Mackay (for Feb. 24)
The battery started to crap out last night while Celeste was adding her thoughts, so we had to shut down. We finally got the call about 11:30. It was group two, but so many people had left that they took some of the early people from group 3. We were numbers 20 and 21, so that indicates how many had left.
Out on the beach it was pitch black. It turns out that they had become desperate waiting for a second nest, so they took us to the first nest where two researchers were digging out the nest to gather data. They found that 107 of 139 eggs had hatched, about 75%. This is about normal for an average nest in an average year, but, due to unusual heat this year, they had been averaging around 20%. They dug out 5 hatchings that hadn’t made it out, so they showed them around before giving them a second chance at life. For little guys not much bigger than a toonie it was amazing how much strength they had in their little flippers.
The next step was to help the hatchlings get to the water. They must make the walk to the shore by themselves because it enables them to imprint the location to return to and lay their own eggs in about 30 years. They are drawn to the light of the moon and stars on the water. To assist them, the rangers made everyone, except a chosen few, line up on either side of a corridor to the water. The remaining people stood in a line in the corridor, front to back about 6-8 feet apart, facing inland, and shining flashlights inland. Then they released the rescued turtles to make their way to the water. It was not the exciting spectacle we had hoped for of a hundred turtles digging themselves out and swarming to the beach, but it was a decent consolation prize. It was poignant that these little creatures that otherwise wouldn’t have survived had a chance, however small, to return and lay their own eggs in 30 years.
We got back to the car about 12:30 and to the hotel about 1.
This morning we were both up early and couldn’t go back to sleep, so we thought we would get an early start. It will be tough driving this afternoon, but there is no point laying awake for 2 or 3 hours. I fleshed out yesterday’s blog and started today’s and tried to send some email. I am not sure how successfully. I had a problem with passwords. We both took the opportunity to splash around in the Jacuzzi. Other than that, our upgraded accommodations were pretty much wasted.
We finally got out of town at 10 and pulled into our new place almost 700 km later at 6. We grabbed some KFC and went to a grocery store to pick up some camera batteries (my rechargeable ones seem to be crapping out on me) and replace the toiletries I left behind in Hervey Bay. I set them down while we had a little planning session. We got a little bit out of routine and walked out the door without picking them up or doing a last minute walk around.
The drive toady was pretty easy, although my eyelids were pretty heavy just before lunch and again a little while after. The road was good two lane highway gradually winding back and forth with light traffic. The terrain was flat to gently rolling all day, although there were higher hills nearby all day.
As we left Bundaberg heading inland, sugar cane was the dominant crop with a few orchards and some lower growing crops I couldn’t identify from the road at 100 kmph. They say that they grow snow peas and tomatoes here too. After about half an hour we turned north and remained inland all day until we hit the coast again at Mackay. As we headed north, the surroundings varied from fairly heavy scrub forest to grazing land almost bare of trees as it got drier. Cattle grazing was the main activity, especially around Rockhampton, although I saw a couple of banana plantations and tree farms. It kept getting drier until about 100 km out of Mackay when the grass began getting greener and the trees more plentiful again. We began to see a few sugar cane fields and, before long, they were everywhere, which could explain why Mackay is a major sugar refining centre.
Ever since Sydney we have been noticing a pretty consistent weather pattern that is growing stronger as we progress north. Almost every day begins with varying amounts of cloud that mostly burns off by late morning and rebuilds during the day into afternoon or evening thunder showers. This is their summer and the rainy season for the tropical northern areas. I hope we can stay lucky with the weather.
Out on the beach it was pitch black. It turns out that they had become desperate waiting for a second nest, so they took us to the first nest where two researchers were digging out the nest to gather data. They found that 107 of 139 eggs had hatched, about 75%. This is about normal for an average nest in an average year, but, due to unusual heat this year, they had been averaging around 20%. They dug out 5 hatchings that hadn’t made it out, so they showed them around before giving them a second chance at life. For little guys not much bigger than a toonie it was amazing how much strength they had in their little flippers.
The next step was to help the hatchlings get to the water. They must make the walk to the shore by themselves because it enables them to imprint the location to return to and lay their own eggs in about 30 years. They are drawn to the light of the moon and stars on the water. To assist them, the rangers made everyone, except a chosen few, line up on either side of a corridor to the water. The remaining people stood in a line in the corridor, front to back about 6-8 feet apart, facing inland, and shining flashlights inland. Then they released the rescued turtles to make their way to the water. It was not the exciting spectacle we had hoped for of a hundred turtles digging themselves out and swarming to the beach, but it was a decent consolation prize. It was poignant that these little creatures that otherwise wouldn’t have survived had a chance, however small, to return and lay their own eggs in 30 years.
We got back to the car about 12:30 and to the hotel about 1.
This morning we were both up early and couldn’t go back to sleep, so we thought we would get an early start. It will be tough driving this afternoon, but there is no point laying awake for 2 or 3 hours. I fleshed out yesterday’s blog and started today’s and tried to send some email. I am not sure how successfully. I had a problem with passwords. We both took the opportunity to splash around in the Jacuzzi. Other than that, our upgraded accommodations were pretty much wasted.
We finally got out of town at 10 and pulled into our new place almost 700 km later at 6. We grabbed some KFC and went to a grocery store to pick up some camera batteries (my rechargeable ones seem to be crapping out on me) and replace the toiletries I left behind in Hervey Bay. I set them down while we had a little planning session. We got a little bit out of routine and walked out the door without picking them up or doing a last minute walk around.
The drive toady was pretty easy, although my eyelids were pretty heavy just before lunch and again a little while after. The road was good two lane highway gradually winding back and forth with light traffic. The terrain was flat to gently rolling all day, although there were higher hills nearby all day.
As we left Bundaberg heading inland, sugar cane was the dominant crop with a few orchards and some lower growing crops I couldn’t identify from the road at 100 kmph. They say that they grow snow peas and tomatoes here too. After about half an hour we turned north and remained inland all day until we hit the coast again at Mackay. As we headed north, the surroundings varied from fairly heavy scrub forest to grazing land almost bare of trees as it got drier. Cattle grazing was the main activity, especially around Rockhampton, although I saw a couple of banana plantations and tree farms. It kept getting drier until about 100 km out of Mackay when the grass began getting greener and the trees more plentiful again. We began to see a few sugar cane fields and, before long, they were everywhere, which could explain why Mackay is a major sugar refining centre.
Ever since Sydney we have been noticing a pretty consistent weather pattern that is growing stronger as we progress north. Almost every day begins with varying amounts of cloud that mostly burns off by late morning and rebuilds during the day into afternoon or evening thunder showers. This is their summer and the rainy season for the tropical northern areas. I hope we can stay lucky with the weather.
posted by Celeste at
5:24 a.m.
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