Turtles

Six of us have just returned from a few days on Heron Island which is located on the Great Barrier Reef east of Gladstone in Queensland. 

It was hard work very relaxing and we were fortunate that the weather was perfect when the rest of the state was getting rained upon.

The main reason for us going was to see turtles!  We're right in the middle of the hatching season and hubby and I were on the look out late at night and early in the morning for hatchlings.  We took this picture at sunrise and it shows the sand marks the little turtles create when they make their way down the sand - we must have just missed them that morning!

This photo shows part of the egg shell near the recently hatched nest.  The shell isn't hard like a chicken egg, but leathery and pliable.

Later that night we went out and sat on the beach patiently waiting, waiting, waiting.  When we'd had enough we decided to go back to our room and amazingly found some little hatchings emerging just a few steps away from where we were sitting.  We were at the right place at the right time.  No photos of the actual hatchings as it was way too dark, and it's wrong to use a flash, but I don't need a photograph to remember this amazing sight - it was thrilling.  The way they scurried down the sand to reach the water was very funny and they all swam straight towards sting rays and out to the ocean.  I'm confident that out of the 1 in 1000 turtles that survive to adulthood these four will be fine....

This picture at sunrise the next morning shows the exact spot where the little ones emerged the night before....you can just see the friendly sting ray in the water.  I say 'friendly' because rays don't eat baby turtles.

Before we left for Heron Island I made some jewellery out of turtle fabric that I bought in Tokyo last year. 

Here's my friend Lyn in the foreground wearing the round petal flower in her hair, and another friend Samantha in the background wearing the pointed petal flower.

I wore the turtle pendant necklace below....in the background is the fabric in its entirety.

These pieces are a great momento of our trip to the beautiful Heron Island.  It's a wonderful place to visit and at the moment they have a great all inclusive deal so go and check it out yourself...especially if you like turtles.