Fulfilling a childhood dream...

I became fascinated with sea turtles as a child after watching a wildlife documentary and saw footage of the little hatchlings scrambling towards the ocean. It seems impossible not to root for such tiny creatures, so determined, yet facing such overwhelming challenges. Within the first few minutes of life they must dig themselves out of a underground cave, instinctively find their way to shore and escape capture by their many predators on land and in the water. In the end, less than 1 in 1,000 hatchlings will survive to adulthood. It became my childhood dream to witness this adorable pilgrimage first hand! Imagine my delight when we saw a handful of hatchlings our first night on Heron Island. This was only the beginning. The following day, while standing on the beach, I found myself amid an entire nest of at least 50 hatchlings as they emerged from the dunes and hurried past me toward the water. Paul was snorkeling close to shore at the time and came face to face with a few. It was an incredible experience! We were excited to find ourselves in the middle of another hatching that night.
Every night of our trip we walked around the island at dusk. This was a great time to spot mature female turtles making their way up the beach to the dunes to nest and lay eggs. The nesting process is time consuming and labour intensive. Our second night, we joined a guided walk and saw a 50 year old turtle laying eggs, which are similar in size to golf balls. It takes about 65 days for the eggs to hatch and between 25 and 30 years for the turtles to reach maturity and begin laying eggs of their own.

Heron Island, Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef stretches over 2000km along the north east coast of Queensland. It is the largest living system on Earth and is home to an amazing array of biodiversity. We travelled by plane and boat to a small cay, or reef island, called Heron Island. The island is about the size of a large city park and is home to a small resort and a marine research station. The history of this small reef island is interesting. In the 1920s there was a turtle cannery in operation. Who would ever eat turtle meat? The surprising history continued as the island soon hosted tourists who would actually ride and "race" the mother turtles who came to the island to lay their eggs. Thankfully turtle riding was banned in the 60s and Heron Island today is a protected national park and home to turtles, sharks, rays, countless fish, and thousands of sea birds.
One evening as we walked around the island watching for mother turtles and hatchlings, we witnessed the circle of life first hand. As we stood right next to shore at high tide there were several sharks thrashing about in only a few feet of water. The sharks were waiting for the soon to arrive hatchlings as they frantically made their way into the ocean. An Aussie man was wading into the water to scare the sharks away and help the baby turtles increase their already poor odds at survival.
The beauty of the marine life was all within easy swimming distance from the beach. One morning I was snorkeling close to shore and I spotted an adult turtle just relaxing in the water amongst the coral. I was so amazed how natural the turtle seemed in the water compared to the awkward maneuvering we had witnessed on land. At the same time I spotted a six foot reef shark slowing swimming by about 10 yards away and a large ray that had just rose from the sea floor to slowly glide right by me. Being that close to nature was incredible. (spot the shark in the sunset photo below)
Click here to see more pictures from our trip.

A Taste of Sydney

I organized a food mystery tour for Paul and I this past weekend. We spent the afternoon in different Sydney suburbs, tasting some of the delicious food the city has to offer. We started with lunch at a "vegetarian butcher" followed by stops at several popular local bakeries. Jenn

Australian Open part 2

This week Manly beach hosts the Australian Open of Surfing. Paul and I went to watch some of the competition on Monday. Here are a couple pictures of the athletes in action.

Royal National Park

Within an hour of Sydney by train one can explore an amazing variety of landscapes. Royal National Park is south of the city along the coast. I actually went there twice this week. The first trip was with my Spanish friend Javi. We hiked to some wind swept and very dangerous beaches. We did not venture into the water as we could see the rip tides and currents moving fast and furious only a few meters from shore.
A few days later Jenn and I took our bikes on the train to visit another part of the park. One thing I have learned from biking is that you better really enjoy the down hills, as there is a killer uphill waiting to balance out the equation. After a wonderfully long downhill ride to the start of the trail, and a peaceful ride through the forest, we had a 45min uphill leg burner that tested us to the limit.

 

Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year is a big event in Sydney. We joined the celebration on Sunday with a guided tour of Sydney's China Town, a traditional Chinese food lunch and attendance at the twilight parade. This is the year of the horse, so that was the theme of the parade. Before it began we were entertained with horse-themed music (some humorously loosely based - like "YMCA", presumably related to horses because one of the village people is a cowboy!). Throughout the parade there were images projected onto a few of the city's buildings. There is no shortage of entertainment or free events in Sydney!

Australia day and an outdoor movie

January 26 was Australia day and there was no shortage of activities and festivities to be enjoyed. I started the day with a run around the harbour and passed 3 races: a harbour swim, wheelchair 10km and colour run. After lunch, Paul and I headed to Circular Quay and the Rocks, which were even more lively and packed than usual. Several of the main streets in Sydney were closed to vehicles and filled with people checking out the car show, markets, street vendors and concert stages. In the evening, between sets of the Aussie Open men's final, I enjoyed part of the free symphony in Domain park. The night was capped off with a fireworks display outside our window.

Last week Paul and I also had tickets to Sydney's outdoor harbour cinema. We arrived early to claim seats, and from there watched the sun set, a cruise ship leave the harbour, and upon twilight the movie begin. From our seats, we had a perfect view of the screen, which is set up in the water, as well as the downtown sky line, Opera House and Harbour Bridge. It was spectacular!