A pang of nerves hit Tania Begg as she holds the tinny steady.
She's boating through flooded bushland near Moama, towing a second tinny filled with hay, to reach a mob of stranded kangaroos.
She had never imagined in her 18 years as a wildlife rescuer she would be doing this.
But it was a situation she couldn't ignore.
It is the second time she has made the trip to drop feed to about 80 kangaroos.
Ms Begg can't help but worry about what she will find at the island.
Two weeks ago she was confronted by the sight of 20 dead roos.
"I'm very anxious about what it will look like when I get out there ... whether there has been enough food for them," she said.
The mob of kangaroos became trapped on the patch of land when floodwater hit the region in October.
Residents reported the stranded mob to wildlife rescuers and Ms Begg who runs Terra Mater Wildlife Shelter near Rushworth.
Driven by passion
Ms Begg said it was her mission to keep the animals alive.
Along with her partner, Ms Begg spent thousands of dollars purchasing and fixing up two boats and then planned the route, gained permission from authorities to enter the flooded waterways and organised appropriate feed.
It was a mammoth effort to overcome logistical barriers to make the first feed drop happen.
They have returned every week since.
Now receding floodwater is creating new challenges and limiting boat access.
Ms Begg said her muscles were sore for days after a food drop last week.
She dragged bales of hay and chaff on a cart through muddy bushland and knee-deep water for about a kilometre to drop feed to the mob.
"As soon as the feed was delivered, the kangas were into it," she said.
"They are still desperate for food.
"Without this feed, absolutely they would have died."
Ms Begg said the kangaroos would rely on feed drops for many more weeks or months, as there was no food growing for kilometres in the muddy and bare bushland.
"We are going to have to monitor the population … and keep doing it as long as it takes," she said.
Ms Begg said it appeared that every kangaroo that was alive when they made the first food drop had survived.
She said she felt "a bit overwhelmed" thinking back at what they had achieved.
"When you are at it all the time, you don't realise until you stop, take a breath and go 'holy crap what did we do?'," she said.
"We are saving a huge number of animals all at once and it is quite rewarding."
Helping people too
And it's not just wildlife the couple have been keeping alive.
They met a man named Andy on their travels through the flooded bushland who had been living on top of his car near Echuca after being stranded when water rose.
They have delivered groceries and water to the man and took him on their boat to where he had been camped with all his possessions by the river.
"He said he had seen some boats but no one else had really stopped," Ms Begg said.
Mass species loss
Wildlife Victoria chief executive Lisa Palma fears an entire generation of species has been killed in the Victorian floods.
October, rather than the summer bushfire season, is becoming the new month of concern.
"When you have extreme weather events and things like floods you can literally lose an entire generation of young who are very vulnerable," Ms Palma said.
"It is an invisible toll."
She said wombat burrows would have been flooded, eastern grey kangaroos and wallabies stranded and drowned, and echidnas, snakes and other reptiles exhausted trying to find dry land.
"Kangaroos and wallabies can swim short distances, but their young will drown in the mother's pouch because they are completely submerged," she said.
Ms Palma said her organisation's focus was to monitor populations that needed ongoing support.
"I am deeply concerned about the fate of the remaining animals in a landscape that is stripped of a lot of their food," she said.
Wildlife Victoria has asked the Victorian government to immediately halt the killing of wildlife under the kangaroo harvesting program and Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning permits.
The organisation has also requested the government conduct an independent survey of remaining wildlife.
A Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning spokesperson said while flooding had had localised impacts on kangaroos and their habitat, it did not represent a significant impact on kangaroo numbers.
"Based on our analysis of kangaroo population numbers and control across the state and within flood areas, we have decided not to make any changes to the Kangaroo Harvesting Program or the remaining quota in 2022," the spokesperson said.
"We will continue to monitor the situation and work with relevant groups to make changes if necessary."
