This is one of the wild life experiences that has been on my “too-do list” for a long time.
Finally I am in the right place at the right time.
It is almost a full moon, the weather is warm and balmy with a slight breeze blowing in from the ocean and the turtles are arriving, as they have done for thousands of years. The Mon Repos beach at Bundaberg is one of the main beaches in Australia where the loggerhead turtles drag themselves up to dig a hole in the sand and lay their eggs.
The turtles are on the endangered species list and the egg laying turtles are monitored and the viewing experience carefully controlled by the rangers. People are only allowed on the beach between dusk and dawn in a group and accompanied by a ranger. No photos are allowed whilst the turtle is laying her eggs and every one must stay 3 metres away from the turtle.
This all sounds very sterile and organised but the experience of seeing these animals is quite special. “Our girl”, as the ranger referred to her, seemed oblivious to the crowds and every one spoke in whispers. After she had finished laying 156 eggs she laboriously filled in the hole, flipping the sand high and over the nearer spectators, I wonder if this was deliberate??? At this point the ranger said we could take photos. Then the ranger moved us back so a path back to the ocean was cleared and she slowly made her way back into her natural environment. The moon created silver ripples as she disappeared. “Our girl” had been recorded 4 times coming to lay eggs, the previous year being 2008. They don’t start laying until they are 30 years old so “Our girl” could be around 50 years old.
That wasn’t the end of the evening because the eggs had to be moved. The turtle had dug the hole too close to the high tide mark and during storms or extra high king tides the nest would be swamped. So the ranger dug the eggs up, an identical sized hole was dug in the dunes and we all helped to transfer the leathery textured eggs to the new position…
The babies will hatch in approximately 6-8 weeks.
(Now I will attempt to put in some photos, fingers crossed…)
For more information about the turtles click here.
We walked approx 500 metres along the beach to the place our turtle laid her eggs and they had 4 turtles come in to lay during the evening. The rangers are on duty all night to record and monitor them and protect them. Slowly the numbers of turtles coming each year is increasing. A lot more research is needed as so much is unknown about the life cycle.
Yes it is a wonderful experience, cannot remember the name of the place we did see them hatch,on the coast near Bagara, many years ago, we did not have to pay then, some escaped obviously, as we found some of the little ones in the Toilet Block we had fun sending them back to the sea, with a prayer.
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That was a lovely experience for you.
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What a wonderful experience. I will definitely have to put that on my to do list.
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The season is only from Oct to Jan for the egg laying then Mar to May to see the hatchlings. Well worth doing
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I love the turtles. When I go diving at the Southport Seaway, I can pat them and scratch the algae off their shell. If I’m calm and pieceful then they hang around and enjoy my company!
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Hi James, you are so lucky to have that experience with the turtles. I’ve heard that they can actually feel you scratching their shells
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What a fantastic experience
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I loved it 🙂
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Hi, this is one thing that I have so wanted to see but just not had a chance… it sounds fantastic 🙂
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Well worth going to and for pensioners i.t only cost $8-55, great value
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wow.. thats actually quite reasonable… will try this whenever I get the chance
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That is seniors price I think full price is about $16 still very reasonable
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This is absolutely fantastic! I’m so glad they’re doing something to help these beautiful creatures 😉
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We are lucky to have such a good wild life care service in Australia
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Fantastic experience- no wonder it was on your ”to-do list” ! Hope you enjoyed it as much as you hoped you would.
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I did enjoy the experience, amazingly the number of people that were in the group did not detract as you are focused on the turtle
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How awesome!
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G’day Kitt thanks for dropping by and leaving a comment. It was an amazing experience
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Hey thanks Cindy, you have some pretty good tales to tell us too.
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Oh, how wonderful is this!! I swear Pomm, you have such wonderful adventures. No easy chair and cheesey novels for you!!! Loved this!
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