Heron Island - Part 1

70 km off the coast of Gladstone in Queensland is Heron Island. It is a small coral cay which means it is made up of crushed coral, a process that takes thousands of years. It is a very special experience to stay out on the island. At the moment there are 100.000 nesting birds as well as huge turtles who come up on the beach at night during high tide to lay their eggs. More about the turtles in the following blog. Of course a coral island surrounded by reef all around is the perfect place to dive or snorkle.

Shearwater (Mutton) Birds make sounds at night that resembles moaning or crying kids while the Black Noddy Terns have more of a scream. One needs ear plugs to sleep! There were no crickets like I am used to in the (sub)tropics and there were no mosquito’s and no snakes.

The Black Noddy Terns are not afraid of humans and stay on the ground even when you walk by right past them. The fancy way of exposing one wing is to get rid of parasites by letting them fry in the sun.

Heron Island is named after the many Herons. Now there are white and grey Egrets, family of the heron.

It has been raining a lot in Australia and it still is but luckily the skies cleared enough each day to be walk around the small island and take pictures of stunning scenery. All the small black spots on the blue sky are birds – they were so numerous that it was impossible to avoid them.

When high tide came in late afternoon so did the Reef Sharks and Cowtail Stingrays. I was walking on the beach and could just take picture after picture.

To be continued....