We slept well, the sun was shining, we enjoyed Lesley's favourite breakfast, tinned tomatoes on toast, showered ourselves and tidied the van. Saying cheerio to the Tasmanians, we left the campsite and headed for Bundaberg to shop.
We noted an interesting road sign en route indicating that 'driver behaviour monitoring' was taking place. We have no idea what exactly was being monitored or how as we saw no sign of any cameras or driver monitoring officers crouching behind bushes. Perhaps if there are any Australians reading this blog who are familiar with this monitoring process you may wish to enlighten me?
We passed through even more sugar cane field than yesterday, noted the existence of tiny railway tracks running both alongside and criss crossing the road and peculiar high sided trucks in sidings looking dejected. On entering Bundaberg we realised that some of the cane is made into rum and a wide range of other products and that the same distillery is also responsible for the ginger beer I have had on a few occasions since arriving in Australia.
Additionally, Bundaberg has a wide range of shops so we stocked up on a few missing items and also decided to purchase a pre-paid 3G sim for use in the iPads when no wifi is readily available. It seemed a reasonable deal at 3Gb for $32 AUS for 30 days in comparison to the 1Gb dongle at $10 AUS per day offered by the motorhome hire company.
We had chosen the Lighthouse Campsite at Burnett Heads for tonight on the basis of its proximity to the turtle rookery and arrived earlier than normal to allow us time to have an early dinner, rest, then get ready for what we were informed could be a very late night.
We were very excited at the prospect of seeing hatchling turtles emerge from the sand and scuttle to the sea but had been told there were absolutely no guarantees, we may have to sit around and wait for some time and may indeed return to the campsite having seen nothing.
Imagine our surprise when we were handed Group 1 stickers and told we would be first to go out onto the beach once some hatchlings had been spotted and we did not have to wait very long. Within about 10 minutes we were taken onto the moonlit beach, the stars were brilliant, the waves were breaking noisily onto the beach and a group of us followed a warden across the beach and up onto the dunes to a predetermined spot where turtle activity had been spotted.
Within moments of our arrival a few tiny flippers and heads emerged then more tiny Loggerhead Turtles broke through the sand covering their nest and began to scamper towards the dim light of the horizon and the sea.
The wardens assisted some of the hatchlings and also took hold of a small number to allow us all to see them at close quarters. They were really amazing, so perfectly formed and with such strong front flippers ready to swim the mighty Pacific Ocean. They gathered them together at the bottom of the sand dunes and then everyone lined up on either side of a central avenue in which stood a number of the group, each with a torch directed on the sand. Then all of the turtles were released and they immediately began to follow the path of torchlight to the sea where one of the wardens had another torch and was checking that all of the turtles made it into the foaming sea. It was all really amazing and over all too soon and we were shepherded back to the visitor centre. Thinking that was it for the evening we were then given a very informative talk by one of the wardens on the work of the centre, their research and the different species of turtle.
Meanwhile Group 2 had been waiting and continued to wait for a warden to tell them it was their turn to go out onto the beach and eventually they did get taken out to view some hatchlings, so both groups had been lucky tonight. Many folk had left by now when we were told a nest of Flatback Turtles were about to emerge from their nest so those who were left went back onto the beach to witness this amazing spectacle for the second time. What made this even more special than the earlier event was that this species of turtle is only found in Australia so Lesley and I were witnessing something unique to this country.
A similar process was followed as outlined above but these hatchlings were bigger and stronger and made it into the sea very quickly. It is amazing to note that hatchlings instinctively head for the horizon and the sea, even though it is dark. That they get the location of the beach imprinted on their memory once they emerge from the nest and that after growing to adulthood, at about 30 years of age, they return to the same area to breed. What is rather sad however is the fact that only about 1:1000 actually grow to maturity so the chances are that none of the hatchlings we witnessed entering the sea tonight will actually survive. But we were elated, what a thing to be able to do whilst in Australia. A big thank you to Gennelle who quite by chance noted an advertisement as we drove to the motorhome station on Monday and looked it up on the web and suggested we may like to follow it up on we got closer. Magical!
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