The former St Mary Star of the Sea students wanted to help save the orangutan and spent all January in Borneo working at a rescue sanctuary.

They wanted to volunteer and pay their own way to help Project Orangutan.

Getting there was not easy and initially the work was very hard but they quickly got used to it and had the experience of a lifetime.

“We left on the fourth of January and got back on the third of February,” Ms Cummins said.

“We landed in Malaysian Borneo and we spent the first day on an eight hour drive in the bus going across the border and then we spent eight hours in a boat to get to Indonesian Borneo and we stayed in Ketapang..for three weeks.”

The two 18 year olds had wanted to work in animal conservation generally for a long time and instead of doing something for themselves when they finished school they wanted to do something to help an endangered species.

“We had heard a lot about the plight of the orangutan especially with palm oil plantations...and pet trafficking..when we were at school,” Ms Cummins said.

“We did some research and discovered that we could actually go and volunteer and do some hands on work to help the development of the rehabilitation centre that is already set up (by International Animal Rescue).”

Ms Hauser is about to start studying human geography at UOW and Ms Cummins environmental engineering. They both thought the timing was perfect. And they  enjoyed it so much they want to do more and are both considering doing some fundraising for the cause..

Ms Hauser said much of what they did in Borneo was cleaning up and building facilities for rescued orangutan to sleep in or quarantine areas for babies.

“And we built a massive four metre high feeding platform in the middle of the jungle..that was is use a day after we completed it,” she said.

The work involved trekking through water and fighting off mosquito while carrying planks of wood for the construction of that..as well as a bridge they started working on for a jungle island that will be the home for the final stage of rehabilitation for some orangutans.

They were part of a group of eight from Australia, the United Kingdom and Singapore. The pay your own way volunteer trips run every month and are also the major source of funding for the centre.

“They rescue and release orangutans..when they are fit to go,” Ms Cummins said.

“If they bring in babies without mothers they go to baby pre-school to learn how to survive in the wild.”

There is also a baby school and junior school for different age groups.

And once they are released they are followed and checked on to make sure they are okay.

The volunteers are not allowed to touch the orangutans and had to wear a face mask when they were near because humans can easily transfer disease.

“It was so eye opening working so close to them and understanding how similar they are to us,” Ms Cummins said.

“The things they do are so similar to us. They are so clever. And it is so sad to see a little orangutan with a machete wound on her head and hearing stories about how their mothers were killed. We also saw four in the wild.”

Ms Hauser said they had the same eyes as people and the way they acted was so similar.