side and I was shaking.  I searched and searched until I found a picture. It was Adam alright. The happy-go-lucky zoo keeper from California had been killed by a car. adam-ruble.html

Searching through ‘Facebook*’ I found a page dedicated to him. I wasn't surprised, Adam was an upstanding man, with a true heart of gold. There was no doubt many people loved him. I wrote a little something and wrote a blog about him. rest-in-peace-adam-ruble.html

I was sad for the next couple of days and my birthday was coming up. I had asked my dad, an equally kind, animal fanatic, for a python for my birthday. I had a little spotted, children’s python on hold at the local pet shop and was taken by him. I had a think about it and decided that it was only fitting to name my python Adam. word-on-spotted-python adam-snake

Adam the python is a little fighter. He watches and listens like a python should and goes about his day to day life. He has a beautiful sheen in the sun and grows a little every day.

Little does Adam the python know, he is named after a man who lived vicariously. It just goes to show that you really should make the most out of every day, Adam did and he will be remembered for it.

Update 2014,

I was no longer able to keep Adam, the python and I had to give him away to a friend :( It is upsetting, but Uni, moving house and life got in the way. However, both Adam's will forever be in my heart.

RIP and forever loved

KK

animals, animals, animals!

Everyone who knows me, know that animals are my passion, yet I don't talk about them too much on here.... 

Growing up I used to play with spiders and help my dad feed his exotic parrots and other birds on our 2 acre farm. I would waddle around in my gumboots and just be fascinated by the world around me, it was very rare that you would find me inside even in the rain!

 The zoo was always my favourite place to go, closely followed by the aquarium, farms, the country and anywhere outdoors. I was never a thrill seeker, but I was always looking for animals, always outdoors.

 My dad has always been a great role model when it came to my passion for animals. My dad grew up loving this country as much as me, only he grew up in a time where he regularly spotted native wildlife everywhere he went, animals were so abundant, that its hard to believe, magpies and crows are probably the most common native animals we'll see these days. Dad also used to take me before dawn in the mornings when I was under 10 years old and drive the hour drive to a country region where the Toorongo river ran. Here we used to lye on the bank of the river and wait. This is one of the reasons why the platypus is my favourite animal. The awe that I treasure from these trips, was only the beginning of my enormous passion for Australia, Australian wildlife, Animal and the land, all of its elements and plants.

 I was always fascinated by the aquariums and river ecosystems, etc. I visited, because as I grew older I became scared of the ocean, I loved inland rivers and creeks, but to me the ocean become an amazing, but daunting, mythical place where I was happy to let secrets stay buried. I feel the same about outer space.

 Although my passion is Australian wildlife and I hope to end up working at Healesville Sanctuary Victoria one day, I have also worked at Melbourne Zoo, I volunteer at Werribee Open Range Zoo and Currumbin Sanctuary in Queensland. I love all animals great and small and I adore Australian animals, especially the platypus and Australian reptiles....

 I love domestic animals and livestock too, my dogs are my life, the time I spend with them are often the most precious moments I can remember and still are to this day, watching them play is utter bliss for me and playing with them, cuddling them and watching them in their day to day lives is just what life is about for me!

 I love cattle, horses, sheep and goats among other livestock, although I haven't had a chance to spend much time with them, I hope to one day.

Animals, animals, animals  - they'll always be my love and my passion, i am just excited to see where else they'll take me!

KK xoxo