SY Bravado's Adventures: Landlubbers, Turtles, and Crocodiles

We started Bravado's Haul Out on Hein's birthday. On the eve of his birthday we did have a small celebration with other boat children, but we owed Hein a proper birthday. Hence once the haul-out was underway, we rented a car, became landlubbers and made two trips inland. First we went to see the Turtle Rookery in Mon Repos near Bundaberg and two days later we took a bus to the Australia Zoo near Brisbane:

Hein, formerly Nine.

Hein's birthday party, an impromptu gathering of boat children.

Hein's gifts from the other children were two second hand books and a copied DVD. Everyone thought that was totally normal and Hein was really happy with his presents. They had a great time together. Quite a triumph over consumerism! We don't think it will last, but we hope that in years ahead the children will recall how happy they were with very little.

Bundaberg

Bundaberg is a 300km drive North from Mooloolaba. It was a beautiful drive North through eucalyptus forests and later an agricultural region with endless sugar cane fields. Bundaberg is a provincial town half steeped in the 1950s. Internationally it is known for its Ginger Beer and Rum. One of the highlights of our visit was attending Wolfgang Engel's glass blowing studio. Jet used some of the money she earned making jewelry to have a pair of glass kangaroos made.

In his glass blowing studio...

... Wlofgang Engel makes kangaroo earrings for...

... a very happy Jet.

Mon Repos
We first heard about Mon Repos in the Science Museum in Brisbane. Mon Repos is one of several sites in Australia where marine turtles come ashore to lay their eggs. Having released turtles in Mexico, we were eager to see the laying of the eggs. From November through March mature females come ashore and lay their eggs. On average they lay about 120 eggs in a batch. They may lay 4 to 6 batches in a season. Crawling ashore takes some 10 minutes. Next they dig an egg chamber with their rear flippers. This may takes about 25 minutes. Laying the eggs takes 30-60 minutes after which they cover the entire nesting zone and crawl back to the water. In pitch darkness a ranger guided us to the tracks of a turtle that had just come ashore. We sat around her and saw the entire operation.

After laying 112 eggs, mum gets retagged...

... and vital signs are recorded.

Because the turtle hadn't laid her eggs far enough above the high water line, the ranger indicated the nest would need to be relocated. Hence, after the mother had left, the eggs were dug out and we helped move them to a new nest a little further inland.

Hein becomes part of turtle conservation by relocating the eggs that have been dug out by the ranger.

It was great fun and we were glad the mum cooperated. She crawled ashore at about 8pm and by 10.30pm we were back in the motel. Sometimes the mums can let the visitors wait until 5am!

Its official. Been there, done that.

Australia Zoo

Steve Irwin, the man behind Australia Zoo

Steve Irwin was killed by a stingray in 2006. His enthusiasm for wild (and dangerous) animals is legendary. He took forward the work of his parents and with his American wife built what is now known as the Australia Zoo, a wild life park full of crocodiles, snakes, but also tigers, kangaroos, wallabies and creatures that are native to Australia, but are very exotic to us. We really enjoyed the kangaroo pens. It was a very warm day and they weren't particularly interested in the food one could feed them, but they were very responsive when we poured them water from our drinking bottles.