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The 100 | Back to nature
SAVETHECORROBOREE
TheCorroborreefroglookslikeit’s
beentransplantedfromthedepthsof
theAmazon,suchareitsvivid,liquorice
allsorts-inspiredblackandyellowstripes.
Butthisalpinefrog,endemictothe
SouthernTablelandsandKosciuszko
NationalPark,isunderattackfroma
warmingclimate,frog-killingfungus,
off-roadvehicles,andthemanydamaging
hoovesofwildbrumbies.Marvelat
thismoststrikingfrogatHealesville
SanctuaryoutsideofMelbourne,where
acaptive-breedingprogramisracing
tokeeptheseamazinganimalsinthe
wild.Tolearnabouttheamphibians
andthethreatstheyfaceyoucanalso
visitMelbourneZooandTarongaZoo,
Sydney,bothofwhicharebreedingthe
frogsincaptivityforsubsequentrelease.18
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ON A PENGUIN SAFARI
The fact that Australia is home to
penguins seems an oddity – they must
have washed ashore here a while ago
from Antarctica and never looked back.
Make it your mission this year to go
and appreciate our polar denizens at
these special sites:- Manly Wharf, Sydney, NSW – The only
breeding population of fairy penguins in
the state, look out for them from July to
February waddling up the sand to nest. - St Kilda Pier, St Kilda, Vic – While
walking along this historic pier keep an
eye out for fairy penguins hopping about
on the rocks below. - Bruny Island, Tas – Penguins and short-
tailed shearwaters can be observed from
viewing platforms on the Neck, Bruny’s
famously skinny isthmus.
DRAGON
ationalcurriculum,
suchisthebountyofwonderfulanimalsin
Australianseas.Andit’snotjustallabout
theGreatBarrierReef;youwouldn’tthink
it, but divers are spoilt when it comes to
the temperate waters in and around Sydney
Harbour. Head out with the likes of Manly
Dive Centre and there’s the spectacular
protected reef of Shelley Beach and its
friendly blue gropers; a chance to spot
the incredible weedy sea dragon beyond
the surf of Maroubra Beach; and there’s
another less famous dragon: the blue
dragon (Pteraeolidia ianthina), a spectacular
nudibranch (sea slug) with rows of
fluorescent blue spines along its length. Look
for them snaking along the rocks and make
sure you have an underwater camera set to
macro mode to capture this striking animal.LOOK AT BACTERIA!
Yes, you read that right. Bacteria have
made it onto Australian Traveller
magazine’s prestigious annual 100 list.
But this ain’t any ol’ bacteria; this
particular microorganism represents
some of the oldest known examples of
life on the planet and they happen to
like it in the clement, salty waters of the
Hamelin Pool Marine Nature Reserve
in WA’s World Heritage-listed Shark
Bay. Cyanobacteria give rise to the
stone-like columns called stromatolites,
their mucus collecting sediment which
is stuck together with a by-product of
calcium carbonate, and they’ve been up
to this for around for 3.5 billion years.
A one-metre-high stromatolite
represents a colony of life some 2000
to 3000 years old, so pay your respects
to these sentinels of time, and hang
around to take a photo of them in the
shallow waters at sunset, when they
will reveal themselves to be far more
beautiful than their name suggests.19