Episode 4 Kangaroo Dundee

HE MIMICS KANGAROO CALL

Deep in the heart of Central Australia

lives a family like no other.

This is Brolga...

a man who has sacrificed everything to give orphaned kangaroos

a second chance at life.

Some people, they think that's a bit strange,

a bloke being a mum to an orphaned kangaroo.

But I do it because I see what other people don't see.

I see that little joey call out for help.

From his tin shack hidden in the bush,

Brolga raises his babies until they're ready to be released.

Just as with any family, each new day brings fresh challenges.

Mad as a cut snake, you are, mate!

Tonight, we catch-up with Cynthia and a joey who's growing up fast.

He's a little bit like a little Buddha, actually,

he's got quite a fat tummy, so...

Ruby develops a drinking problem.

Little Ruby's taken the milk down the wrong way which is a big problem.

It's an emergency - a real emergency.

And Brolga moves mountains for troublesome teenage wallaby, Rocky.

-Ah, here we go.

-SHATTERING

He is mischief all over.

He's actually got worse and worse.

Welcome to the world of Kangaroo Dundee.

It's morning in the outback

and a busy time of day for Brolga.

Orphan joeys Rex and Ruby are on a training programme to get them

fit enough to live with the other kangaroos at his sanctuary.

And Brolga knows it's important to stick to a strict timetable.

But it's in the cool of morning,

or the late afternoon around sunset, that you'd often see

a little baby their size having a run with its mother close by.

That's why I'm giving Rex and Ruby just a little hop of

about ten minutes in the cool of the morning.

Hopping practice is just one of Brolga's daily duties.

But this kangaroo mum wouldn't have it any other way.

'Having a baby kangaroo, a little orphan is...

'It really takes as much of your time and energy

'to look after as a newborn child.'

So, when people have asked me,

"Am I going to have children of my own, like human children?"

I sort of feel like I've been doing it for years anyway,

just with, but with little baby kangaroos.

Today, the joeys have had enough of hopping.

And decide it's time for a spot of preening instead.

Ruby uses her big feet to get to those hard to reach places.

Whereas Rex's technique is a little less elegant.

These two joeys have always been model pupils.

-But ten miles away in Alice Springs...

-Ow!

..Brolga's friend Anne-Marie has a houseguest

who isn't so cooperative...

..wayward wallaby, Rocky.

Don't bite. Don't bite.

This is Rocky and he's my little black-footed rock-wallaby.

I've got a room out the back for him

and he's got shelves and he can bounce all over those.

But he's started pulling the paint and eating the cornices in there

as well and I'm like, "Oh, my God. "What am I going to do?" Y'know?

He's at the point where he's got to go and be a wild animal.

He's got to realise that he's actually a wallaby

and he doesn't live in a house.

No! Don't...don't eat my nails!

Brolga's offered to take on the tearaway,

and time is of the essence.

Ay. Don't!

The wallaby's relationship with Anne-Marie

is starting to hit the rocks.

Don't bite!

Brolga's promised to build him his very own enclosure at the sanctuary.

Without it, Rocky will have nowhere to go.

No-one else is willing to do this for Rocky.

But I am.

"Have I taken on more than I can chew?"

That's what's going through my head.

People must look at me and think this guy's a complete nutter.

Brolga's never looked after a Rock Wallaby before.

The kangaroos he usually cares for are at home

in the flat desert scrub of his 90-acre sanctuary...

whereas Rocky belongs in the mountains.

But, before he can be released, he needs to get used to the

unfamiliar terrain - or he won't have the skills he needs to survive.

So, Brolga has to create a habitat from scratch.

If I don't do this, Rocky has no future.

So, I've just got to build him a beautiful rockery

so he can hop up, become agile, become strong,

rehab him to get him back to the bush.

That's all I'm seeing.

The building materials for Rocky's rockery have just arrived...

..a lorry load of Australian sandstone.

Rocky's rehab isn't coming cheap...

It's always been a financial struggle for me,

having the sanctuary.

I've always put everything into keeping the animals safe.

Every last penny I have is for the sanctuary.

And now here I am today, bringing in these materials that have

cost me in excess of 5,000 or 6,000.

That's a huge financial strain.

It's a lot of money for a man who's spent the last few years

living in a shack.

So, Brolga's been scouring the sanctuary for things he can recycle.

You've got to make do with what you've got out here

and I've had this aviary for a few years.

It's going to be the central part of Rocky's enclosure.

I'm going to stack rocks up against the solid walls of the aviary.

And that will give us some foundation for a little mountain.

Something that he can climb up and down.

Just like being up in the mountains.

I have to put my head down now and build his enclosure.

The first stage of the build is to get the aviary into position.

It's only just hitting me now

because I've started to take down the fence.

My dog proof fence.

Something I spent so much time on to keep the dogs out,

I've got to cut away a little part of it to allow a truck in to

move this massive aviary down into the sanctuary.

Operation Rocky is under way.

They need to work fast.

With the fence down, there's a chance the kangaroos could escape.

Mission accomplished.

But there's still the small issue of moving some very big rocks.

But that will have to wait.

It's Rex and Ruby's dinner time.

In the wild, they'd have constant access to milk from their mothers.

So, this is the joeys' favourite time of day.

These two little ones love their milk. Now milk is their life.

If they ran away I could start stirring their milk with

an empty bowl and a fork and they'll coming running out of the bushes.

It's six hours since Ruby's last feed, and she's very hungry.

And when Ruby's hungry...

She bolts her food.

Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

That's not good. Quick. Out.

It's a common problem for bottle-fed joeys,

and can have dangerous consequences.

Drain it out.

HE CLICKS HIS TONGUE

It's an emergency. A real emergency.

Little Ruby's taken the milk down the wrong way,

which is a big problem.

Whenever this happens you've got to quickly stop feeding.

Drain the milk out, otherwise the milk can get into the lungs

and pneumonia could develop later on.

Gravity will force the milk to drain.

So, you've got to be on the ball when you're feeding a joey.

HE CLICKS TONGUE

All gone? Um?

Just listen to her chest.

It's clean. Clear. No wheezing.

Bit of an emergency, wasn't it?

It's also feeding time in Alice Springs

for four-month-old orphan, Mark.

OK. Come on, young man, back to bed.

He's being cared for by Brolga's friend Cynthia Lynch.

That's a good boy.

Oh, you're getting such a big boy, aren't you?

Look at that, a little bit of hair there too.

Yes!

All right, your bottle's coming. Just give it a minute.

When Cynthia took Mark in a month ago,

he was so frail, the odds were stacked against him.

Come on, little man. Is this what you're after?

Ah, thank you, grandma. Yes.

Since then, Mark's almost doubled in weight, and is growing up fast.

He's got his eyes open.

He's practised very hard and now got his ears right up.

And so far he's doing very, very well, except he's a bit greedy.

A little bit like a little Buddha, actually,

he's got quite a fat tummy.

Come on.

Back to bed.

Full tummy.

There we are.

Sweet dreams.

Mark will have to stay in the incubator

until he has enough fur to keep him warm.

At the moment, a lot of his energy is going into growing hair and fur

and, once he gets his hair, he will really start to put the weight on.

Soon, Mark will graduate to life outside Cynthia's incubator,

and he's already getting impatient.

The hope is to one day release Mark into the wild,

and Cynthia's feeling optimistic.

There shouldn't be any reason why Mark shouldn't continue to

progress now and start to make big leaps and bounds.

Back in the bush, it's nap time for Rex and Ruby.

Outside, Brolga's got a mountain to move.

To get the boulders into position, he's hired an earth mover.

It's a big job...

..but there's a small problem.

Oh!

HE GROANS

Uh!

Bit of a slight technical issue.

This is a problem I often face.

I don't fit in things very well.

Part of the problem of being six foot seven.

So, I might have to ring one of my mates, get them on the blower and...

My mate Danny said he's had a bit of experience in the past with

a machine like this.

I'm just not going to be able to do it

and I really got to get Rocky's enclosure built.

At least the rocks up today, I've only hired this for one day,

that's all I could afford.

Ahh.

While he waits for reinforcements,

Brolga sets off to see a friend, in the hope of finding

the final flourishes he needs for Rocky's enclosure.

-G'day, old mate.

-Hey.

'A hoarder to some, Gonno prefers to think of himself

'as an avid recycler...

'of absolutely everything.'

Everything in the outback is in your backyard.

True! That's all right.

I need some good logs.

I've got heaps of them, actually, as you can see.

Gees, man. That's a lot of timber.

So, yeah, no, I mean, basically what I'm after is some good ones

like this long one here, er, maybe some of the smaller ones.

I've got to really test this little Rock Wallaby.

I've got to make him stretch and weave and duck and dive,

and a few big logs, with a few big rocks and...

-Best of gear!

-..basically, make him climb.

He's been in the house his whole life until now,

his young life and we've got to try and get him back to the bush.

But he's not going to be tough if he's bouncing over cushions.

-That'll be perfect.

-Yeah, no, this'll be great.

Exercise and things.

Do you need all these logs or can I have a few of them?

-You can have it all, if you like.

-Fair dinkum.

All for free. 100% discount.

Because it's Saturday.

Ah, Saturday discount!

Yeah, yeah. Number one.

-Whatever snakes is underneath you take too.

-Oh!

Back at the sanctuary, with Brolga's friend, Danny, in the driving seat,

building can finally begin.

These rocks will form Rocky's main climbing area.

Put him in that gap there.

So, they need to be very stable.

Beautiful!

Good, good, good, good, good.

Right there, old timer.

There are no "how to" books on mountain building.

Would you like it there?

I can't see anything.

All right.

It's a case of trial and error.

Hey!

That's terrible.

-No, that's good. That's good. No worries.

-Sorry.

It stops the cage from going anywhere.

It's the middle of the day, and almost 30 degrees Celsius.

But with only a few hours of digger hire left,

Danny and Brolga must soldier on.

Out in the sanctuary, the kangaroos have other ideas.

They're preparing for a siesta.

They dig their beds under trees.

And follow the shadow, as it moves through the hottest part of the day.

It's a good way of saving energy and avoiding dehydration.

They'll snooze like this until sundown.

Back at the shack, Rex and Ruby are getting into the swing

of this siesta business.

But whilst their clocks are set to kangaroo time...

..for mum Brolga, there's no chance to rest.

Whoa!

Brolga and Danny have been working solidly for hours.

Right.

With tiredness creeping in...

..the last piece finally falls into place.

Is it OK?

'This is the biggest challenge I've undertaken

'in trying to rehabilitate

'an individual animal.'

I had envisaged building a mountain, but,

that was really unrealistic.

But, what I've built is a small mountain.

It will give Rocky challenges.

Little Rocky, until now, has only been hopping on,

well, cushions and pillows in Anne-Marie's house.

Now's the time to bound over these logs and these rocks

and toughen up the pads on his feet, get him

ready for the mountains when I release him.

Finally finished, this is Rocky's mountain.

30 hay bales...

a trailer load of timber...

and a truck-full of rock...

But there's one last hurdle to clear...

Hopefully, you'll like it out here...

..Anne-Marie's inspection.

She's got to be happy before Rocky can move in.

Well, I think it's amazing. He's going to be absolutely... Hah!

Wow!

-Not bad, Eh?

-Oh!

Rocky's going to have a field day.

Yes. I built it with...

..it in mind to challenge him, you know?

Like make it a...make it a wallaby playground.

Rocky is going to love it. You've done an amazing job.

This is fabulous.

Thank you.

Yeah, no. He's got so much he can do.

He really has.

He will hopefully...now, his natural instincts will kick in.

He'll come down from the top, bom, bom, bom, into his little cave.

Yeah. He's got a lot of his natural instincts,

but he just needs to get out in the real world like this y'know,

like where he belongs and this is a great start for him.

It is amazing.

I feel good about him going.

-Oh, good.

-You know?

Brolga's mountain has received Anne-Marie's approval.

Soon, Rocky will have a new home.

After a snoozy afternoon, Rex and Ruby are now wide awake,

so Brolga decides it's time for their first night time hop.

Kangaroos are usually active at night,

so it's important that the joeys get used to being out after dark.

Normally the more timid of the two, tonight, Ruby leads the way.

CRICKETS CHIRRUP

Rex hangs back.

HE CLICKS HIS TONGUE

Their eyesight is good, but their hearing is exceptional.

So, before they go too far,

it's important to listen out for potential predators.

CRICKETS CHIRRUP

Ruby decides the coast is clear.

Rex isn't so sure

and thinks it's safer inside with Mum.

HE CLICKS HIS TONGUE

Tonight, Ruby wins her first badge for bravery.

With the joeys safely back inside,

Brolga heads out to pick up his newest recruit.

OK, Rocky's in here so let's do it quickly.

Alrighty. He's having a bit of a feed.

-Good day, old mate.

-As you can see, he loves my plants.

Even with Rocky in a confined space, capturing him

still isn't going to be easy.

Stay there, stay there, stay there.

Ow!

-Oh, here we go. Loves the clothes basket.

-Does he?

He loves everything about the house.

Oh, mate, he is mischief all over.

Mischief and he's actually got worse and worse.

And he is being very destructive.

I mean, he gets in the washing machine.

It seems Rocky's decided that he isn't going to go quietly.

Oh, there he goes. Ha, ha!

Yeah, there's nothing stops him, if he wants to do it, he does it.

-Yeah, OK.

-Yeah.

SHATTERING

Grab his tail. Grab his tail.

Oh! SHATTERING

I think he's definitely outgrown your house.

OK, darling.

Reluctant Rocky has finally agreed to go.

It's time for this troublesome teen to leave home.

And this is his little wallaby.

He had to have his own wallaby.

So, we'll send that with him as well.

Yeah, all right.

All right, my darling.

All right?

SHE SIGHS

It's definitely like giving away one of my babies.

It's like he knows. He's quite happy in there.

He's on an adventure.

All right, let's do this because I'm getting all...

-All right?

-Thank you very much, Brolga.

I trust you so much with this.

And I know you will look after him.

Yep, I will, I will.

Bye-bye, baby.

Thank you again, Brolga.

No worries. See you, mate.

See you, doll. Take care.

-You too.

-See you, Rocky!

Oh, no.

Wow. That was a pretty hard thing to do.

Since he was rescued eight months ago,

Rocky has never been away from Anne-Marie.

Now, he's swapping her bungalow for a new home, in the bush.

For Rocky, as for every animal here,

arriving at Brolga's sanctuary marks the start of a new life.

The plan is that, one day, Rocky will roam free

in the mountain ranges of Central Australia.

And Brolga's hoping that his mini-mountain

will help get him there.

It's the moment of truth.

Hello.

Time to see if Rocky likes his new home.

It's an exciting day because we've finished

and Rocky's jumping up and down like a kid in a playground.

And that's why it's worth it.

You can almost see in Rocky the excitement on his face.

You can almost see his little mouth smiling at having an adventure.

Oh, it's fantastic to see.

I put a lot of time into getting it right, making it,

giving him some challenges and some pitfalls

and some little caves and crevices.

So, to see Rocky jumping up and down like this is really exciting.

It's so great when a plan comes together.

He's got the skills.

He's got the adaptions in his body,

and just watching him bound over just now,

climbs up them with such agility, that's just natural.

I mean, he hasn't bounded over rocks before,

but he just knows where to put his feet.

It's amazing to watch.

For Rocky, today marks his first big step on the road back to the wild.

'At the moment, he's a baby.

'He's been loved by Anne-Marie

'and she's done a fantastic job getting him to where he is now.

'Now, it's my turn to take over.'

I want to be in the background.

I don't want to take over from Anne-Marie.

No more cuddling. No more handling.

It's time for Rocky to become wild.

That's great.

Fair dinkum, that's beautiful.

Next time on Kangaroo Dundee...

DOGS BARK

It's red alert as Brolga's mob comes under attack.

Get away from my sanctuary. You're not welcome.

Look at that. Oh.

We meet a joey who's itching for a bath.

I reckon if I looked like this I'd probably scratch a bit too.

And Brolga gets a new set of small, furry friends.

Inside the walls of the shack are hundreds of mice.

I check my boots in the morning and a couple of mice come out,

they've been housing in there during the night.