Project.
What a week. I had been working on a project for almost the whole time I have been in Australia. When I started in my new position I handed off the implementation phase to my replacement, but I was still heavily involved in it. We completed the implementation on Friday. It was a long day, but we managed to get most of the work done before going to bed Friday night. Fingers crossed everything goes well this week and there aren’t any major surprises. Feels good to have that crossed off the list!

Um….
So Jay sends me a message asking me if I have a minute to come to his office. I figured he had some news about our upcoming relocation, or some other important info. Or maybe a valid work question. This is the last thing I expected to see when I walked up to his office.

. Yes, that is a giant carpet Python skin. Thankfully it wasn’t discovered in the office. One of the guys at work found it in his yard. Um. That means that there is an EVEN BIGGER carpet Python roaming around his neighborhood. All of the Aussies got a kick out of my reaction. They are all like “oh it’s just a python, they are harmless” and I was like “OH MY GOD I WOULD BE MOVING RIGHT NOW IF I WERE YOU!!!!!!!!!”

Coozies.
We have been picking up a coozie everywhere we go – they make a great souvenir. Jay pulled out our growing coozie collection this week. I guess we have been a few places this year!

Cute kids.
No real reason for these pictures aside from me thinking my kids are stinking cute.

Science.
Science is awesome. And the Queensland Museum of Science is too. You know how most museums have all sorts of fun buttons that you can push that look like they will do something cool but they end up being broken? Jay and I have a song that we sing whenever we go to museums – “everything is BROKEN! Broken-broken-broken-BROKEN!” Hats off to the Queensland Museum. We only came across one thing that was broken. They had some really cool displays. Lily was fascinated by the stages of pregnancy display. It would only work if I held the ultrasound device on the creepy mannequin’s belly…the things I do for my children. They had a bed of nails display – Ty was too scared to try it. He loved the electric ball, and the spinning planet display (like those spiral coin donation things at SAMs Club). The taxidermy area was cool – I was surprised at how “normal” the size of the über poisonous redback spider is. I was imagining it to be huge. Now I am even more terrified of the spiders here. My most favorite part of the museum was the underwater display. I could have sat in that room for hours looking at everything. Not to be confused with the Underwear display. 350 years of underwear fashion that if you wanted to be creepy enough to see you had to pay extra for. I can’t imagine that is a big money maker for the museum… Fun day!

Lunch.
We ate lunch at James Squires. Jay was sold when he walked by and saw the whole hog roasting in the kitchen, and then when he saw that they brewed their own beer there was no chance of going anywhere else. I can’t really say of the food was any good (long story – my pulled pork was cold by the time I got to sit down to eat it) but Jay seemed to think it was tasty. The beer was good. Apparently the morning at the museum wore Ty out…

Chill.
The Links Hope Island golf course had an Australia Day event planned and open to everyone. We met up with the Coen’s and had a great time. It was so hot in the sun, but bearable in the shade. They had a live band, an inflatable water slide, sausage vendors (of course), pick-up cricket and soccer games. There was a great turnout – heaps of buggies overtook the putting green. At one point Jay asked me if I had seen Ty recently. I said, “yeah, he’s over there playing cricket.” Jay said, “ok.” Then he looked at me with a look on his face like “what the heck kind of conversation was that?!? Our son is off playing cricket with some new mates.” We both just laughed. Oh Australia. The atmosphere felt like a wedding – brought back fun memories of Courtney and Jeremy’s wedding. Good times.

Night ride.
We took the long way home (the scenic route) and I took this picture of one of my favorite neighborhood trees.

BbQ.
Ty was really missing the Coen kids so we invited them over for an Australia Day BBQ on Monday. The boys grilled, we attempted to boil a crab from their crab pot (fail), and we had tons of yummy sides. Way too much food, but it was all really tasty. The kids all put on their Aussie tattoos, ate lunch at their own little kids table, and went for a quick swim.

Races.
After lunch we went down to the tavern to watch the mud crab races. It was quite an event. We watched 2 heats – 6 crabs per race. They auctioned off the crabs, winner taking 50% of the pot. I couldn’t talk Jay into forking out the $75-$125 bet. It took the guys a while to get the crabs lined up in the center – even with tied up pinchers the guys were extra careful. when they had them all out of the bin and in the center start circle, they put a garbage can on top to hold them in place until the announcer said go. With much to-do, they lifted the can and they were off! Well…technically they were free to run, but apparently cabs don’t do a good job of following the rules. Most of them just stood there and looked crabby. One would go for a few steps, then needed a break, and then another one would make a run at it. The first one to make it out of the circle won. Riveting stuff. As you can tell by the photo, Lily was really into it…. I am glad we got to see it. 🙂

Prep.
Can you believe my little man is starting Prep (kindergarten) tomorrow? I got his name ironed on his uniforms and written on everything in his bag. I am anxious to see how he gets along, how much he learns, what new friends he will make. I used to worry about whether or not he is ready for school, but I am confident now that he will do well. To be continued…

Monday afternoon we had quiet time. The boys took a nap, Lily and I read books and snuggled on the couch. Lily fell asleep and they all didn’t wake up until 7:30!! Hopefully they sleep tonight…

Guests.
Brooke and Tansie will be here in one week!! Woohoo!! We have a 3 day weekend to Frasier Island planned, and then I was going to send the 2 of them up to Agnes Water by themselves so they could do a Great Barrier Reef tour to Lady Musgrave Island. But…ran into some car insurance snags so (twist my arm) I have to go with them. Jay is going to be a single dad for 2 nights while I go with the girls. I figure this may be my one and only chance to scuba dive (not fair to do that to Jay when we have the kids along as he wouldn’t have time to snorkel), so I have booked myself a spot in the beginner scuba dive group. Once in a lifetime!!!

Relo.
No updates on our upcoming relocation. We are still waiting to hear from our rep about how this process works. I have been keeping an eye on properties online, but there are not many options at the moment. Trying not to stress yet…something suitable will come up. No need to panic yet. There is plenty of time for that later. :). We started to drip on Ty that we are going to have to move. “But I love this house.” *sigh*. So do we, mate, so do we…

That’s all for now… G’day mates!

Vacate.
I had a bad feeling this was going to happen, and sure enough, it did. We received a notice to vacate our rental home when our 18 month contract is up in April. Apparently the owner wants to move back in (but he did offer to let us stay until December if we were willing to sacrifice our first-born son). So, we are now in the process of figuring out the process to relocate in Australia. It is going to be tough to find a place that will be willing to take a short lease, as we are thinking we will be moving home in December. But, as these things usually do, I am sure it will all work out just fine. I actually like the idea of a house hunt (I think I will be a realtor in another life – after I am a sea turtle marine biologist), but I am so not looking forward to packing and moving our things. Ugh.

2nd week.
The first day of the second week of big kid school proved to be quite eventful. Apparently Ty has been spending way too much time with the bigger boys and has taken his rough play a little too far. He got in trouble for punching & kicking a classmate. And then he completely ignored our rule about having to be 18 and he kissed some girl. 1 week in and he’s maccin’ on chics. Lord help me. I guess if I were to think about this scientifically I would say that he is trying to claim his place in the pecking order. The A dog is the toughest and attracts the best mates. Unfortunately I am trying to teach my son to be a gentleman, a respectable young man. We aren’t exactly making a great first impression at his new school. :(.

Fast forward.
Ty made it through the rest of the week without getting into trouble. Hooray!!!

Talent Show.
Every day has a different theme at vacation care. On Friday they had a talent show. Ty said that most of the kids danced. Ty has been practicing his talent – magic. Well, he practiced most of it. We haven’t had a chance to watch the entire video, so he brought a magic pen in without really knowing how to show the trick. He was prepared for a magic Oreo and magic rings. Oh, how I wish I had been a fly on the wall. We forgot to remind him that morning to not tell anyone the secret, so we wondered all day if he would cave. In the car on the way home from school, we asked him how it went. He said everyone was like, “wow! How did he do that!?!?” We asked him if he told them and he said, “NO!! It’s a secret!” Good boy, Ty!

Hulk.
Wednesday was crazy hair and face painting day. We had some green hairspray, so Ty wore his Hulk Smash shirt, and of course had his face painted green. He had a fun day, but he went straight to the shower when he got home. I shampooed his hair twice and his scalp was still green 2 days later. 🙂

Back.
Just as my back is feeling fairly strong, Jay’s gives him trouble. He has been trying to ignore the pain for a long time, but it finally got to the point where he decided he better go to the doctor. She figured he has a pinched nerve and made an appointment for him to get a CT scan the next day. He got some anti-inflammatories which seemed to be helping with the pain. He won’t find out results until this coming week.

Chain.
Have I mentioned how excited we are for our next round of visitors? So excited. Brooke comes first, then Jess, then Sundie. Ty keeps asking when everyone is coming, so we decided to make a paper chain. We made one to get us to Jess’s visit and will make one for Sundie in a couple weeks. SO excited!!

Hot.
I know, I know. Nobody back home wants to hear this next bit, but holy heck it was hot this weekend. What do Australians do on hot days? Find water. And swim. So that’s what we did. Saturday morning Ty swam at lessons (his last one at Gullivers), then we loaded up the car and went down to Snapper Rocks beach. It is such a great beach. It was low tide, so there was basically a natural swimming hole that was about mid-thigh deep, and then there was a huge area that had a foot or less of water that kept gently rolling in with the waves. It was perfect for the kids to splash around. Lily LOVED it. She looked like a drunken sailor as the little waves came and went. Ty brought his skipping ball and we all had good fun playing with that. It brought back memories of playing pickle in the crick. So fun. Lily wanted to go out near the bigger waves, so Jay held her hands and when the waves came in and splashed her chest, she just laughed and laughed. Ty got a kick out of jumping over the waves.
After a while I felt like I was getting sunburned. It was lunchtime, so we dusted off as much sand as we could and went to the surf club for lunch. The kids fell asleep in the car on the way home, giving them the energy they needed to spend the afternoon in the pool. The water was perfect.
Ty’s tummy was a little upset so we decided to come inside to the air conditioning and watch a movie. Apparently the sun sucked all of my energy, too, because I fell asleep on the couch.

Fish.
Ty wanted to go sit on the boat and fish with dad, so after dinner Saturday night, they thawed out some squid worms (stinky) and fished for about an hour. The only thing they caught were a few mozzies. Lily was exhausted, and it didn’t take her long to fall asleep snuggled up with me on the couch.

Freckles.
Whenever we FaceTime with my mom (Nana), she always has Ty come real close to the camera so she can count the freckles on his nose. He loves this little tradition. If she doesn’t ask right away, he will whisper to me, “ask her to count my freckles.” He has been stuck at “20” freckles for a while now, but since we were in the sun a bit, it looked to me like he grew a few more. We needed the professional freckle counter to confirm our suspicions, so we took a picture and sent it to Nana. “22” freckles!!

18 months.
Lily has been a part of our lives for 18 months now. I can barely remember what life was like before her. She is such a little pistol – full of spunk and vinegar. Her vocabulary is growing – she shouts “Ty” and “dad” quite often. She can make most animal sounds, can point to the major body parts (belly is her favorite), and her hair is long enough to put up in a little waterfall ponytail. She loves the water – ocean, pool, bath, shower. She also loves dogs. One cannot sneak by without her spying it and saying “woof woof”. She will do anything for a laugh, and she thinks her brother is hilarious.

Shopping.
I was reminded today why I hate shopping for swimsuits. Lily and I were due for a new suit or two, so we headed down the coast to see what we could find. The first place we went to had a huge selection – but you had to be a USA size 6 or smaller to squeeze into them. Ugh. I don’t think I am fat on a normal day – although I could stand to lose a few pounds – but Lordy. I felt like a beached whale trying to squeeze into some of that spandex. So we drove to another shop and had great luck. I got 4 new suits – yippee!! Lily got 2 new suits, and we couldn’t wait to jump in the pool when we got home. Because again it was smokin’ hot.

Medcall.
When we got home and were going to jump in the pool, we put Lily in her life jacket on and she was fussing. We were in the pool for a while and she was not loving it, whining a lot. Jay laid with her in the lounge chair for a while and noticed that she wasn’t using her left arm at all. We called a nurse’s hotline and she suggested that we have a doctor check her out. We called MedCall and a doctor was here in about 15 minutes (such an awesome service – Obama should implement that). She doesn’t have anything out of socket, but he figured she has a sprain. We will just give her Tylenol for the pain. He thought it could be painful for about 2-3 days. 😞. Poor baby.

Rest.
So the rest of Sunday was a lazy one – doctor’s orders. The heat sucks the energy, so I don’t think anyone was upset about having an excuse to lay in the air con and watch movies. Hope everyone has a great week! G’day mates!!

Shutdown’s over.
The last night of shutdown I asked Ty what his favorite part of the holidays was. By this time, apparently Christmas and Santa Claus was a distant memory, replaced with the recent trip to Bundaberg. He said he had 3 favorite things:
1: (instantly without hesitation) watching the fireworks in Lily’s flower shorts
2: playing dress up with dad (dad is the world’s best ninja-pirate-superhero)
3: watching the turtles poop out their eggs

School.
So the holidays are over for Jay and I but school doesn’t start until the end of January, and Auntie Em doesn’t arrive until February. We were fortunate enough to have Bonny Babes extend Lily’s stay until Em gets here. She is in 2 different rooms, depending on the day, but she is familiar with the center and the teachers, so getting back into the routine was a breeze for her. Too easy, mate.
Ty started vacation care at St Stephens. We thought it would be a good transition for him – allow him to get familiar with the school grounds, some students, and teachers. He is by far the youngest kid there, but seems to be hanging in with the big kids. Vacation care is awesome, according to Ty. Movies, video games, Cricket games, obstacle courses, and slip-n-slides. I keep telling him that this isn’t what big kid school is going to be like, not sure if that is registering. He is likely going to be in shock once he has to turn his brain back on. I can tell he hasn’t thought much for a while – the other day he had a hard time saying his ABC’s… But he is growing up on me. The 2nd day of vacation care he wasn’t sure if he wanted to give me a hug. And the 3rd day he wore his hat sideways. When we go to drop off or pick up Lily at Bonny Babes, he struts in like he is so cool and reminds people that he is in big kid school now (you know, just in case they forgot).
We did have a little drama that I am noticing is a trend for him. Any time he has a big life event, he seems to revert back and has a string of accidents. :(. He gets so involved in whatever new and exciting thing that he is thinking about, that he completely loses focus on his bodily needs. So we had a couple days in his first week that we had to remind him of things and get his brain re-triggered. Hopefully that first week was the last of the problems.

Work.
Jay and I both had a busy week. It was his month end, so he worked late a few nights, but thankfully was home in time to help get the kids bathed and in bed. My work is back in full swing – almost like we never had a break in there. Makes the days go by fast – almost too fast! I was thinking about how different this job is than other jobs I have had. I have had stressful jobs before, but most of the time in prior jobs the stress was manageable and sort of predictable. I knew when I was going to have a super busy day/week and could mentally prepare for it. In this job, it is constant and relentless. You never know what kind of issue is going to crop up, what new challenge you will be faced with. A coworker said that is the way supply chain is in any company. Kudos to all of you out there that have spent most of their career in supply chain. It’s exciting, but at the same time exhausting. Hard for a control freak planner perfectionist to adapt to. Hard, but not impossible.

Mentor.
I heard some big news this week that one of my most favorite ladies at Deere is leaving the company. When I first met her, I was very much intimidated by her – as she is one of the smartest people I have ever met. I had the pleasure of working in her department for a couple years, and I learned a lot from her, more than she probably realizes. She has a unique way of being able to motivate people to do their best without being bitchy or bossy. She always conducts herself in a way that others want to mimic. I wish everyone would have a chance to learn from her, simple things such as always being prepared for a meeting, never arriving late, speak up with a valid opinion, do your research, consider all options, read books, and have fun. I wish her the best of luck in the next chapter of her life.

Mail!!
We hit the jackpot with Christmas cards this week!! So many arrived, and we loved reading all of them. I have never appreciated those quite as much as I have these past 2 Christmases. It means so much to us for friends and family to take the time (and pay the extra postage) to send us real mail. We miss you all so much!!!

Lazy.
Ty was not doing well during his swim lesson. There were 6 kids on Saturday, which is about 3 too many. He was being lazy, touching bottom, not trying at all. So I decided that it was time to drive out the laziness – have seen far too much of it lately. I told him that since he wasted our money for the last half hour, we were going to do another swim lesson as soon as we got home. No playing. No whining. Just prove to me that he an swim. He was not impressed, but he also knew that a trip to the water park was at risk if he didn’t do it. He managed to cause quite a scene – I’m sure all of the neighbors wondered what the heck was happening at our house. But about a half hour later he had swam the length of our pool and back using all of the different techniques they teach at lessons. I hated seeing him upset, but I hated even more the thought of having a child of mine be lazy. There is a time to rest and a time to have fun, but practice and game time are times to give it your all. By the end of it, he got a big high five, a big hug, and a nice chat about practice practice practice.

Waterpark.
So he earned his way back to the water park!! Good thing because Saturday was hot – 29 degrees. Lily went down a water slide twice. The first time was great, smiling and laughing the whole way. The second time she got stuck on her back halfway down and jay had to grab her foot to pull her the rest of the way down. She would have done it again but dad said no. So we splashed around the kids pool while Ty did the slides over and over and over again. We were there for about 3 hours – just enough to wear the kids out, and went home to rest. Fun day!

Pool.
Ok, so this next bit is going to consist of me lecturing a bit.

If you have young children, PUT THEM IN SWIM LESSONS. I don’t care how busy your schedule is, or any other excuse you have, PUT THEM IN SWIM LESSONS. And don’t quit until your child is a champion swimmer. Please. For the love of God, please.

So Ty got invited to a friend’s 5th birthday party at a neighborhood pool. There were only 4 boys there, which should be a manageable number. I wore a long dress and sandals, didn’t figure I would get in the water with the kids. I was chatting with the other parents but was unable to relax at all. Ty was doing great – swimming strong, knowing his limits, swimming to the edge or shallow part when he was tired. The other kids…well…it was apparent to me that they hadn’t been in swim lessons every Saturday for the past year. They dog paddled their way around, bobbing their heads up for breaths, constantly going out to the deep end, not aware of how weak they were. I was counting 4 heads nonstop for an hour before the boys came out for a snack. They ate heaps of lollies (as kids do at parties – not a huge deal) and then went back out for a swim. At this point most of them probably should have taken a longer break. But they insisted on going back in. So Ty is in the deep end, just off the shallow ledge, and a friend was right next to him. My version of the story might be different than that kid’s parent, but what I saw was the friend panicking and grabbing on to Ty. Ty is a strong swimmer, but not strong enough to hold up another person, so he started to panic. It only took me about 5 seconds to realize what was happening and I grabbed a noodle and ran into the pool, long dress, sandals, and all. The boys were just out of my reach, and thankfully just before I had to dive in all the way, another mom with a swimsuit on came running into the pool and grabbed the boys. Oh. My. God. Ty was crying, saying he couldn’t breathe because his friend kept pushing him down. His friend was crying for the same reasons. The boys talked it out, we told them that they have to not touch each other in the water, always swim to the side or shallow part of they get tired. They apologized to each other, and then we saw the other mom’s keys at the bottom of the deep end. Ty threw on his goggles and dove down to grab them. Champion.

They boys wanted to stay in the pool (I wanted to go off and cry), so we let them play for another 10 minutes or so before it was time for ice cream cake. Which was delicious. But the boys wanted to swim again. This was now 2.5 hours in, I could tell Ty was tired, so I called it a day. I couldn’t handle another minute of watching kids nearly drowning in the pool.

So PLEASE PUT YOUR KIDS IN SWIM LESSONS!!!! I am not saying Ty is an Olympic athlete, but it was rewarding to me to see that all of those Saturday mornings were paying off. I just wish the other boy had been doing the same so that my son wouldn’t have almost died.

So I got home, told Jay I couldn’t watch a kid for 20 minutes, cracked open a beer and say on the patio to blog. There is a nice breeze, light rain, high tide. And my kids are alive.

Holidays.
I started making some plans for my sisters’ trips to Australia. I made some reservations for Jess’s trip, proposed a plan to Brooke that I will get booked today, and next will outline some ideas for Sundie’s trip. I am so excited to spend time with all of them!!!!

It sounds like Lily is not pleased with something, and I have blown past my “I need 20 minutes to calm down” so I better sign off for now. Stay warm, American friends, and stay cool, Aussie friends. G’day mates!!

Hideaway.
First stop, The Hideaway Station Hotel in Tiaro, Queensland. It was a hot day for an outdoor lunch, but a quick summer rain sort of helped to cool things off. Lily and Ty got to burn off some energy after being cooped up in the car for 3 hours. If you recall – hotels are actually bars/restaurants. Many have rooms to rent for the night if you have had a few too many stubbies. Not exactly 5 star facilities, but would do the trick to keep you from getting behind the wheel.

Bargara.
We got checked into our hotel and wanted to take a walk down the esplanade to check out the shopping and dining options in Bargara. And then the skies opened up and it down poured. We stood under the entry shade cloth for about a half hour waiting for the storm to pass. Ty was acting like Mr. Tough Guy and went out to play in the rain. He lasted longer than I thought he would before he complained that he was wet.

When the rain let up, we walked into town for dinner. Pretty sleepy… There is a nice restaurant, a tavern, a couple fish and chips joints. Hmmmm. Turns out if you don’t have a booking you have no chance to get a table at the nice restaurant. Lots of accommodations, not nearly enough restaurants… But at least the town has a great park.

And bugs. Really flipping big bugs.

Bundy.
Bundaberg is known for its rum and soft drinks. We didn’t feel like doing the rum tour with the kiddos in tow, so we just went to the gift shop. Had to buy a coozie. We also went to a little woodworkers shop that makes little kegs. Ty got a kick out of watching the guy work.

Bowl.
And then we decided we were too stinking hot and we changed our plans. We were going to go bowling the evening of New Years Eve but decided we needed a break from the heat and went over lunch. We bowled one game (who knew my husband had such mad skills on the bowling alley). I, on the other hand, really sucked. It’s pretty bad when I don’t break 100 with bumpers… They had a gated off area for Lily to play in – she loved sliding down into the ball pit. Jay and Ty did some Wild West Shootout game, and then we ate lunch. Shortly after, Ty and I went to play glow in the dark Jurassic Park mini golf…but Ty wasn’t feeling well so we only made it through 2 holes. We went back to the hotel and rested up to give his tummy a break.

Fireworks.
Bargara had a pretty decent fireworks display on New Years Eve. The kids played in the park while we waited for the show.

I went to get fish and chips, and while I was waiting for our food, poor Ty’s tummy decided it was really not OK. After some drama (I won’t go into details to spare him some embarrassment), he insisted on staying for the fireworks. I’m not sure if it was the heat or the cheeseburger, but I felt so bad for my little man. He was in good hands with the best dad in the planet. Ty got to ride in the stroller as we walked along the beach watching the fireworks. It was really pretty.

Craters.
The Boffins are Baffled. No idea who the Boffins are, but they have a good reason to be baffled. Several craters were discovered on some property near Bundaberg, and nobody knows how they were created. For $19 (plus a 1.25% surcharge for using a credit card) we got to see them for ourselves. Well, first we walked through the fairy garden (wow) and then we walked around the craters. And then we walked through the machine shed of rusty old machinery (random), and then Lily said “whoa” when she saw the dinosaur, and then Ty got excited about a swing set that was probably as old as the craters. We ate some ice cream and all discussed our theories about how the craters were created. I think meteors. Jay thinks fairies made them (of course! That would explain the fairy garden). Ty thought it was dinosaurs. The world may never know.

Boffins.
I had to look it up.

Turtles!!!
So after much anticipation, we finally were able to go to Mon Repos Turtle Rookery to (hopefully) see some turtles. We are here right near the end of nesting season and the early front end of the hatching season, so we went with low expectations- no guarantee with wild animals. We arrived at 6:45 PM and were prepared to wait. They opened up the gates early as a turtle was already in the beach. Unfortunately only group 1 got to go to the beach. And as I predicted, we were in group 5 (should have booked earlier). While we waited, we read books about turtles, did a craft to “make” a turtle out of drift wood and pumice stones, and watched a presentation about turtles. And we watched groups 2, 3 and 4 head off to the beach. The kids were hanging in there but were getting antsy and tired. We kept telling ourselves that this is a once in a lifetime experience and we have to be patient – with the turtles and the kids… Finally at 9:30 they announced that turtle #5 had arrived!! Ty was so excited. He put on his flips, grabbed the water bottles, and we were off. We walked along a dark path through the bush – jay chuckled and said, “did you ever think we would walk through the bush in pitch darkness?” I tried not to think about that – or the giant huntsman spider and possum that was hanging out near the toilets…

We were herded like cattle down onto the beach, and holy crap!! There was a mama Loggerhead digging her nest. And right next to her was another one finishing up! And there was another one making her way up the beach! Oh! My! Gosh!!!!!! Ty got to go right up front with the other kids – front row seats to one of the coolest shows Mother Nature has to offer. Our turtle had a satellite tracking device on her. She had been monitored for 37 years, so the scientists were super excited to see her come ashore. The scientists were all over the turtles, taking measurements, touching the turtles, and they don’t mind a bit. Unfortunately something caused her to spook and before she laid her eggs, she decided she wasn’t ready. The scientists quickly attached a compute to her tracking device and started downloading information.

We were moved over to the other 2 mamas. As “ours” was digging, the other mama finished up and a team of scientists helped get her headed back down to the water so she wouldn’t disturb our mama. 100 kilograms – not an easy task to move her, and one of the researchers went tumbling down onto the sand. Off she went, back down to the sea. The scientists were not happy with the location of the eggs she had laid, as they were not high enough on the dunes. If the late January King tides or storms came through, they could drown the eggs. So the scientists dug them up and moved them to a new nest uphill a bit.

Meanwhile, our mama was finishing up her digging and she started to lay her eggs. 141 ping pong balls. Wow. Wow. Wow. Ty was once again front and center, taking it all in, asking questions. Not acting in the least bit tired even though it was way past his bedtime. Amazing.

A couple other mamas started their way up the beach, directly towards us. That was probably the most fascinating part of the whole experience. There was a group of probably 30 human beings standing right where these turtles wanted to lay their eggs, and they came right at us. Their eyesight is great, so they could see us. But they were generally not afraid. We had to stand very still and not turn on any lights. Up they scooted. One lady was sitting on the beach and a mama with some sort of a growth in the back of her neck was coming up. It literally touched the woman’s leg. She got right up to her spot and something caused her to spook and rush back to the sea.

Our mama finished “pooping her eggs” as Ty calls it, and covered them up. She turned around and we followed her back down to sea.

Some fun turtle facts. Loggerheads are on the verge of extinction, but 95% of the turtles that nest on Mon Repos are Loggerheads. When they hatch, they circle around a bit in the ocean to get their bearings and build up a mental compass to come back to the same spot when they are ready to give birth. They then catch the ocean currents and travel around the world for the next 16 years. They go to a feeding area, stuff their bellies, then go to a courtship area where they basically shack up with all sorts of other turtles. The mamas store the daddy juice in their bellies and make their way to the nesting area. They mix up their little turtle concoction inside their bellies, come to shore, lay ~130 eggs, go back to the ocean, swim up and down the shoreline for a couple weeks, mix up another baby turtle concoction with their stored up daddy juice, repeat. They can lay 3-4 clutches in a season, and then they take a break for 3-4 years before doing it all over again. Each clutch can consist of a number of different daddies. Mama doesn’t eat for 2 months while she is making her babies because she has to save the room for her baby turtle mixtures. Can you imagine the exhaustion?!?! Tough as turtles.

Meanwhile, the males just go to the courtship area, do their thing with heaps of chics, and then go eat. Typical.

On our way back to the car at around 11:30, Ty said, “when we come back to watch the turtles hatch in a few weeks…” So I think we might be coming back. :). Or, we could come back in 2040 to watch the babies that we saw being born come back to nest. That was seriously the coolest thing I have ever experienced.

So yeah, Bundaboring was not worth the trip, but I would do it all over again to see those amazing creatures do what they do. Is it too late to change my career path? Do you think my mad Excel skills would translate into the turtle research industry?

I was covered in sand when we got home and brushed off in the dark on our deck. I thought this was kind of neat when I looked out the next morning. Footprints in the sand.

G’day mates!!