It's the life Chelsea Malloy had dreamt of for as long as she can remember.
One moment, she and the other keepers at the Hunter Valley Wildlife Park could be leaping onto an alligator to harvest eggs during breeding season. The next, they could be delivering an educational talk to visitors, encouraging them to connect with the natural world, or caring for the lions, giraffes or the zebra.
Ms Malloy has worked as a keeper at the Hunter Wildlife Park for a decade.
She said that sense of never knowing what the day might bring is what keeps her coming back every workday.
The Hunter Wildlife Park - once a deer farm and now home to more than 650 native and exotic animals - marked 20 years of conservation and animal care in the region at the weekend.
"When I started the whole back area was just a paddock with rocks and barbary sheep," Ms Malloy said. "Now there are two lion exhibits there, a paddock for the giraffes and zebra. It's amazing."
The sprawling park has grown in the past two decades, she said, but so have the crowds flocking each weekend to take in the rare sights.
"I was lucky as a kid," Ms Malloy said.
"I knew I wanted to be a zookeeper. I loved animals and I had that vision - I knew this was what I wanted to do."
Head curator Daniel Mabbott arrived with the park's founder, Jason Pearson, in 2006.
Mr Mabbott has been one of its principal architects.
In the early days, building the park meant long days and, often, long nights on the ground.
"We used to pretty much live on-site in our swags while we were building," Mr Mabbott said.
"We would get up in the dark and start working, work until after dark, have a campfire, roll our swags out, and get back into it the next day."
He remembered building the park's celebrated lion habitat, and the moment the big cats first set paw on Hunter land.
"When we put the lions in, it changed the place," he said.
"We broke record after record for crowds. Some days we couldn't keep up. We knew it was the beginning of a really exciting chapter."
The exhibits were open and in full swing at the weekend to mark the attraction's 20th anniversary on Sunday, August 30, with a host of special events.
The park's executive chairman, Glenn Willis, said the milestone was a testament to the keepers, volunteers and lifers who had helped build it.
"20 years ago, this park started as little more than an idea," he said. "Today, it's one of the Hunter region's most loved family destinations."
For Ms Malloy, it has been the dream job that keeps on going.
"Every day is so different," she said. "That's what I love about the job. It's hard to put it into words."
"We'll be here for another 20 years."
