When David Haythorne comes home some days, he’s excited to see a steak on the kitchen bench – but then he finds out it’s actually for the crocodile.
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Billy the saltwater croc is among the family of critters and rescued animals at the Beechworth property belonging to Mr Haythorne and his wife Sue Hiatt.
The couple relocated from Melbourne last year after buying the property in 2014.
Mr Haythorne has been slowly building the home, and a glamorous glamping tent open for accomodation, which is now ready to take bookings.
“We met probably 15 years ago, and we didn’t have any animals, though Sue was a passionate animal lover,” he said.
“She got a job showing animals, so we built a room at home at Ringwood to bring them in and she’d take them to schools and places like that.
“After she wanted to leave that job, I said, ‘You really love it, so why don’t we buy something and start your own business?’
“When we moved up here, we always thought we’d like to do some sort of tourist accomodation.
“It keeps on growing all the time, and now with the rescue, the animals get looked after better than I do.”
Billy has been part of the family since he was rescued by Mrs Hiatt from a leather farm, and he will stay with the couple until he outgrows his enclosure in about 15 years – he will then be released somewhere in North Queensland.
Until then, guests staying in the Beechworth Wildlife Stays glamping tent, which offers a queen bed, bunk beds and full kitchen and bathroom, will be able to check out Billy as he goes about his day.
Mrs Hiatt plans to otherwise open to the public only for pre-booked group sessions.
“We’re not actually going to be open so far as for day visitors; we are open to groups to do an hour show,” she said.
“All the glamping guests will have free rein of them all.
“Our swimming pool has a window joining with his enclosure, so when guests stay here they can jump in the pool, he jumps in his and swims over.”
While Billy might be the most impressive of Mrs Hiatt’s pets, he’s by no means a clear favourite.
“We’ve recently started a wildlife shelter, so we can now take in injured and orphaned wildlife,” she said.
“I’m going to concentrate on reptiles, purely because I know a lot about them, but we’ll take others.
“The room off our bedroom is our own reptile room, with all our snakes and pets.
“I adore Leny the big lace monitor, my baby goats, Carlos the cockatoo ... oh, and David.”
The 278 Buckland Gap Road property will be open to the public this Saturday for tours between 10am and 2pm and there will be three crocodile feedings.