We just got back from an outstanding trip to a coral cay called Heron Island on the southern Great Barrier Reef. Heron Island is right on the Tropic of Capricorn, in a region of the Australian Pacific called the Capricorn Coast. After flying into Brisbane and driving up through southern Queensland, we made a 2.5 hour voyage over to Heron Island in pretty stormy seas. All was well until one woman on the boat started to heave. A chain reaction followed that claimed Heather. Heather loves water activities, but they don't like her. I comforted her by giving her a mint. That is not our boat below.
The island and adjacent reef were spectacular. We got to swim with sharks, sea turtles, rays, and schools of reef fish. An extra benefit was that we were on the island at the time of year that hundreds of baby sea turtles hatched out of their shells and tumbled down the beach and into the water. It was hard to get these buggers on camera with the dim light, their fast movement, and the ill-suited camera lens I was using. Apparently the turtles navigate by the light of the moon once out in the water, and so we were told to keep all of our room lights to a minimum at night so as to not confuse them. Speaking of moon, see the last picture below of the lunar eclipse!
Watching the parade down the beach and into the water wasn't always for the faint of heart. At one point, a turtle reached the water after which a girl on the beach exclaimed "Aw, isn't it so cute!" Right after this, a shark proceeded to swim up and eat the turtle. The girl needed to be comforted. Sea gulls also contributed to the feeding frenzy. Only about 1 in 100 turtles reach adulthood, which explains the large number of eggs and hatchings that race down the beach. While snorkeling, Heather also got scared by an enormous Loggerhead turtle sitting on the reef. We were also all stung by jellyfish at one point! Luckily not the deadly poisonous kind that occurs on some parts of the coast.
Heading back to Brisbane, we stopped at Fraser Island, which is the largest sand island in the world and only about 30 minutes from the coast. We swam in some spectacularly clear island lakes, and waded in some clear streams that were fed by springs coming out of the sand. We even saw a dingo! It was all-in-all a very nice trip, and we are already scheming to make another trip to the Great Barrier reef in a future year.
On a last side note, when we arrived back in Melbourne, we were lucky enough to have clear skies for the lunar eclipse. Last night also happened to be the night that Daylight Savings Time ended here. I was able to get a pretty good shot of the eclipse even without my tripod. Fall is here and we only have 2 and a half months left in Australia! It is amazing how fast time has gone.
