Bundaberg....up close and personal with some turtles!!!

With our beach fun had in Agnes Waters it was time to set off again and meander further south, next stop Bundaberg, only 122km down the road.  So time wasn't really a factor today, just a short drive.  We had decided to find a cheap camp out the road, Wiki camp app comes to the rescue once again.  It was a little bit out of town, staying in a grassed paddock next door to a "country club", power supplied for $10 per night.  Can't get much cheaper than that, with full use of amenities as well.  The view wasn't too bad too with a little church on the other side of the paddock. 

Our set up.....

Look at the cute church behind us....

Sugar cane farm across the road....

After setting up we decided to head into town as we had never really stopped and checked it out before, even though we had gone up and down this coastline a few times on the trip.  We had always been on a mission to get somewhere else.  Even though we only had one day, we still had enough time to check things out. We decided to give the Bundy factory tour a miss once again, doesn't really interest us and we had been to Ord River Rum factory in Kununurra not long ago.  So we decided to find something interesting to learn about Bundaberg, other than its rum.  The town itself is full of old buildings, restored well.  There was a statue of a guys head that looked like it must have been significant, but we didn't know who he was. 

Love the old buildings around town...

The huge head statue, who we later learnt was the infamous "Bert Hinkler"!!!

Every QLD town has a historical corner pub!

We headed to the info center and decided to go and check out the Hinkler Hall of Aviation.  Entry was a bit pricey at $40 for the family but we decided to venture in.  We soon found out that statue of a mans head in the middle of town was in actual fact a big deal to the town.  It was a man named Bert Hinkler who was a famous Australian pioneering solo aviator.  The museum was great and interactive and a fun way for all of us to learn about this man's achievements.  I had never heard of Bert Hinkler ever and am so glad we came to learn about this amazing man and his life.  We learnt that not only did he design and build early aircraft's through his fascinations with bird flight, he was also the first person to fly solo from England to Australia and also the first person to fly solo across the Southern Atlantic Ocean.  We have some very inspirational people in Australia's past and am so glad we have come across there stories on our trip.  

Girls outside the Hinkler Aviation Museum...

Great interactive museum for the kids...the girls minds were captivated!

Replica of Bert's first glider....

Following pictures are the thought processes Bert had to invent his
first glider....

Took the design from the anatomy of bird....

Girls loved getting in the planes....

Meg not so interested in the hanging
planes above her as the interactive
screen in front of her!!! Lol

Meg learning the "Hinkler One Step" dance....

Boo seeing how tall she was on Bert Hinkler!!!

Meg's highlight was making a souvenir coin!

The town thought so much of the hero that they painstakingly demolished Bert's house in England brick by brick and brought it all back to Bundaberg, where they rebuilt his replica house "Mon Repos".  We had the chance to go inside and have a look, the girls totally fascinated with the furnishings of the old days household.  They loved walking up the stairs and looking out the window over the gardened grounds below.  How lucky are we that we have people in this country that care about our history and go to great lengths to keep the memories alive and keep sharing with us all. 

The rebuilt Mon Repo house...home of
Bert Hinkler...

Love the olden day houses....

Overlooking the grounds below....pretty impressive!

Meg wants one of these couches for the van....

Front view of the house....gorgeous.

Time to walk down and check the huge pond out!

Seeing the pig nose turtle is just the first of our up close and
personal turtle experience day...more to come!

After our afternoon out learning about our great countries history, we headed home to the van to have an early dinner, in preparation for our nights surprise adventure.  We let the girls in on our secret as we were sick of the badgering.  We were to get picked up by a courtesy bus and taken to "Mon Repos Turtle Centre".  We explained to the girls that tonight we will get to walk on the beach at night and watch turtle's come up out of the ocean and lay their eggs on the shore.  They were so excited, firstly that they were going to the beach at night time and that they would be able to see turtles up close and personal!!! 

As the sun sets its time to wait for the bus for our turtle adventure..

The girls were so excited and thankfully the bus was on time picking us up as the girls were at an all time high, starting to send us balmy.  The drive was short and the guy dropped us off at the turtle center.  The price of the bus and night tour was so reasonable at around $100 for the family and this included pick up and drop off to our camp site and also first dibs at heading out for the turtle watching and egg laying expedition.   After leaving the bus we made our way to the waiting area where a big amount of people were there already, setting up to have their picnic dinners.  Even though we had an early dinner, the girls were still looking at me for food, can you believe it??? Felt a little bad as only packed a few tiny snacks for them, a little under prepared a usual.  You would think after all this time on the road that l would know what to pack for these kind of tours.  Their lucky l brought water!! 

What felt like a lifetime, eventually the doors opened to the Mons Repo Turtle Center and on entering we gave them our names and we were allocated a group number, which was to be the order of groups to leave, lucky we were in group 1!!! So exciting.... We strolled through and were just starting to absorb the great information about these stunning ancient marine creatures when our group number was called out to assemble down on the platform, it was time to go, a sighting of a turtle was made down on the beach by one of the volunteers.  Excitement buzzed throughout the place as we all met down on the platform.  We were given our instructions to stay behind the group leader, no touching the turtles and try and stay as quiet as possible.  Oh and also be mindful when down on the beach, walking in the dark, that what may look like a rock on the sand might actually be a turtle, so be very careful!!!  

We set off on the boardwalk down to the beach where it became very dark, taking a while for our eyes to adjust to the night surrounds.  So glad it was nearly a full moon as it helped aid in slight lighting to see where we were walking.  After what felt like a lifetime of walking up the beach with a few false alarms of rocks on the sand, mistaking them as turtles, we found our gorgeous loggerhead mother turtle up near the sand dunes digging her hole to lay her eggs into.  The volunteer was brilliant and made sure all the kids gathered around and sat in a circle around the turtle so they could see perfectly.  It was all silence as we watched this gorgeous creature scrap the sand away to form a huge hole to bury her eggs.  The girls faces showed us everything they were thinking, with quizzical glances, small smiles and eyes wide with excitement.  Once the turtle was happy with the size of the hole, she got herself into position for her laying of her future 'turtlettes'! 

When she started laying her eggs there was a big "ewe" noise coming from the mouths of all the kids as the eggs plopped out of her long narrow passage with a bit of slimy goo too....so funny seeing their faces screw up in disgust!  There were a lot of questions to the volunteer....  I couldn't believe how many eggs this turtle was laying, no wonder she had to dig a deep hole.  While the turtle was in the midst of labour, the volunteer proceeded to collect her data by piercing a tag into her, which she said didn't hurt, but it looked pretty painful to me.  She also took measurements of her shell and did an overall health check, all with explaining it to the kids.  So informative and insightful, the girls learnt so much about this amazing marine creature.  By the time everything was finished, the turtle had nearly filled the hole and then she moved ever so slowly to turn around and started to move the sand back to bury the eggs.  We all continued to be amazed by her gracefulness and ease in this huge process.  Once the hole looked completely filled over, the turtle then turned towards the beach and headed back down to the water.  The volunteer told us all to line up on each side down to the water so that the turtle didn't get lost and head off track.  I cant believe how slow these creatures move, but l couldn't stop feeling fascinated and amazed whilst watching her.  Once at the water, it wasn't long before she swam off and was out of sight, gone for now but will return in a few more months to lay again!

Laborious duty of digging her hole begins...

Only pic l could get of girls with the turtle....Meg
not liking the bright flash!! lol

Back up at the laying site, the volunteer was carefully spreading the sand off the egg site, making sure not to dig too deep at once as could perforate an egg.  Another volunteer was up on top of the sand dune digging a deeper hole to where the eggs would be resited too.  The volunteers explained to us that they only resite the eggs if the turtle hasn't buried them deep enough or if they weren't in a safe site high up off of the beach in the sand dunes.  Lucky for us this turtle didn't have them high enough up off the beach, so we were going to have the chance to relocate the eggs....The volunteer proceeded to get all the eggs out of the original hole and laid them out on the sand in lines of 10 so she could count them all up....in total this amazing turtle laid 168 eggs!!!!  WOW....

Laying finished, just about completed the covering up....

Taking some measurements....

Can you believe she laid all these in one sitting!!!

Once the volunteer had dug down to the level of where the eggs were, we all lined up and were given instructions to hold our hands flat and steady whilst transporting the eggs up to the new hole.  The kids were given first go, and the girls were so excited.  Once getting the eggs in their hands they walked so slowly, making sure they treated the eggs like the precious cargo they were.  Once at the new hole the volunteer carefully took the eggs off them and laid them down in the new hole.  The girls described the eggs as slimy and rubbery in texture, like a rubber ball.  Next it was Marty and my turn, we took four eggs at a time, just an unbelievable experience.  

Boo getting her first chance to relocate some eggs...

Little rubber balls.....

Meg holding some precious cargo...

The volunteer placing the eggs down carefully to
their new home...

I'm up......

After all the eggs were reburied it was time to head back to the turtle sanctuary, and after shortly leaving we were graced with yet another turtle walking up the beach.  We all gathered and prepared to watch yet another magical moment.  Couldn't believe we were getting the chance to watch yet another turtle.....but that was short lived as some of our group wanted to head back due to their kids winging.  I looked at the time and it was nearly 10:30pm already, how time flies.  Our girls were getting cold and tired, and after the turtle laid its eggs, the volunteer took our group back so that another group could come down.  I could have stayed and watched more, but best give some more people the chance that hadn't experienced it yet.  

Once back, we headed over to get our certificates for the girls and then excitedly we heard on the radio that there was more sightings.  They asked if we wanted to head down again, l looked at the girls, who looked so exhausted and we decided it was probably time to head home, it now being closer to 11:30pm.  The guy was waiting in the bus and it was a swift trip back to the van.  We all headed straight to bed, what a long but magical day!!!  Would totally recommend the Mon Repos Turtle experience to anyone, worth the money.  Such an intimate experience, will never forget it!

Girls with their personalised certificates.....

Tomorrow, we head off a little down the way to Tin Can Bay for some more up close and personal wildlife experience, this time it will be with the local dolphins!!!

Bell Xxx