So today is the day that I drive to Hanson Bay at the far end of Kangaroo Island and start the voluntary work that I have booked to do at the animal sanctuary. Until today I have been looking forward to doing this but today I wasn't so sure. My excitement and looking forwardness had disappeared. Anyhow I packed up and hit the highway. The further I got from Kingscote the quieter the road became. I stopped off on the way at Vivonne Bay and admired the beautiful scenery here. It took just over an hour to get to Hanson Bay and I must have seen only about 5 or 6 other vehicles. When I arrived at the Sanctuary I went to the visitors centre and introduced myself. A nice lady called Cat welcomed me and gave me a piece of post that had arrived for me from the UK. Cat was originally from the UK and strangely enough from Wilmslow, only 5 miles away. It's a small world! I had a real coffee (best one that I've had in ages) and Cat told me all about the sanctuary. I then followed her in my camper to the volunteers accommodation and she left me there to chill on my own. This is their volunteer change over day and the other volunteers I was told had gone into Kingscote to drop another volunteer off and to get provisions from the supermarket. They would have picked me up if I hadn't had my own transport. There were no other new volunteers starting today, just me. I was told that there were three other volunteers and that they would be back around 4ish. It was only about 1 o'clock now so I had a mooch down to their koala walk where I saw my first wild koala. It was an amazing sight. They are such beautiful creatures. Anyhow about an hour after that the manager of the sanctuary, James, called by and offered to take me on his rounds with him. He needed to take some rainwater from their big tank to the beach side accommodation that they rent out. The tourists were getting through loads of water and he had to top up their water tank at least a couple of times a day. He was a nice guy, originally from Chelmsford. He came out to Australia about 20 years ago and has never been back to the UK and never wants to. Can't say I blame him when he lives in such a beautiful place. The beach side cabins were in an incredible spot. Hanson Bay itself is very idyllic, beautiful white sand and a turquoise sea. When we were there a mini bus turned up with the other volunteers in. I was introduced to Kim, a guy in his early sixties who looked after the volunteers. He was very friendly and welcoming. The volunteers were Adam from America, Henriette from Denmark and Charlotte from Norway. They seemed nice enough on the surface. We strolled down to the beach. I had a good chat with Kim and the other volunteers went off. It seemed a bit cliquey to me. Henriette talked to me and was okay but the other two ignored me pretty much even when I talked to them. This was beginning to seem like a bad idea but it was very early days We then drove to the volunteers accommodation. I hadn't brought my stuff in earlier as I didn't know where I would be sleeping. I told Kim this and he got Adam to show me. Adam said that I'd be sharing a room with him and showed me where it was. I then went straight out to the camper and brought my stuff in. It took me no longer than about two minutes to do this and when I came out of the bedroom expecting to find everyone else somewhere about I found the house empty. Everybody including Kim had gone, but where to, this was a big place and I didn't know my way round properly yet! No one at all had told me where they were going, I had just been abandoned! This really annoyed me and hurt me too and started what was to become a downward spiral. I sat on the table outside and waited for what must have been half an hour at least! Eventually Kim appeared and told me that the volunteers were at the visitors centre and that the evening meal was eaten there at sixish. No one had thought to tell me this earlier. So I walked over to the visitors centre with Kim. When I got there the other volunteers were sat at a table staring into laptops and iPads and already eating their food. I was about to sit down not knowing where the food came from when Charlotte looked up and said 'in there' pointing to what I found to be was the kitchen door. She said this in a very abrupt manner and I thought 'what a nasty cow'!!! The food was good, fish and chips, but the ambience wasn't. Apart from Henriette and Kim no one talked back to me much. I was beginning to feel a bit isolated and not particularly wanted. To make matters worse an absolutely horrendously **** mix of ****** Christmas music was playing in the background. After tea it was time I found out to feed the kangaroos and wallabies. We walked to an old barn where the food was kept. In one of the wheel barrows there was spotted a huge spider. A really nasty looking one but according to Kim not poisonous. He got rid of it. We collected hay and pellets to feed the animals. The sanctuary has created a huge fenced area. Its aim is not to keep the kangaroos from getting out but to stop other animals from getting in. We took feed for both the inner and outer fence kangaroos. Henriette and myself went to feed the fenced roos whilst the other two went to drop feed for the unfenced animals.The kangaroos were waiting and were very pleased to see us. Some of them are very tame and they ate out of my hand which was wonderful. This was a great experience. After that we all went back to the house. Adam disappeared with Charlotte. My impression was that he fancied her like mad and saw everyone else as getting in the way! To confirm this Kim told me that he thought the same. I had a couple of beers and had a chat with Kim and Henriette and things weren't too bad now. I hoped that tomorrow would be good and that I'd settle in. I didn't have a very good night for a few reasons, a) I missed my cosy camper and found it weird to be sleeping in a building, b) I was in a single bed which isn't good. Adults should never have to sleep in single beds as it's just plain wrong. Single beds are for kids, c) I was sharing a room with an American, d) it got cold and the covers weren't properly warm enough and f) I was ****** off with what had happened today, particularly when I had been abandoned! Let's see what tomorrow brings!!!