At this Queensland resort, it’s lights out at 7.30pm – with good reason

It’s the kind of birth most mothers dream of. By the time we get there, just minutes after hearing that a turtle had begun nesting, it’s pretty much over. The endangered loggerhead is steadfastly flicking sand behind her with her flippers, covering her eggs to protect them from predators such as foxes and dogs. My six-year-old son Oliver and I flinch as grains speckle our face, quickly wiping them away from our eyes, before watching her slowly shuffle back to sea.

While the speedy nesting is good news for the turtle, it’s not so good for those of us who have travelled hundreds of kilometres to witness the spectacle. Fortunately, Mon Repos Beach is known as a “turtle highway”, and it isn’t long before our ranger Kelly Green’s radio is crackling with news of another mum-to-be coming ashore.

We scramble up a steep dune behind Green and gather in a tight group behind the reptile, so she can’t see us while in her trance-like state. Soon we see the first of her soft, ping pong ball-like eggs dropping into the 60-centimetre-deep chamber she has dug.

Green quickly locates the turtle’s algae-covered tag, which reveals she is around 50 years old. She removes barnacles from her shell to accurately measure her, and places tape in the nest with a tag number and date to track how many hatchlings emerge in a couple of months’ time. It feels exciting to see science in action.

The success rate is usually around 80 per cent, but it’s sad to hear only one in 1000 hatchlings makes it to adulthood. “We need at least two females to lay four clutches for one hatchling to survive,” Green says. “They’re pretty shocking numbers, aren’t they?”

It’s even sadder to discover that their biggest threats are the result of human activity, such as ingesting plastic, boat strikes and getting caught in fishing lines.

The Turtle Encounter Tours, which depart from Mon Repos Turtle Centre nightly from November to March, feel like a well-oiled machine. Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service has been running here since 1968, so it’s had a while to get it right.

In some parts of the world, when turtles return to nest on the same beach they were born on, they encounter brightly lit high-rise buildings that have risen in the ensuing decades. That’s why places like this, and neighbouring Turtle Sands resort where we stay, are so important.

When guests arrive at Turtle Sands, they are invited to sign a “turtle pledge”, promising to close their blinds and curtains by 7.30pm and avoid shining car headlights towards the ocean, so nesting females and hatchlings don’t get disorientated. The eco-friendly property reopened in 2024, three years after NRMA Parks and Resorts acquired the rundown caravan park that had been there since the 1970s and set about revamping it. Our high-tech, three-bedroom villa overlooks the turtle-shaped pool, which has a large shallow section ideal for kids, with water jets emanating from the bottom.

While there’s no on-site cafe, there is a modern camp kitchen with electric barbecues, and food trucks offering everything from pizza to doughnuts visit on different days. Tanks catch the rain to water the native gardens, and EV chargers are dotted across the site. But for weary mums like me, the biggest drawcard is that it takes about as long to walk home after a nighttime tour as it does for the turtles to make their way from the dunes back to the shore.

THE DETAILS

Drive or fly
Mon Repos is around 4½ hours’ drive north of Brisbane via the Bruce Highway. Qantas and Virgin Australia fly to Bundaberg Regional Airport. From there it’s around 15 minutes’ drive to Mon Repos, with Bundaberg Shuttle Service offering transfers.

See bundabergshuttleservice.com.au

Stay
Turtle Sands has a range of accommodation offerings, including powered campsites from $67 per night, glamping tents from $380 per night and three-bedroom beach villas from $540 per night.

See turtlesands.com.au

Tour
Turtle Encounter Tours run from early November to late March. Bookings open in September, and the earlier you book the better your chance of getting the first time slot. November to January is the best time to see turtles nesting, while February to March is the time to go to see hatchlings. See parks.des.qld.gov.au

The writer travelled as a guest of NRMA Parks and Resorts and Bundaberg Tourism.

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