4 February 2008 - Queensland and the Turtles!!

After getting used to the idea we were on our own again we needed to decide where we were heading next. We had spent Gray n kates last few days with them in Coolangatta / Tweed Heads. As it was a cool place we chilled out there for a couple more days before setting off. It was a weird place because Coolangatta is in Queensland and Tweed Heads is in New South Wales and Queensland is an hour in front so every time you went to Coolangatta you had to remember the time difference!! I found it most confusing.

From there we headed up to Surfers Paradise for a couple of days then on to Mooloolaba. It was Australia day while we were in Mooloolaba and it was heaving!! Australia day lasted for 3 days and because it fell on a weekend everyone got monday off work!! They definately have the right idea!! Next we headed off to Noosa. Noosa is a very upmarket town with very expensive shops and houses. We treated ourselves while we were there and went out for a mexican meal. It was the cheapest restaurant we could find but it was very nice and it made a change to get dressed up!! All the places we have been to all we have done is swim in the sea, sunbathe, eat and sleep it has been a very stressful 2 weeks!!

Next we headed off to Bundaberg. There is a small town near there called Burnett Heads which is loggerhead turtle territory. We have witnessed some amazing endangered creatures emerge from the sea to find a place to nest on the beach. They dig a nest using there back flippers to dig out the sand and once there flipper cant get any more sand they are ready to lay (on average each nest is around 50cm deep). The turtle then goes into a trance and lays her eggs. Once she is in a trance she has no idea that you are there. We saw the eggs being laid into the nest, they can lay between 80-170 eggs depending on how many times they have been up to lay. We got to hold an egg and it was like a slimey ping pong ball!! Once the turtle has finished laying she covers the nest up with sand to disguise it and heads off back to the sea. 1 of the turtles laid her nest too close to the sea so once she had gone we had to dig it up and move the eggs to a safer location higher up on the beach. The turtles never return to there nests so she would never have known that all her hard work was dug up!! It was a brilliant experience, to witness such a marvel of nature so close up. They are huge creatures, the 2 we witnessed nesting had a shell nearly a meter long!! The eggs take between 6 and 8 weeks to turn into baby turtles. We were lucky enough to see some emerging from the sand taking there first tiny turtle steps towards the sea. We helped 114 hatchlings find there way. The hatchlings are that small that they fit in the palm of your hand......they are so cute!! It is a sad average that only 1 in 1000 will make it to maturity which in turtle years is 30. If 5% more of the loggerhead turtle population die from unnatural causes such as human intervention then it is likely that they will become extinct. We met some truly dedicated people who work as volunteers to help save them from extinction. They monitor there nesting habits and tag all the turtles so they know how many times they lay in a season. It's a real night shift starting when the sun goes down to when the sun comes up. Geoff showed us so much and really let us get involved. Loggerhead turtles are truly fascinating creatures and we feel proud to have played a part in bringing them into this world.