February to the start of March at Osprey Then a week at Mesa.

I am getting back into doing things after my surgery. Larry has had to do all our chores without me for a couple of weeks.

I can do some cleaning but not carry anything or stretch too much and sweeping is still a no.

Things get better every day and I do a little more each day.

After 4 weeks I finally go snorkelling again and one day I find this big octopus who puts on such a display for me. I spend a good 20 minutes taking pictures of its changing patterns and colours and shapes before it swims away. I could not wait to find Larry to tell him, then get back to the van to see my video and photos. I was so disappointed to find my batteries in the camera were flat and I had nothing on the camera. So each morning I would go to where I had seen it and search until I found its hiding hole , then I found it and took photos but it never came out and put on a display again. At least I saw it.

We found more octopus and a Lion fish, more sharks and turtles and each time we would see something new.

I still could not go out if there was too much wind making the sea choppy or if with the tide movement we had the current running too fast. I did get to go to Lakeside and a few other places and snorkel again before we left.

We were out snorkelling at Lakeside sanctuary one morning and I was following a fish I had not seen before and Larry was doing the same only going deeper and I felt something touch me. I just thought it was Larry back and as I turned I saw this very large shark beside me and swimming away from me. All I got to really see was a shape and its tail and this ruled out our usually seen reef sharks. It was not there to hurt me it just swam into me and rushed away. When I looked down again there was this very large cod or Grouper nearly as big as me , I still i'm not sure which it was.

The next day out here we found the biggest sting rays we have seen getting cleaned at the fish cleaning station we found.

I got to go on a couple of Turtle monitoring mornings when our allotted beach was not a too hard beach and dune walk and I got to help with another rescue.

This turtle had left her return to the water until the tide was out and she had rocks to cross and she got herself wedged in a gap in the rocks. We could not get her onto the sling to lift it was just the 4 of us get hold of her shell and lift straight up out of the hole and put her down and she did the rest. We all decided if we left her for the tide to come in , it might not get her unstuck as she was wedged in and could not use her flippers for pushing herself forward to the sea. So we just got her loose and she made it across the rest of the rocks herself. You would be surprised at what they can cross and the code we have to go by sets out when we can help. Most times we have to leave things to nature and its a decision for rescue made by at least 4 people who are out monitoring that day. A radio call to who is in charge that morning and to the monitors on the beaches close to you to ask for help is made then its a joint decision to rescue or leave it to nature.

Facts Mating takes place -after the turtle reaches around 20-30years and from sept to January

Nesting takes place from Nov to late March.

Hatching is from Jan for the early ones to late April for late ones.

Adult turtles -ladies are bigger can be 1 metre long and weigh around 125 kilograms

So hatchlings leave and do not return for at least 8 years and when they start mating its only maybe 3-4 years before they do it again. It takes so much energy out of them they can not do it every year.

Some do come back around 8 to live on the reefs until they are breeding age. These are the ones we see when snorkelling and they can get very chilled out not taking much notice of you just occasionally looking at you or wedging themselves under a rock ledge to sleep.

On one of our trips into town to do food shopping we found a stimpson python on the road but a shame someone had run over it and killed it.

There is the Stimson's python in the park we have not seen it but one of the campers did when he was out running one morning . He said it was very much alive and beautiful. He is a photo from the book.

On Sunday the 17 feb we went out at night looking for hatchlings , we only found a couple of stray ones and some turtles still nesting. People are asked to be off the beach by 11 pm so the night is quite for the nesting turtles and for the hatchlings to make it from the nest to the sea .

We went out at night a few times from Osprey and latter from Mesa in March. We never get to see a complete eruption of a nest just a couple of early ones or the last out stragglers. Larry rescued a couple from Ghost craps and sea gulls , but one he tried to get from a crab it would not let go and disappeared into a hole with its meal. Only 1 in a 1,00 hatchlings make it to adulthood.

One couple in the campground were a couple of years older and they travel for 6-8 months then fruit pack in north Qld the rest of the year. She works 3-4 months for 3 days a week earning money. If she can at 72 so can I and she said the work is less than what we do volunteering. They said we should visit them and I would not mind. They have no home either but stay in a small place caravan park when they work fruit packing , which is close by, and do not pay much to stay. We will see, at the moment while we are volunteering we get to help with any animal based stuff the rangers are doing as well as see the area in more detail and meet lots of people.

We have lots of young Dingo come through all the camps looking for food, they are not a threat to anybody as feeding them is a big no and they look and pass through on their way to look for food.

We have a good amount in the park which helps keep the wild cats and foxes down and the stray goats that may stray in. Goats where brought to the surrounding farm /stations as a source of food back when people first came to the area. Plus it keeps the amount of Kangaroos at a good level and does not allow the population to get out of hand to strip the vegetation in the park which gives hiding places for other things like hopping mice and lizards.

We leave Osprey camp and finish duties in the park but stay at Mesa for 6 days . We did this as we wanted to help with the Black Flanked Rock wallaby count again , go to the turtle teams end of season get together and on the Sunday the rangers were running a day long Shore bird leaning day. Larry wanted to go to this more than me but it will come in handy when we get to help at the Broome Bird Observatory in June.

The rock wallaby count we took part in back in November before the hot summer here and they count again at the end of the summer season . Good for us we got to help twice.

It also is early morning stuff as the wallabies find cool areas in the rocks and caves to sleep during the heat of the day. So for 3 mornings its a couple of counters in each of 3 gorges and each morning you usually get given a different gorge. In one gorge we see plenty of them and young ones which is good.

By the time you finish about 9am its getting hot so we go snorkelling to cool off, and at this time the sea is usually calm, but not always.

The shore bird day starts inside to see slides to learn to identify each bird and then a few hours out in the field . This was in The Exmouth gulf the opposite side to Cape Range Nation Park. The temperature reached 44.6 deg and even though we were next to the water we could not get in. A couple people did but we were not in our car and had no bathers etc. We went in a Ranger car as it was defiantly 4wheel drive on loose sand tracks and our car was loaded to leave the next day and far too heavy for this. The car would make it alright but not loaded. 3 people got stuck in the sand and had to be pulled out.

The only other camp hosts in the park at the time were a couple who were staying most of the year at different campsites. It is a very nice place and this we could think about but at the moment we still have other places to see in WA and then maybe join the team in The Northern Territory nation parks.

Some we have been to but some we have not and would not mind visiting. The other camp hosts are also thinking of this and we will keep in touch.