We both enjoy early morning walks on the beach and sunday morning we were walking on the beach at 5:30 am when we noticed the telltale marks in the sand that told us a Loggerhead Turtle had paid the beach a visit overnight.
Where the tracks ended there was a mound of freshly dug sand and we knew the turtle had dragged its huge body up the sand to deposit it's eggs before returning to the sea.
The only problem was that the particular part of the beach the turtle had chosen meant that when the tide was out she had to drag herself over about 200 meters of rocks to return to the sea and this is where we found her, halfway across the rocks on her way back to the ocean.
We went out to see if we could help her but she was huge and there really wasn'f anything we could do so we watched as she struggeled across the rocks and finally made it to the sea once again.
We rang Parks and Wildlife to let them know a turtle had deposited it's eggs on the beach overnight and they told us they would fence off the nest to protect it and would then monitor the eggs until the hatched and the babies would be helped to get safely to the sea.
It is a rare occurance for Loggerhead Turtles to come onto the beach Hervey Bay but about 30 minutes further north at Mon Repo Beach at Bundaberg it is an annual event and tourists come from all over the world to watch the baby turtles hatch and make their mad dash to the safety of the surf. This event is strictly monitored by the Parks and Wildlife in an effort to protect the turtles.
The trutle that we saw was unusual because the Loggerhead turtles always go back to the place where they hatched to lay their eggs but my friend and I were delighted to have had the opportunity to see this unusual event unfold at Hervey Bay.
If you would like to hear more about the wonderful creatures or perhaps take your children to Mon Repo to watch the hatchlings then visit Mon Repos Turtle Consevation Park website for details. Although this is a tourist attraction for Bundaberg it is also a serious effort to protect the Loggerhead Turtles.
