Heron Island, Part 1.

Last week marked the first Mattick lab group retreat in over 3 years. I was fortunate enough to have most of the planning go smoothly and things turned out good. It was quite spectacular to isolate ourselves on a small mound of "sand" for 3 to 5 days. I use sand loosely because essentially the island is composed of parrot fish poo, bird droppings, and the odd other organic material. Nonetheless, just standing on this Capricornian island 70 Kms off the coast of central Queensland is a unique experience. (Un)fortunately there is a resort hotel (more like cottages) on the island in addition to the research station and the ranger station. Heron island is in the Great Barrier Reef national park and bears UNESCO world heritage status for obvious reasons. You get that feeling that surviving on the island primitively would be a phenomenal feat.

The main vertebrates on the island are egrets (not Herons), black noddies, seagulls, sea eagles, rails, and at night, the wedge-tailed shearwaters. The latter, also referred to as mutton-birds, make the freakiest sound at night, a sort of erie cooing that grants the island a haunted aura. Also, they are quite easy to step on. Rare are those of us who did not receive the partings of the very talented dive-bombing noddies.