- 12 years ago
TV Series - 30 min
Australian travel series hosted by Greg Grainger.
Stars: Greg Grainger, Tim Charody, Tim Doyle
Australian travel series hosted by Greg Grainger.
Stars: Greg Grainger, Tim Charody, Tim Doyle
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00What is it about islands? They evoke such passionate emotions. A place to escape to.
00:11A paradise. And Australia has more than its share of the best in the world. Imagine swimming
00:19off a tropical island and encountering manta rays feeding on the surface. So friendly they
00:25swing right up to you. And as you're reveling in that experience, a pod of humpback whales
00:31moves in, ever so close. Those encounters just off the Great Barrier Reef's southernmost
00:40coral cay, Lady Elliot Island. Imagine watching koalas in such great numbers, some have to
00:52be moved. Sharing a joey's first few seconds out of the pouch. Or witnessing a mother and
01:07baby seal reunite after several days apart. That happens on the wildlife sanctuary of
01:14Kangaroo Island. And imagine a bird that flies backwards. Another that drops from the
01:26skies. That, on the stunning volcanic peaks of Lord Howe Island. Islands complex and diverse.
01:42Home to an array of creatures on shore. And at sea. Australia has some truly awesome islands.
01:53Let's start with the Great Barrier Reef, truly one of nature's gifts. A mass of almost 3,000
02:09individual reefs. Packaged in luminous colours. And sustaining a myriad of oceanic life.
02:24There are 900 islands along the reef's two and a half thousand kilometres. One of the
02:31reef's most beautiful islands is this coral cay, Lady Elliot Island. First light finds
02:40hundreds of white-capped knotties roosting on the trees that surround Lady Elliot Island.
02:44This is a substantial breeding colony for these members of the Tern family. And as the day warms
02:53up, they'll head out to sea to fish. Returning on dusk. Other birds, such as egrets, prefer to
03:04catch their meals on the exposed coral reefs. But the rarest of birds to be found here,
03:14are the red-tailed tropic birds. This is the only place in the world where they'll nest at
03:22ground level. At night, turtles come ashore during summer to lay eggs. Their hatchlings
03:30emerging two months later, to scramble back into the sea. Turtles can easily be seen in the waters
03:36of the Great Barrier Reef. Swimming above the coral, and in the right season, teaming up with
03:41a partner to mate. Here you'll find giant manta rays. Manta rays feeding on plankton on the water
03:54surface off Lady Elliot. While in spring, mother humpback whales and their calves can be seen
04:06basking in the warm waters. This is one of the most pristine coral reefs in the world. One that
04:16teems with fish. Just south of Lady Elliot Island, is Fraser Island. A huge sand island that is home
04:29to a colony of dingoes. Many mainland dingoes have interbred with wild dogs. But here on Fraser
04:38Island, they're purebred. On dusk, they can be seen running on the beach, searching for fish.
04:46Two hours flight off the east coast of Australia, an island described as the jewel in the South
04:55Pacific, Lord Howe Island. Dominating at the peaks of a large underground mountain,
05:01fringed by a coral reef, the southernmost in the world. Here grow 50 plant species that can be
05:10found nowhere else on earth. And star of those plants, the kentia palm. Their seeds are harvested
05:28by many of the island's permanent population of only 300 people. Of all Lord Howe's qualities,
05:38the standout stars are its birds. Five species of birds here can be found nowhere else on the
05:44planet. Lord Howe is the southernmost breeding ground for the masked boobies. While the wedge
06:01tail shearwaters give a piercing cry at night as they reunite with their chicks.
06:05One sanctuary that has assured the survival of several species is the top of Mount Gower. Its
06:17cliffs so steep that predators like wild goats and pigs couldn't climb to the top. At this safe
06:27elevation live Providence petrels. So tame, they land on the heads of visitors. Back at sea level,
06:45there's a colony of Lord Howe Island woodhens. Back from the brink of extinction after a vigorous
06:51breeding program. And white terns, mothers feeding babies on low-lying branches. One final spectacle,
07:05just an hour's boat ride south of Lord Howe Island, is the pinnacle of rock known as Ball's
07:10Pyramid. It rises sharply to a height of more than half a kilometre, making it the tallest
07:16eroded remnant of an island in the world. Climbers, before they were banned, would take
07:21three days to get to the top and back. Further east, Norfolk Island. For such a small island,
07:30Norfolk Island has a big history. Kingston is the site of this grand collection of historic
07:38buildings. Most have been restored and now serve the current Norfolk Island administration. It's
07:44a living monument to a turbulent past. These days, Norfolk Island has a very distinctive
07:50culture. Reminders that descendants of the bounty mutineers now live here. Norfolk Island also has
08:00its own language. Carleen Christian and her mother Maeve are speaking Norfolk as they weave hats for
08:06bounty day celebrations. So important is Norfolk's rich history to its 1800 residents that once a
08:17year they celebrate Bounty Day. Descendants of the original Pitcairn Island settlers re-enact
08:23the day they deserted that island in 1856 to populate Norfolk Island. They even dress in
08:29the clothes of that era. Yes, Norfolk Island does have its own government and its own laws,
08:37independent of mainland Australia, with its own governor. At Government House, everyone gathers
08:44in their family groups to be judged for their best dresses. Today's celebrations conclude with
08:49a tradition reserved for the children, rolling down the grassy hill surrounding Government House.
09:00Off the coast of South Australia, Kangaroo Island, a wildlife sanctuary. There's everything here from
09:10koalas and kangaroos to tamar wallabies, seals and sea lions, echidnas and fairy penguins.
09:18Birdlife is also prolific on Kangaroo Island, from coastal seabirds to the many colourful
09:27species found inland, particularly on the island's numerous lagoons.
09:31Koalas were introduced here 80 years ago. They've thrived so well that there are too
09:42many of them now for the island to support, and many are now caught and relocated to the mainland.
09:48But it's the kangaroos, the very species that have given the island its name,
09:56that can be found hidden in scrubland across the island. Even though there are high populations
10:02of this unique subspecies of kangaroos, you still have to work hard to find them in their natural
10:07habitat. Search for the roos, and chances are you'll also find the smaller tamar wallabies
10:14that exist in large numbers. The absence of feral pests has also helped echidnas establish
10:21a substantial population on Kangaroo Island. They'll use their long snouts to burrow for
10:30ants, and if threatened, their sharp quills protect them from predators.
10:34But it's down on the coastline that nature's full fury can be seen. The wild seas of the
10:43southern ocean that constantly batter Kangaroo Island are rolling in from the Antarctic.
10:48Coastal fishermen know their power. Below the waves, another of Kangaroo Island's
10:58residents cavort before coming ashore. These are New Zealand fur seals, renowned for their
11:05aggression. Even more active off Kangaroo Island are the Australian sea lions, a species listed
11:12as vulnerable to extinction. These antics may look like play, but they're skills they'll use
11:20to escape the great white sharks that patrol these waters. Between the sharks and the sealers,
11:27these sea lions have almost been wiped out. These Australian sea lions are very adept at
11:35surfing the waves to shore. Their mothers have been out hunting for fish for the past three days,
11:43returning to feed their pups. This pup has been alone for all that time, no food or drink,
11:49and very keen to reunite with its mother. The final wildlife spectacle on Kangaroo
11:57Island unfolds on dusk when most predators have disappeared. Hundreds of fairy penguins
12:05emerging from the sea after a day's fishing. Back on shore, they'll make a trumpet-like cry,
12:14calling for a mate. And once partnered, they'll head for the safety of their own burrows.
12:25Finally, Australia's very own Galapagos, deep in the Indian Ocean, Christmas Island.
12:35When the surging seas of the Indian Ocean hit the limestone cliffs of Christmas Island,
12:42there's an explosive reaction. Inland, there are extensive rainforests to explore,
12:48populated by a wide range of exotic creatures, and cooled by a series of waterfalls.
12:59It's here we find red crabs, which emerge from their burrows to drink and scavenge the leaf litter.
13:07Once a year, they take part in one of the world's greatest animal migrations.
13:15Come the first monsoonal rains of November, and millions, tens of millions of them will
13:24emerge from their burrows in the forests and start to walk en masse to the sea where
13:28they'll spawn. There's also the world's largest land invertebrate here, the coconut crab.
13:40These crabs are found on tropical islands across the Pacific and the Indian Ocean, but
13:45here on Christmas Island, their abundance means they're never hard to find.
13:52You can take a swim off Christmas Island, and you may just be rewarded with a very special encounter.
13:58Giant whale sharks, the biggest fish in the world.
14:04Playful, docile, enormous. It's the king of the ocean, this giant whale shark.
14:13Imagine our delight when out of the blue emerges the shape of a huge creature swimming straight towards us.
14:21The thrill of swimming with just one whale shark is overwhelming, but imagine how we feel when a second whale shark appears.
14:29It's a tremendous finale to our tour of Australia's most special islands.
Comments