Christmas and New Year Down Under is always a pleasant experience. Warm and sunny, family and friends, old traditions and new experiences.
This year we started by going diving to Heron Island. We have been there once before, so we knew that accomodation wasn’t luxurious in any way, and we knew not to expect any great culinary experiences. What we were not prepared for, however, was that the bird population on the island has grown considerably since our last stay. The stench of the birds is quite overwhelming, and the noise is ever present. This part of staying at the island today is not particularly pleasant.
But, having said all that, the diving is spectacular, the diving crew is friendly and helpful and the under water world ever fascinating. We had booked for ten dives and did them all, except for Malin who did one extra. We also had the opportuntiy to do a night dive, which was quite exciting. Malin and I participated.
The turtles are still around, luckily.
And the birds.
In summer around 200.000 birds come to the island. The Mutton birds (30.000 of them) return to the island in October to breed in their burrows. They are rarely seen during the day, but during the night one can hear them sing to each other to reaffirm their pair bond. It can keep you awake for some time during the night. Ever present during the day are the Black Noddys. They build their nests in the Pisonia trees, using the leaves as building material. There are presently 60.000 pairs, or 120.000 individuals on the island. All the birds are quite unafraid of humans, flying and running very close to you. They become part of life there, and luckily one gets used to the smell.
We spent most of our time at Heron Island diving. No underwater camera, so we cannot show all the wonderful things we saw, manta rays, turtles, reef sharks and morays among them. It was truly spectacular. The water was quite clear most days. Sometimes we had a very strong current and often therefore murkier waters. And best of all, no coral bleaching.
O S M A F Frankenhaeuser 