With wombats, there is ALWAYS a reason

Ah, makes perfect sense now. Veg has been coming out very early to eat. This meant that something was wrong. We have just gone out and given her an injection and cleaned out her nose. She is bleeding from her nostrils tonight and her chest sounds horrific. She has pneumonia. This is quite common in wombats and if not treated will kill them. So she begins her treatment. Thankfully she is one female which we can still catch. She has come back for help, as they do. So you see, another 'quiet night' - not! Now off to syringe feel Mr Bean who is still not eating or drinking. Thankfully Buzz appears to be thriving and Harry appears to be responding well to treatment for his wounds although his back still has a very prominent arch which indicates pain. Back to it.

Thank you Wayne of Rockla, Tennant Street Fyshwick

Well, I got the most wonderful call this morning. From Wayne of Rockla. He heard what I had to say on the radio and has offered us some pipes, either plastic or concrete. Wayne may have no idea of how much this means to us or how it will help us with the wombats, in particular the injured ones but it will make a HUGE difference to get some help. Maybe its pride or wanting to remain 'quiet' that I don't ask for help but sometimes, when mother nature intervenes, there is only so much two hands can do *lol*. We'll see him on Wednesday but for now, thank you so so much Wayne of Rockla, you have made our day here:).

Where did the weekend go?

The weekends just get absorbed, faster than weekdays I reckon. We have had to start syringe feeding Mr Bean. His wounds are doing better but clearly there is damage to his system and we are not sure whether it includes his spine. One thing with wombats, if they cannot attack head on, they attack the arch of a wombats back from behind (this is because the other wombat is in a submissive position and cannot get away). The damage sometimes penetrates right through the skin and muscle, down to the bone, depending on the severity of the attack. The last male we brought in who had been attacked, you could see how his back was arched even before you got close, which indicated something severely wrong and pain.

Anyhow, we will do what we can as always. And it is 5:58pm and Veg has just turned up to eat from the feeding station!! What the?? She is about 3 hours too early. She must be sleeping under the house again. That is good in a way as she has a touch of pneumonia and we have to inject her so we can do that now, back later.

Mr Bean

As you can see from this wombats back, he has been severely attacked by another male. I might have to start hand feeding him again if he doesn't pick up in his eating habits. He is currently on medication and his wounds are looking a LOT better believe it or not. But I believe this is what the flooding has caused. Lack of burrows due to them collapsing and therefore fighting for territory - increased fighting amongst the males in particular for some reason.

Clean up almost done

Yesterday I slept practically the entire day. I had no energy whatsoever. I presume it is from the last 9 days. We have almost finished things around the house. The enclosures are another story but I have contacted one of our local radio stations for assistance and they are going to come out on Wednesday and see if they can help. We would never normally ask for any help with our volunteer work but under these circumstances, there is only so much you can do.

To add to everybody's frustration with the flood damage, our local council in all their wisdom have apparently been 'watching' the main dirt road deteriorate over a section of the main creek. This has now begun to collapse in a major way, it started last week and by Friday it was not good at all. Council then closed the road Friday morning. What does this now mean - a 35-40km detour to get to the village alone, let alone Canberra or anywhere else. And ironically we received our rates notice in the same week as well, I won't even bother to comment here. I'll comment to council directly instead but yes, that now adds to all the others costs, etc. BUT at least it hasn't rained for 3 days now which has given us time to certainly get things fixed.

Wombat wise, well the burrows are either collapsed or flooded. Doing major work there. The lack of burrows has led one of our males to become incredibly aggressive, due to territory and he has certainly put on of our males in a very bad way. Harry is doing okay though. We got him before the flies did thankfully and he is eating. He is also on medication and resting. We have him in a pipe and have covered the entrances to keep the flies out during the day. Mr Bean is also doing much better. His wounds aren't smelling as much and he is responding well to medication. He has also started to eat again thankfully. Just no more to come in, that would truly push the limits here. Thankfully all the females around appear to be just fine, albeit wet and muddy. It still amazes me as to where they in fact go when this happens. Logs I would imagine.

So now I am just sitting crying. We have had another wombat come in, one of our males Harry. He is a walking skeleton, been attacked but thank god we have him back now. He has had nowhere to go and thankfully has come back to the enclosure area when he heard us working this afternoon but truly, I just feel like we cannot take anymore with this rain. It is just exhausting now. Still cannot get out and its just gotten to me completely. All the cars are banked up from the other properties as they cannot get across the river to their homes.

It will pass, as will my crying but for now, I just feel can we have a break please!!! On top of that, huge financial worries as of course my darling partner has not been able to work in this weather. I know there are plenty of other people in worse situations but this is just going on and on. We are both just shattered and about to be hit yet again by more storms and rain. It all just feels too much right now.

Not impressed with mother nature!

Okay, now I'm just not impressed at all. How much rain does she expect us to cope with! The weather is now causing havoc with the animals, as for the damage it is causing, well, that goes unsaid. Young daughter has cabin fever along with parents, 2 GS puppies - we are all OVER THIS. Took some days off to clean up and fix up things, what a joke as I cannot get outside to do a thing. Yes, a tad grumpy by this stage.

Sun Sun glorious sun

It finally stopped raining at 5:35pm last night! 260mls over 5 days non stop virtually. Yuck. But today the sun was out, what a contrast and it didn't matter about the mud or cleaning up, it was just so so good to see the sun and be able to get outside. We can even see the causeway again:).

Not looking good...

Oh this is not good at all. The water has risen over the causeway 1 metre in about 6min and it is still rising......

And still raining....

We had a short break yesterday and worked like dogs to get things fixed before the next deluge. I now know the meaning of being physically tired. Floods are exhausting to say the least. The wombat attacked is still with us although his wounds are very severe on the back so like Buzz, time will tell but he is at least safe now and dry and warm. Buzz has recovered so well and is doing better every day now. Hard to believe how he came in a few months ago. We have had 215mls so far and counting as it has been raining solid now again for a few hours and that has once again blocked us in completely. If the current rain keeps up, well.........who knows. Certainly won't be going anywhere. You cannot even drive around and see the damage on the property. Next week will be a long week, that is for sure once the rain has stopped. So for now, will continue to make plans to build an ark!!!

Can the sun shine please?

Well, we made it through the last 24 hours with a total of 205mls falling in the last 3 days. And it is still raining now. Wombat wise, well that is just a joke. The enclosures are a bog, burrows flooded, etc. Everybody has a dry pipe to go into and bedding but of course, that is not the same for these creatures. And to top things off, another male badly attacked in this evening so have been cleaning out his wounds. Not sure about him but will have to see how he goes. I am not sure how bad the infection is in his back. Once all the nasties are out and he has rested, I will have a better look but for now the wounds are cleaner and medicated and he is resting. There are those days when you think 'no more please' and it just happens that way. We are all starting to get cabin fever and snapping at each other but that is going to happen I guess when you simply cannot be outside or drive somewhere. Hopefully the waters will subside by tomorrow if there is no heavy rainfall overnight as if they do, I am going to get into my vehicle and get OUT!

Can't sleep

2.10am and cannot sleep. Don't want to go outside either, scared to go and see what is happening with the water levels. Funny how with something like that I prefer not to know. I'll know in a few hours when daylight is here, that is for sure. For now I'm just listening to the rain hammering down.