More Heron Island

Does it seem like the posts got sparse? LOL. Well, internet has been awful on the reef and up into the rainforest... I have been ill and today I just found out my Royal Bank Cash Card was zapped in an ATM "because the machine is faulty" leaving me doubting not only if there is a God, but if there is, if he ever wants me to complete this trip! I know, I know, I am not from Earth how can I even debate the existance of God? After all that has happened, Parasites to Parapluies, I am thinking he has it in for me :)

That said, say a prayer I have just over a week to go!

Okay here is the rest of Heron Island. I will condense the last 2 days into one group of pics...

 Since I wasn't feeling well, the nurse decided and I agreed that the diving was off. Which kind of sucks. But I got to see many other things..

 The egret below wait for the tide to go out so he can grab tasty morsels as they was over this concrete block.

 The little noddy bird below was an orphan, but he wasn't handled by humans so he survived, when picked up to humans no other bird will feed him. He sits in the same tree each day and if you lift your finger towards his beak he will give it a little tap.

 Many dark shapes go by the island... From Mantas to Sharks...

 As the sky clouds over the stingrays come to shore - apparently they move to shallow water when storms come.

 Not sure the sharks care.

Oh I know more coral..

 The visibility wasn't that great out on the reef - I'd had high hopes for the "Great barrier reef". Since I didn't get to go diving I bought myself a dive shop tee shirt.

 The tide is out in the pic below showing the rocky shore line on this side of the island look at those clouds though!

 The green coral below is fluorescent green in daylight.

I snorkeled for hours.

In some places the coral is nice and healthy but not as bright as in Vanuatu.

 This is the wreck at the entrance to the island.

The island is famous for it's turtles... but the story is kind of sad! It was originally a cannery - yes turtle soup, but that didn't work out so some fellow turned it into a resort and people would come ride the turtles in the 50s - literally they would put ropes round their necks and sit on their backs as they tried to escape to sea... I am not kidding. Awful! Now it is a protected park so nature cannot be interfered with. Well turtles like below come lay their eggs, only 1 in 1000 make it to adulthood. I didn't want to go out and watch the hatchlings coming up and making their run for the ocean, within minutes many are picked up by gulls, even beach ghost crabs, and the sharks wait at the edge of the water and snap them up as they go in. Some kids were apparently in tears, I would be too!

 I wanted to throw rocks at the birds but they apparently give 1 warning if you interfere then ask you to leave the island.

 The noddies have a tough time with the terns on the island too. There are some trees here, the Pissonia tree, it's rare and heron has one of the last remaining stands, the seeds are really sticky though. When the birds get the sticky goo on their wings they can no longer fly, so they can no longer eat, so every morning you see two or three birds just waiting to die. More often than not they cannot get the goo off. Again, interference is not allowed as this is nature they say... Awful!

The day I left Heron Island, well 2 hours before departure a huge storm rolled in, pounded the place with heavy rain and the wind speeds wracked up to 35 knots. A cyclone is 40 knots and up. So it was a wet ending and a rocky ride back to the mainland on the boat. they say don't look at the horizon so you won't feel sick well it was all over the place...It had been an odd few days marooned on the reef for sure.

That said, the weather continued to play a big role in the rest of the day. We had seen storms pounding the mainland from the island, and when we got to port in Gladstone we were told all the highways heading south were closed and flooded out. The airport was still open though so I flew off back to Brisbane (south) and the plan was to catch another plane heading north again for Mackay (which here they pronounce as Mack - Eye). However the delayed departure of my plane for Brisbane meant that I missed the connection, they rebooked me on a flight for the following morning and put me in a hotel, not near the airport, but downtown in Brisbane. Along with 74 others. The line ups to check in, the buses driving all the way downtown... cut a long story short, bed by midnight, up again at 4am to leave at 5am for the connecting flight AND the $50 food and beverage credit they gave I spent on room service. Because of the huge demand it took an hour to show up. They said it was a Kobe beef burger on a bun, not sure I could tell the diff. Real Kobe costs a lot more than 50 bucks though. Sir Richard Branson I spent as much of the 50 as I could and gave the rest as a tip to the hotel staff, thank you Virgin Australia.

Anway, the weather has had a huge effect on my trip... The worst summer in Australia in years they are saying! They should pay me to go home! That said met a few nice people on the island, chatted lots about all kinds of different things... everyone in Aussieland bitches about the same things as we do, who knew??  :)