I have found a growing band of people taking to the sky to see the great Australian outdoors from a totally different perspective. But already you’re asking: ‘How does this story relate to me? I don’t fly or own an aeroplane.’

Just 30 kilometres from Melbourne stands an imposing mansion and grounds that are a legacy of Victoria’s early sheep farming boom days. A time when the British migrant squattocracy was more top hat than farm boots and leisure days were made of up of horses for polo and racing, hunting, balls and music.

There are lots of ways to be an environmentalist and whether big or small there are a lot of ways to play your part for the environment. Sometimes helping the environment can sound intimidating but the great outdoors is closer than you think.

I have had driving lights (spotlights) on my 4x4 vehicles for many years, as the standard headlights can only be described as barely adequate at best. Anyone who has done much night driving outside of our major cities and towns will attest to the ever-present threat of ‘kangaroo strikes’.

Because of the huge amount of harm inflicted by feral pigs on crops, vegetation and the landscape across Australia, it makes them fair game for hunters. Indeed pig hunting or wild hog hunting is increasingly gaining popularity all over the world.

In real life, pigs can be looked on as endearing, pottering around in their comical manner. If a farmers’ market featuring livestock comes to town, the pigs, young and old, can be relied on to steal the show in the eyes of observers. But with the decent comes the deplorable. And taking the lead role as villains are the feral pigs of Australia.

The insatiable appetites of feral pigs mean that some staple species of Australian wildlife can face unwelcome harassment and even have their status endangered. Unlikely as it seems, wild pigs have targeted sea turtles as food sources. And their voracious feeding habits are indirectly affecting the fate of koalas.

Nobody tells you that a helicopter creates a cyclone; that even 30 metres away, the growling wind means you have to cling to a swaying tree trunk as its leaves swirl viscously overhead. Nobody explains that the roar of the blades choke the surrounding rainforest into silence.

As part of the Emergency Bushfire and Recovery Appeal, I was invited to accompany the Foundation for Australia’s Most Endangered Species (FAME) on a visit to Kangaroo Island in January 2020. Our first stop was the Western River Refuge where we spoke with representatives from the Kangaroo Island Land for Wildlife Association, which has been working closely with FAME for a number of years to save the critically endangered Kangaroo Island dunnart from extinction.

A tenth of Australia’s mammals have been wiped out forever. They’re gone. And never coming back! Foundation for Australia’s Most Endangered Species Ltd (FAME) is working to prevent further losses. Losing 126 species of native plants and animals since European settlement in 1788 is catastrophic but in 2020 we’re faced with a further 182 endangered species and 201 threatened with extinction. That’s 30 per cent of what remains.