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ABC News
ABC News
National
Sally Bryant and Michael Condon

Handyman hops to it after kangaroo falls through roof and floods motel

One of the hazards of underground living is the question of who might drop in.

It's not your average repair job — wrangling a kangaroo, fixing the skylight it had just fallen through, and then making the roof wildlife-proof.

It's all part of being the maintenance man at the White Cliffs Underground Motel in far western New South Wales.

It's a job Peter Crawford combines with prospecting in the nearby opal fields.

The motel is a series of caves built into the side of a rocky hill, with glass skylights in the ceiling opening to the outside.

Mr Crawford got a call after a kangaroo fell through one of these skylights and created havoc in the corridors.

"There was water everywhere because it had jumped into the sink and turned on the taps," he said.

"I got a broom and gently ushered it back out of the motel, and then I started the clean-up."

So to prevent any more non-paying guests from dropping in, Mr Crawford decided to fence off the roof.

White Cliffs is an opal mining town and centre for a community of pastoral leases, where farmers run sheep, cattle and goats.

Domestic and international visitors are drawn to the experience of living underground the way many locals do, sheltered from the stifling heat outside.

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