As the Southern gateway to the Great Barrier Reef, Bundaberg is home to some of the most beautiful beaches in the whole world! Those beaches are home to 50% of the South Pacific’s nesting loggerhead turtles. So it’s no surprise that each year 30,000 people flock to Mon Repos to have an up close and personal experience with these amazing sea creatures.
For the surf-averse, going to the beach isn't quite the glorious summer day experience that it is for those happily swimming between the flags. But Australia has some beaches where you don't need to get in the water to have a great time.
Mon Repos Beach, Queensland 14km north-east of Bundaberg, Mon Repos is one of the world's most important nesting sites for loggerhead turtles. Come between November and March, and special ranger-guided tours take you on to the sand to watch the turtle circle of life. Early in the season, mother turtles haul themselves up the beach to give birth. Later on, hundreds of tiny hatchlings fight through the sand and scuttle into the sea. See parks.des.qld.gov.au
The closest access point to the Great Barrier Reef from Brisbane, Bundaberg is the town the turtles call home, where the reef touches the beach, where plates overflow with local produce and the rum is always world class.
It’s a balmy beachy evening, the kind that reminds you of those old-fashioned holidays when you were young. You remember the type. When mum miraculously tossed out the rule book about being home by the time the sun conceded to another sultry summer day. Instead, she allowed you to frolic by the ocean with your mates. Mind you, not too late, just enough time to allow you to squeeze that last bit of oozy goodness out of your day, before crawling into your summer sheets, sandy feet and all. Reading under the covers by torchlight way beyond bedtime? You had that sorted too.
Late November/early December in Bundaberg and it’s that same scent of nostalgia. These are languid lollypop days in Queensland’s coastal city most renowned for its rum. The Tilt Train & Turtles Getaway begins aboard Queensland Rail’s Tilt Train. Crawl into your comfortable seat and let the world wash over you on this 351km journey which takes just 4.5 hours.
