OurTripDreaming: Mon Repos (Bundaberg Trip)

27 September 2020 – 295 404 – Mon Repos

Mon Repos Turtle Centre was this mornings adventure.

https://parks.des.qld.gov.au/parks/mon-repos/attractions/mon-repos-turtle-centre

The turtles that are tracked for research have a titanium tracker inserted in one armpit when they are fully grown, approximately thirty years of age. The turtles that hatch here travel to South America before returning to Mon Repos to lay eggs.

Odd facts I learnt today:

· The turtle centre at Mon Repos started as a four-year research program in 1968, which in the words of the founder “got out of hand”
· The turtles mate near Fraser Island and the female stores the sperm and uses some at a time to produce a new clutch of eggs to lay every two weeks, about five times each season
· Females fast before laying eggs as there is simply not enough room inside the shell with 100+ eggs
· Some turtles are carnivores and some types are omnivores
· Mon Repos is a small beach and accounts for a massive proportion of South Pacific turtle hatchings
· Three different types of turtle lay eggs at Mon Repos: loggerheads, green turtles and flatbacks

Next we walked the Coastal Track and then back along the beach exploring the rockpools. On the way back to Mon Repos we saw a long rock wall built by South Sea Islanders – these were rocks removed from the soil when creating the canefields. https://parks.des.qld.gov.au/parks/mon-repos/journeys/mon-repos-coastal-track