Maree Alchin has lived in Kambah for eight years, the steep hills and glorious views of the Urambi Hills Nature Reserve right on her doorstep.
A couple of months ago, she decided to put her regular walks in the reserve to good use.
She signed up as a volunteer with Wombat Rescue NSW/ACT, working on a new project to save the local wombat population from the devastating skin disease mange.
Mange is a cruel affliction. Mites cause allergic reactions and severe itching for the wombats, leading to deep, self-inflicted wounds. Thick skin plaques, caused by the allergic reaction, are painful and constricting for the wombat. The mites also attack the animal's organs, leading to a slow and painful death.
Wombat Rescue founder Yolandi Vermaak and her team of volunteers have been focused on eradicating the mites along local riverfronts.
At Urambi Hills, they are treating the wombats, one by one.
The idea is for the wombats to almost self-administer the medicine as they enter their burrows.
Home-made devices fashioned from a wireframe, ice cream container lid and Vegemite jar lid are installed in front of an active burrow with medicine placed in the smaller lid.
Once the wombat enters or exits their burrow, the medicine dispenses onto their back.
The method is useful when the medicine can't be applied directly to a wombat due to their nocturnal habits or the animal being too flighty.
"It's wildly successful," Yolandi said.
Volunteers like Maree report where the medicine has been used and enter the date into an app, giving Wombat Rescue an idea of where it may need to do more work.
Maree spends an hour every Sunday morning checking the wombat burrows and placing the treatment at the different sites. And she loves it.
"I just wanted to give back to the community," she said.
"It's a lovely walk. Saving animals is right up my alley. And all the ladies are lovely, we have a giggle or two together."
Wombat Rescue was founded in 2018 by Canberra woman Yolandi Vermaak, who is originally from South Africa.
"South Africa is so different, we don't have wildlife roaming so much, we don't have roadkill and you don't do rescues because it's not a thing. Also, the wildlife we do have, wants to eat you so you can't really cuddle them," she said.
"Here, it's so different. There's parrots flying and there's kangaroos hopping everywhere. And then I held a wombat and I thought, 'This is the best thing I've ever done'. So I really love them and felt a big affinity for them but, of course, didn't know much about them.
"Once you do start to learn about them you think, 'Oh, this species is in a bit of trouble'."
Wombat Rescue focuses solely on conservation, treatment, rehabilitation, education and awareness of the bare-nosed wombat.
The organisation cares for wombats orphaned by car accidents and rehomes them in the bush.
But mange is a bigger problem for the wombats and managing its spread is a huge task.
"Mange is our biggest expense and our biggest time commitment," Yolandi said.
Wombat Rescue has four sites for mange treatment - at Urambi Hills, two at Point Hut and Googong.
The female mite that causes mange can lay two to three eggs per day, meaning the mite load on a wombat can increase exponentially.
"It can't survive in sunlight but it can survive in darkness and nice, humid, controlled temperatures - so their burrows are perfect for it," Yolandi said.
"If the wombat scratches the mite off in the sun, it dies within seconds. But if they're in the burrow, those mites can live for three weeks."
Yolandi said the treatment program couldn't work without volunteers.
"Urambi Hills just started to become a really bad hotspot [for mange], we were getting so many reports," she said.
"Then I thought, 'Why don't we enlist the community?'. There's a slight difference with Urambi Hills, we're not sending the volunteers all over the place - this is their patch. and they're proud of it.
"They know Urambi Hills because they walk it every day and feel like those wombats are theirs."
Wombat Rescue runs on donations and volunteers. It doesn't get government support unless it is successful in applying for a grant.
Expenses are high. And sometimes things go wrong.
A live-feed camera Yolandi put near a burrow in Point Hut to monitor a vulnerable wombat was stolen this week after being in place for not even 24 hours. It was labelled Wombat Rescue, but was stolen anyway. The loss of the camera, with a solar panel, cost the organisation about $700
"People suck," she said.
But tomorrow is a new day.
Yolandi is the powerhouse driving Wombat Rescue. Hundreds of wombats owe their life to her. And her work hasn't gone unnoticed.
She is now in the running to be named Australia's Kindest Person.
Yolandi is the ACT finalist in the competition, organised by Black Pepper, the winner to be announced on World Kindness Day, November 13.
"I do think it's very, very nice. Very sweet," she said.
"Any opportunity to talk about wombats and raise that awareness - I'm all for it."