But I stole some time to write another entry.
This time I'll tell you about the Spawn of future Prada hand bags - I'm being facetious of course.
Rachel and I (who still have access to our rental car) drove north to the town of Bundaburg, a few hours away from Brisbane. The day was sunny and gorgeous, and the highway took us through numerous small towns, cane sugar fields, near the beach, and beyond. We arrived and drove around the city, commenting on its quaint and subdued character. But we had to be patient and wait until after sunset for the REAL reason for our visit to emerge.
We took the car and came to a spot called Mon Repos beach. It was a hidden trail off the beaten path, a little more than a sandy road wide enough for just one car. We collected all of our gear, held hands, and walked with a skip in our step (from the excitement). We were on the cusp of a dream coming true for both of us....
To witness the awe-inspiring God breathed annual cycle of spawning logger head turtles!
As luck (or amazing planning) would have it, because we booked the tour tickets ahead of time, we were herded into group #2. As the line was slowly moving towards the front so the park rangers could locate and check your name off the list, a ranger came running up to the massive group of people and yelled, "WE GOT OUR FIRST TURTLE OF THE NIGHT! EVERYONE IN GROUP 1 FOLLOW ME!" Naturally, our excitement increased. The ranger explained that we were at the graces of mother nature; that groups are only called up when turtles decide to beach. There were 5-6 groups in total, and that some groups could wait until 12-1am before they were called.
God was gracious to us, because our turtle (#2 for anyone who's counting) came early too, at about 8pm. Group 2 collected on the board walk and we were briefed on the DO's and DON'ts of the tour
No loud noises
No wandering away from the group
No touching the turtles
No lights or cameras of any kind (yet)
No smoking eating or drinking
Basically.... walk in a straight line is all we were allowed to do at this point. =)
(Side note, I'm not really all that great at following instructions)
The ranger then took us on a beach walk. Lucky for us, our turtle picked a spot on the beach 50m from the boardwalk. By the time we got close enough to make out the dark object in the sand, it had already begun the egg laying process. One side at a time, its hind flippers would gingerly reach into the soft sand, scoop a flipper-full out of the trench, and put it on the side of its body. Before each flipper would repeat the cycle of reaching down to excavate more sand, it would give a swift KICK and clear the sand scooped from before. When she felt like the nest was deep and wide enough, she lowered herself over the opening, and white ping-pong ball sized eggs started to plop out from her backside.
One, two, three we counted.... fifty six, fifty seven, fifty eight....The whole egg laying process took about half an hour, and by then every member of the group had lost count! But who could sit there and count when the ranger finally let us take our cameras out to have a go at trying to capture a wonder of nature.
Once she had laid her last egg, the logger head kicked all that sand back over her nest, turned her cumbersome body around, and made her slow journey back to the sea. With a sigh of total contentment, Rachel and I looked at each other and smiled. Witnessing one of the thousands of miracles that happen every year on planet earth was enough to cause our spirits to sing. Words were superfluous; we both silently praised god for being extraordinarily above and beyond our imaginations.
But the night wasn't done there. The ranger knew, as soon as the turtle picked her nesting site, that it was too low to escape the king tide (the highest tide in the cycle). She informed the group that we had to transplant the nest to a higher nesting site or else all of her eggs would not survive. I'm not sure how my smile grew any larger, but it did. The ranger surveyed the group for guesses as to how many eggs were laid. I guessed somewhere in the 90s, I don't remember Rachel's guess. But by the end of it, she had dug up 128 eggs! And some turtles in a breeding season come 4-5 times to beach. Astounding! As the cherry on top to an already delicious day, we each got to hand carry 2 turtle eggs to the new nesting site. What a day..... what a day indeed.
God is good... all the time.
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