The 2025/2026 Turtle Season is almost here! Tickets for Mon Repos Turtle Encounter Tours will go on sale at 1pm on Tuesday 2nd September. If you'd like to be kept in the loop with information on the 2024/25 Turtle Season, please sign up to our e-news or follow us on Facebook for all the latest updates, holiday inspiration and deals.

• Tickets for the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service's Mon Repos Nightly Turtle Encounter will be on sale on at 1pm on Tuesday 2nd September 2024 - so be sure to set your alarms and add this to your calendar.

• Be prepared! Gather your nest-mates and book your group as one booking/transaction on the day. QPWS are unable to accommodate requests for separate turtle ticket bookings to be grouped together, so we encourage you to all book in one transaction.

• As this experience is largely popular, it may be handy to have a few different dates in mind when it comes to selecting your Mon Repos Turtle Encounter date. We suggest creating a list of your preferred dates just in case these get snapped up.

• With the Southern Great Barrier Reef just a stone's throw away, be sure to tick these adventures off your bucket list while in town.

Prior to your visit, please ensure you read Mon Repos Turtle Centre’s Conditions of Entry here.

The Mon Repos Nightly Turtle Encounters start from 6.00pm. Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service Rangers and the Centre’s Volunteers will greet you on arrival to check-in. Group allocations are made before this time so it doesn’t matter where you are in the queue. It is important that you arrive on time to ensure that you are onsite for when your group is called for turtle activity, which can happen early in the night, or sometimes you can be waiting for up to 5 hours.

While Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service Rangers search the beach for turtles, take the time to enjoy the interpretive displays, immersive theatrette and browse through the gift shop. As this is a natural experience, (and turtles are not known for their time management skills), you could experience wait times of up to 5 hours, so bring a book, playing cards and other activities to keep the whole family entertained whilst you are waiting.

Food and drinks are available for purchase at the Turtle Centre from 6.00pm til late at the on-site Milbi Cafe, seven days a week. The Milbi Cafe will offer a variety of light dishes, snack and sweets with a boost of native flavours to tickle your taste buds! Oh and of course a barista ready to give you your caffeine fix! You are also more than welcome to bring your own food on the night. With conservation at the forefront of our mission, help protect the turtles by choosing sustainable packaging for your snacks when visiting the Centre. We also encourage you to bring your own reusable water bottle and make use of the water refill station in the Turtle Centre.

Once the turtles arrive, Rangers will call your group and guide you onto the beach—where the adventure truly begins.

Occasionally turtles do not arrive—while this is unusual, we can’t guarantee you will see nesting turtles or hatchlings.

Mon Repos Conservation Park plays a critical role in saving the lives of turtles. As the only Ranger-guided turtle encounter on the East Coast and home to the largest turtle rookery for nesting loggerhead turtles in the South Pacific, Mon Repos Rangers ensure nesting and hatching turtles are not negatively affected by light or human interference.

While it is unlikely you may come across a nesting or hatching turtle on our other coastal beaches, the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service ask that you please abide by the below turtle viewing guidelines to ensure the survival of these turtles is not compromised.

•You can help nesting turtles by staying off the beaches from 6pm through to dawn.

• During the nesting process, mother turtles are easily disturbed by light and movement. When mother turtles begin to leave the water, making their way up the beach and upon digging their nest, the slightest movement or light can make them stop and turn back to the sea.

• If you see a mother turtle leaving the water, be sure to stay still and keep clear of her path up the sandy dunes. As turtles’ nest at night, it will be dark. It is important that you do not turn any torches or light on during the nesting process.

• Once the mother turtle has made her way to her nesting spot, she will begin to dig her nest. It is important that you stay clear out of her eyesight range and do not use any artificial light that may disturb her.

• Once the mother turtle has completed digging her egg chamber, she will then begin to lay between 100-150 eggs. This process taking between 20min. It is important that you maintain distance until she is completed.

• As she makes her way along the beach, it is important not to disturb her journey back to the sea. Continue maintaining your distance, be sure to keep lighting off as this may disorientate her.

•You can help hatching turtles by staying off the beaches from 6pm through to dawn.

• If you stumble across an emerging hatching nest, it is important to keep clear as emerging hatchlings underneath the sand make their way to the surface. If you are too close, you may damage the nest by pushing sand into their cavern risking the hatching turtles below from reaching the surface.

• DO NOT have any light or torches on as hatchlings become very disoriented by light making their journey to sea more challenging. Therefore, no photo’s with flash or emitting lights should be used.

• Do not handle the hatchlings at any time. They are not toys. They use environmental cues and rhythms to help them make their way down the beach.

• Once the hatchlings reach the water, it is important to continue not using lights. Once they are in the ocean, hatchlings are still susceptible to being confused by lights which may keep them closer to the shore where fish and other dangers await.

For more information about non-ranger led turtle guidelines please visit: https://environment.des.qld.gov.au/wildlife/animals/discovering-wildlife/turtle-watching

Check out our frequently asked questions page - we might just have the answer you are looking for!

• Exclusive weekday Turtle Tours for Education groups: a classroom group (max 60 students, plus the required ratio of supervisors) will be able to undertake turtle watching on the beach;

• Education groups can have a designated waiting zone, separate from the general public, in the outdoor amphitheatre, once they have completed their sessions in Turtle Tales and the immersive theatrette.