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Published: January 31st 2006
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Well its felt abit like the really wild show as over the last week we've had lots of intentional and unintentional wildlife encounters(don't worry mum, no sharks) ! We started in Port Macquarie which although the weather wasn't the best at times is a really nice place that you could easily spend a week in. We were there on a recommendation from a girl we met in the hostel in Canberra, particularly because we wanted to see the Koala hospital. We started our day with a coastal walk, during which we encountered several lizards who suprised us (well me mostly) by shooting across the path in front of us. The views were really good with a long sandy beach stretching out in the distance. Although the beach closest to Port M's town is quite rugged, there are safe area's to swim in monitored by life guards. I think the beaches further away are less rocky however this didn't deter lots of surfers from the rocky area's of the beach. In the afternoon we went to visit the koala hospital to see the koala's being fed. It had many moving stories of how the koala population is in danger and of previous
cases they've had there such as those with severe burn injuries from bush fires and those who have been run over by cars. Some koala's that survive these injuries can never return to the wild e.g. those who are blinded following bush fires. The area around port macquaire has a large koala population.
The next day we went to visit the historical museum which told us all about Port Macquarie's past as it was once a large penal colony when the settlers first came to OZ. Many of the historical buildings were built with convict bricks and convict labour. It also had a section on australian women's role in the wars (particularly nurses) and displays on what life used to be like, detailing through the life of one family (mostly) and also having a row of shops inside the museum. Much to Ele's delight, there was a display of gynaecological instruments from days gone by and also a chance to dress up in some old clothes (not midwifery ones) - it was quite hilarious but unfortunately I did not have my camera with me although I do have a photo of her dressed up taken with my phone!That afternoon
we headed to the beach with bodyboard's in tow to try our hand at body boarding. I must say it was more successful than my attempt in Vietnam! Because we were doing it in the safe swimmers area we felt quite safe with plenty of people in the water between us and potential sharks! By the end we could generally stay balanced on the board and judge when to jump in front of a wave at the right time, however we were doing it in quite shallow water so am not quite sure how it works in deeper water. It was a great feeling when you got it right and sped in towards the shore although avoiding all the children and their parents was quite a challenge at times!
On the day we moved onto Brisbane we had a few hours to kill waiting for a train and visited Timbertown near Wauchope! It is a ye olde worlde free theme park (unless you want a ride on the steam train horse drawn carriage) and is set up like a little village with lots of little shops. It also has a pets corner where we saw a huge wild goanna
as well as the usual goats, horses etc. They have live demonstrations every day and ele and I had time to see the bullock demonstration which was amusing/ interesting - apparently bullock's were used to build most of the roads in Australia. One of the things timbertown is famous for is its fudge and I must say it was delicious!
Brisbane; We spent just one day here, most of which we spent in the art gallery getting in touch with our inner child! There were lots of activities as it was the school holidays and people kept on asking us to join in(it would be rude not to)! This included a room which needed to be covered in dots as well as an exhibit which allowed us to write letters and have them sent for free and call it art! It was slightly more complex than that (there was a concept and lots of people wrote letters to people who had passed away etc - these were burned each week, however those to the living were posted free of charge by the museum) but a few of you will be getting letters from me and Ele in the post!
We also visited Brisbane's manmade beach.
On then to Bundaberg, home of australia's most famous rum and also to the Mon Repos turtle rookery. We were unable to visit the rum factory but managed to book onto the footprints tour to go to the see the loggerhead turtles nesting and hatching! We also saw our first possum up close which wasn't in a zoo. $36 pays for your transport there and back (at whatever time you want) and your entrance fee - thats about 15 pounds. Basically the turtles only nest and hatch at certain times of year and we were lucky that we were able to see both. It was really interesting to learn about the life of the loggerhead turtle - all the turtles that come to lay there, were born there and navigate their way back thousands of miles purely by the earths magnetic field. It always fascinates me when animals are born with all the innate knowledge they need to survive - these turtles are born with enough nutrients to swim non stop for 3 days and as soon as they hatch know that they must head for "the light" which is always the sea
In touch with our inner child in the name of art
Somewhere in there there's a few faces, a koala and a caterpillar made by Ele and I - this is a real piece of art by a japanese artist and many tourists and brisbane children and swim south on the great ocean current (I forget what its really called but if you really want to know watch finding nemo or read an appropriate book!). These turtles do not have adults to guide them though like in finding nemo, they must learn to fend for themselves. The turtles will return to mate about 25 years after they were born and a lot can happen in 25 years that prevents them returning e.g. fishing nets, marine predators, humans hunting them for food, rituals, their valuable shells.
Another fascinating turtle fact - the temperature of the sand around them determines the gender of the entire clutch - above 28.5 degrees and they will all be female. On the night we visited we were able to help move a clutch of 119 eggs up the beach as the mother had laid them too far down the beach and they were at risk of being washed away by the tide. The eggs were really rubbery and light and are laid in an inverse funnel like chamber that the mother digs and then systematically covers up the nest area so it looks as if shes never been there. The loggerhead
turtles are on the endangered species list and it was amazing to see the eggs being laid by an adult turtle as well as the baby turtles hatching up through the sand and heading towards the sea all in the one night. We did have to wait around but it was definately worth the wait.
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