After catching up on some much needed shut eye we had a busy day today of taking a leisurely trip into Bundaberg around midday and spending the afternoon lounging around by the pool. It was hard to fit so much into the day, but it was all in preparation for the evening's activity!

Around 7:00pm we headed just up the road to Mon Repos beach, the location of the turtle hatchery and information centre. When we arrived at the information centre we were told that there was a group already out on the beach and that we would be able to join them to watch the turtles making their way out into the ocean.

We were led outside by one of the volunteers and along a dimly lid boardwalk onto the beach. It was pitch black as the moon was nowhere to be seen and there are no buildings other than the information centre anywhere near the beach. This is so that the turtles don't get disorientated by the lights and head the wrong way - a concept we could very much understand as we stumbled along the sand with only the guide's torch to help us see our way!

When we got to the group we were taken to the top of the sandbank so that we could get a glimpse of the baby turtles, where we were introduced to the turtle expert who showed us to a small roofless cage about the size of a sixteen inch car tyre. At first glance the cage seemed to be moving as if it was breathing but when the guide shone his torch over it we could see that there were loads of baby turtles all clambering around inside it (there was actually close to ninety inside as we learned later). They were no bigger than a baby's hand and as the turtle man picked two of them up to show us they started to wave their arms and legs about. Apparently, if they are held in the correct manner they believe they are in the water and don't suffer and stress so the turtles we could see were actually 'swimming' in the air.

As there was no moon out tonight to guide them, some of the group were standing with their legs apart forming a tunnel with torches shining on the sand so the turtles knew which way to go and once the two we were looking at were returned to the cage it was time for their big moment. The cage was lifted and they all scurried along down the beach towards the water, albeit some much slower than others. If they were left to get on with things themselves many of the turtles wouldn't get as far as the water, but because Mon Repos is a conservation area, the volunteers make sure that every one of the hatched turtles completes this first step of their lives. So even the one turtle that was lagging behind eventually made it into the water below with a little help and started its great journey!

Once they were all safely on their way attention turned to the nest that they had come from as the turtle man counted the shells that had opened and the ones that hadn't made it. These ones looked just like the ones that you get from the supermarket as he cracked them open on the sand - definitely enough to put you of your scrambled eggs on toast in the morning! This nest proved quite productive as there were only a dozen eggs that didn't produce a turtle but out of these, it is likely that only one or two will survive more than a few weeks yet alone long enough to start the cycle again by producing their own offspring.

After the nest had been excavated and the cage put away it was time to make our way back to the information centre, which proved a lot harder than it sounds because the tide had come right in and every now and then there was a big wave that nobody could see in the dark. One such wave took a particular liking to David's flip flops and took off with one of them back out to sea never to be seen again!

When we got back to the visitor's centre we were presented with certificates detailing the number of hatched turtles, the mother's name and other statistics including how long it had taken them to hatch and how long the group had stood out there waiting to see anything. On seeing forty minutes on this particular line we were happy that we had turned up a little bit later as nobody sees them hatch inside the nest, only the end result in the cage as they come out of the hole in the sand! We had a look around the centre reading up about the area, the turtles' life cycles and various other bits about the surrounding National Parks before returning to the car to head back to the apartment.

It was a really amazing experience seeing all the babies waddling down to the water and equally amazing was the speed in which they took off once the entered the water!

Tomorrow we are heading on south a little way to Woodgate Beach to spend the day in a quiet little beach town before heading on again for more touristy adventures.