The only place you can get up close and personal to all three is Bundaberg. First stop was the Bundaberg rum distillery. The Bundy rum and the company’s advertising genius Bundy the polar bear are a bit of an Aussie legend that hasn’t really made it across the water because everytime the company expands to export, the Aussies just drink more! The most memorable aspect of the distillery tour was the overwhelming odour of molasses that is piped in from the sugar mill next door. That and the alcohol fumes are almost enough to make you feel tipsy before you even get to your free tasters, one of which was a very tasty rum liqueur with chocolate, coffee and caramel in it (when mixed with cream it is just as tasty as Baileys). With our insides suitably warmed from the rum we headed off for the barrel, where they make the Bundaberg ginger beer. We didn’t even bother with the tour this time – just raided the shop for gingerbeer and hit the road.
When dusk fell it was time for the highlight of the day. Walking from our campsite we arrived at the Mon Repos turtle rookery where, because it is exactly the right time of year, we were hoping to be lucky enough to see either a female turtle nesting or some hatchlings emerge from their eggs. Reading up on these magnificent animals at the information centre we learned about their threatened status (mainly from humans sadly – their lights, fishing, pollution etc). We also learned that we might be in for about a 4 hour wait for a turtle event. Lady luck must have been shining on us however because after just an hour we were ushered down to the beach where we walked along in pitch black to see a beautiful loggerhead female (K67838 or K for short) digging her nest. We then watched in awe as she began to lay her 4th clutch of eggs this season. After the first 20 or so eggs she didn’t even care that we were there and so we could take photos of this miracle of nature before us. By the time we had watched 133 eggs emerge we were beginning to feel how tired she must have been. While we were watching her set to the task of covering up her nest we were treated to another special sight – a tiny little hatchling appeared, as if my magic, from underneath a little boy. Oh my, were we also about to witness 100s of little hatchlings emerge? You could almost feel the excitement build in our little group. After careful checking of the perimeter the ranger concluded that this little fella was probably an escaped hatchling from the group next to us. She explained that he had probably been confused by our lights and gotten lost on his way to the sea. Bonus for us though- we got to feel this little beauty tickle our palms, which he fit into beautifully with room to spare!
Back to our heroic K who was still packing the sand tightly around her precious offspring, during this time and on her long walk / shuffle back to the sea she had to stop several times to rest (not surprising when you think this is the 4th time she has done this recently and she will not have been taking the time to feed properly). Finally we said farewell to K and waved her off into the sea but our adventure wasn’t over, we were about to play an important part in the conservation of this beautiful species. Ranger Jae dug up her nest and we helped to relocate the eggs to a safer nest further up the dunes. Si and I each carried 4 little turtle to bes up to their new nest. Unfortunately the odds are against these little guys as only 1 in 1000 make it to breeding age 🙁 However we hope that we have given our little 8 champs a fighting start. What a night.