i went on a turtle trek // travelog

Today's post is a little bit different... As I mentioned in my January wrap-up, I recently went on a super exciting trip: I joined 40 Girl Guides and six other Leaders on a week-long excursion to Mon Repos to observe nesting marine turtles and their hatchlings and I want to tell you all about it!

Mon Repos is a small locality on the east coast of Australia, about 300 kilometres north of Brisbane. Every year between November and March, it is a temporary home to hundreds of endangered loggerhead turtles as nesting mothers lay their eggs and, later, the hatchlings emerge onto the beach.

The Mon Repos Conservation Park has a dedicated Turtle Centre where visitors can learn all about marine turtles and the conservation and research programs that scientists and rangers have developed to protect them. During nesting and hatching season, you can also join a guided tour to observe these creatures in the wild.

That's what we did. Over the course of three nights, we were lucky enough to witness both stages of this ancient life cycle and I was even chosen to form part of the human tunnel to guide the hatchlings down to the water's edge! It was a truly magnificent experience!

During the days, we also visited Mystery Craters, 35 oddly-shaped craters that are believed to be 25 million years old and remain an unsolved phenomenon; The Bundaberg Barrel, where you can sample all 18 different flavours of locally-produced ginger beer; Hinkler Hall of Aviation, an educational centre featuring interactive exhibits on local aerospace pioneer Bert Hinkler; and Flying High Bird Sanctuary, the largest free-flight aviary in Australia with more than 2000 birds.

A few facts about Loggerhead turtles:

• Nesting turtles lay an average of four clutches every two to three years and each clutch consists of around 120 eggs
• The temperature of the sand surrounding the nest dictates the sex of the turtles – warmer temperatures (~32°C, like at Mon Repos) produces females, cooler temperatures (~28°C) produces males
• After incubating for about 80 days, hatchlings emerge from their eggs and dig through the sand to the surface, usually at night when the darkness increases their chance of escaping predation
• However, only 1 in 1000 hatchlings will survive to reach sexual maturity
• The nesting turtle that we saw was estimated to be about 38 years old but they have a lifespan of 47–67 years
• She was about 100 centimetres long and was estimated to weigh about 150 kilograms – a little over average
• This was her fourth recorded laying season (her last one was in 2014)

All in all, I had an absolutely amazing week! If you ever have the opportunity to visit Mon Repos, I would highly recommend the trip. It is one of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences that I will remember for years to come.

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Did I help you learn something new about Loggerhead turtles? Or have you ever experienced any awesome animal encounters? Tell me your stories in the comments below so I can start planning my next trip! 

Niamh, xo.