7th October - 13th October ONE TREE ISLAND

Turtle Love 

One Tree Island: I think I've found paradise - what a beautiful little Island - Thanks Russ and Jen for sharing your island home with us!

One Tree is a National Park 96 km from Gladstone.  It is part of the Great Barrier Reef chain of islands, and is zoned for scientific research. The Research Station is operated by Sydney University and was established in 1976 it accommodates up to 20 visiting scientists.  Jen and Russ have been here for five years and manage the day to day operations.  Solar panels backed up by a 240V diesel generator provide electricity and the only freshwater supply for the island is rainwater.

Managers Shower 

The accommodation is very cute with the best views from your loo I've ever seen (Rob spotted a whale on his first visit). Some of the floors are coral rubble - a bit hard to walk on but quite spectacular.  The canvas bag bush showers were fun - and certainly put you in touch with nature. Certainly takes away the effort of scrubbing tiles :))  The birds are plentiful and are certainly not shy of human contact with a variety of terns, Silvereyes, Brown Boobies, Rails and a pair of magnificent Sea Eagles.

Sooty Tern

The snorkeling was amazing with plenty of green turtles, beautiful corals and an abundance of reef fish. The shovelnose rays were pretty amazing to observe.  Below are some pics and video  taken in the waters around One Tree.....

Above: Coral-banded Butterfly fish         Above: Eastern shovelnose ray  

Thanks to Jen and Ben for some pics - This shot of the corals is pretty amazing.
 

Above: Underwater Garden

Above: Black tip reef shark....