Turtle Conservation Project in Australia

Spend three or five days working on a turtle conservation project in Aboriginal Australia. See tiny turtles hatch from creamy-white eggs and venture to the open waters, help with the tagging and measuring of turtles, and get hands on with all sorts of data collection. At the end of it, there’s a chance you’ll have a tan, but more importantly, you’ll really have helped make a difference.

Australia. ‘Neighbours’ and ‘Home and Away’ don’t really do this vast land justice. Ditch the dizzying city life of Sydney, shun the cultural capital, Melbourne, and head out into the wild on this working holiday in Queensland. Mapoon on the Cape York Peninsula is an Aboriginal community just 200 kilometres from Australia’s most northerly point. With a population of only about 280 people, the area’s really kept to its wilderness roots. The coastline here is pretty isolated so it’s little wonder it’s favoured by four species of marine turtles – the Green, Olive Ridley, Hawksbill and Flat Back turtles.

Scour for ghost nets set adrift from fishing ships, help rangers patrol 24 kilometres of coastline, and work with the Mapoon Aboriginal owners and researchers as they measure and tag nesting Flat Back and Olive Ridley turtles. Whether you fancy taking part in a nesting or a general survey of turtles, you’ll still get a fully ‘hands-on’ experience. But you needn’t worry - it’s not all work and no play. Although you’ll be working hard to protect these species, there’ll still be time to see the local way of life and relax.

If bog-standard holidays where the soul purpose of a week is to lie by the pool, crisping to a frazzle brings you out in hives, look no further. This working holiday will do more than your average holiday ever could to lift your spirits. Eco-conscious types, survivalists and wildlife enthusiasts will fit right in here – as too will hard-workers willing to get stuck in and help the rangers on their quest to protect the turtle population of this area. You’ll be working in small teams of like-minded people so there’s also the possibility of making friends here too.