Frommer's Australia from $50 a Day 13th Edition - To Parent Directory

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CHAPTER 6 . QUEENSLAND & THE GREAT BARRIER REEF
Up Close & Personal with a Turtle
The egg in my hand is warm, soft, and about the size of a Ping Pong
ball. At our feet, a giant green turtle sighs deeply as she lays a clutch
of about 120 eggs in a pear-shaped chamber dug from the sand. A tear
rolls from her eye. In the distance the wedgetail shearwaters call to
each other over the sound of the waves.
Our guide has retrieved the turtle egg from the egg chamber, and
we pass it around in silence. It is just one of the amazing experiences
a few days on Heron Island can bring. The egg-laying ritual of the turtles
is central to a trip to Heron Island in the summer, when they make
their annual visit to the sandy shores of the atoll. At night and in the
early morning, small groups of people gather on the beaches to witness
the turtles lumber up the beach, dig a hole, and lay their eggs.
Every night during the season, volunteer guides from the University
of Queensland research station based on the island are on hand to
give an added dimension to the experience. You can watch and ask
questions as the researchers tag and measure the turtles before they
return to the water.
Or get up early in the morning and head to the beach. In a few minutes,
I had found turtle tracks and followed them up the beach to find
a nesting female. Nearby, another two turtles had attracted small clusters
of spectators. The turtles are not easily disturbed and you can get
very close.
The laying season is from December to February, with the hatchlings
scrambling down the beach from January to May. Only one in 5,000
hatchlings will live to return in about 50 years to lay their own eggs.
Another good place to watch the turtles nesting is at Mon Repos
Beach outside Bundaberg. Mon Repos Conservation Park is one of the
largest loggerhead turtle rookeries in the South Pacific. The visitor center
by the beach has a great display on the turtle life cycle and shows
films at approximately 7:30pm each night in summer. Visitors can turn
up anytime from 7pm on; the action goes on through the night, sometimes
as late as 6am. Nesting happens around high tide; hatching usually
occurs between 8pm and midnight. Get there early to join the first
group of 70 people, the maximum allowed at one laying or hatching.
Crowds can be up to 500 strong in mid-December and January. You
may have to wait around for quite a while, and in fact, on our visit
here with two young children we gave up when our turn had not
come by about midnight. Take a flashlight if you can.
The Mon Repos Turtle Rookery (& 07/4159 1652 for the visitor
center) is 14km (8 3 ⁄4 miles) east of Bundaberg’s town center. Follow
Bourbong Street out of town toward Burnett Heads as it becomes
Bundaberg–Bargara Road. Take the Port Road to the left and look for
the Mon Repos signs to the right. Admission to the visitor center is free
April through November (9am–4pm), but when the turtles start nesting,
you pay A$5 (US$3.25) for adults and A$2 (US$1.30) for children
ages 5 to 15. November through March, the center is open daily from
7pm until midnight.