5 and a half hours north of Brisbane

Bundaberg Grand National.

Turtle power! Off to Bundaberg up the coast to the turtle watch. We only just managed to be allowed admission due to a mix up with bookings but were luckily allocated to Group 1. And during the briefing the message came through on the tannoy: 'Turtles hatching - Group 1 to the assembly point!!' We then marched about a K down the beach to find the nest where a number of newly hatched turtles were scrambling around in a holding pen by the nest. More luck - I had my trusty Petzl head torch and was asked to be one of the links in the chain from nest to beach - the baby turtles are attracted to light so we lined up facing the net a few yards apart with our feet apart ready for the off!

Don't squeeze me!

The turtles were under starter's orders - and they were off down the beach. First through, way ahead of the rest, was a bold brash baby turtle - no race number or colours so the commentator was unable to identify this speedy newcomer to the racing scene. And then the rest of the pack shuffling along at quite a pace, apart from a lone back marker valiantly struggling along to make it to the sea before it was consumed by a predator. And indeed until the local turtle watch got themselves organised, foxes and rats were reducing turtle numbers dramatically heading and they were heading towards extinction. These Loggerhead turtles grow to be up to metre in length and weigh getting on for half a ton, they do most of this growing at sea and in fact the male turtles never step (or shuffle) back on to dry land. The females start to come ashore to breed at about the age of 30 years - and, although most of them hang around the Great Barrier Reef just a few hundred miles up the coast, some of them go on interesting long journeys. They've even been found off the shores of Peru (looking for Paddington Bear no doubt!)