The early starts and long hours. The expensive medicines and food.

The inability to take a holiday, coupled with the itching from mange.

But then Roz Holme looks into the eyes of a healthy and happy bare-nosed wombat, which would otherwise have been euthanised, and recognises the sacrifices are worth it.

"Yes, you get mange yourself and it's contagious, but once you see how well they get and how much they trust you - and it's a wild animal - you think, they really did want to be saved," Roz said.

"They start to play with you and cuddle you.

"I don't give up on them easily."

Having grown up "in the bush", Cedar Creek's Roz and Kev Holme have looked after wildlife all of their lives. But for the past 30 years, the plight of the bare-nosed wombat - through loss of habitat, road hazards, and debilitating sarcoptic mange - has driven them to provide treatment and a sanctuary for these creatures.

Their 200-acre property near Wollombi is a safe haven for wombats and other wildlife.

There is no livestock on the land. No dogs, no cats.

"A lot of people were just euthanising the wombats," Roz, a trained vet nurse, said, "when often they can be saved."

Roz also trains vet students, because many don't get trained in wildlife care otherwise.

Roz and Kev, along with vet Robin Crisman, operate from their portable hospital - a caravan - when necessary.

They are in the process of raising money to build a large, free-standing hospital for the wombats.

"There's just not a lot of room in a caravan," she said.

They also do parrot rescue.

"I've got 10 aviaries," Roz said.

Every morning, seven days a week, Roz is up at 5am to give the animals their medicine and clean out their pens.

"When I've got a wombat with mange in, everything in that pen has to be pulled out and burned," she said.

"Everything has to be sterilised.

"I always make sure the hospital is ready to go for the next emergency.

"Then it's food time. I spend hours cutting up fruit and vegetables for the animals.

"I don't even cook any more, my wonderful husband does it."

If Roz has a particularly sick wombat in a humidity crib, she doesn't sleep. Sometimes she wonders whether she is doing the right thing keeping them alive.

"But, when you see them well again, I always think, 'I'm so glad I gave you a go'," she said.

"When they turn that corner and you realise you'll be able to release them back - healthy - into the bush, that is the best feeling.

"A few times I've thought about retiring, then I'd look at another sick wombat, and think, 'Nuh!' "

To help them build their wombat hospital, you can buy a $1 raffle ticket for the chance to win more than $800 in prizes.

Tickets are available from Hunter Valley Zoo, Wombat Crossing Vineyard, Kulnura Vets, or through the Cedar Creek Wombat Rescue Facebook page.