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4 Episodes 2017 - 2017
Episode 1
This island lies to the south of the Great Barrier Reef. We see how birds, sea turtles and fish survive and breed in this tropical island with many very surprising behaviours of some species. This little island has a giant role to play in the lives of many.
Episode 2
This island was cut off from south Australia 10,000 years ago. We see the Kelly Hall Caves that house many animal bones of trapped bodies. The island has remained virtually free of predators. The Kangaroo Island Kangaroos are a sub species of Western Grey Kangaroos that evolved in isolation after the island was separated. They are shorter, chubbier, furrier and slower than the mainland variety. The 30 cm size Fairy Penguins live here, but the numbers are declining. As dawn approaches they set out to sea to feed. The largest species of Cuttlefish live here and the beautiful Sea Dragons. A large colony of Sealions live in Seal Bay and there is a species of Monitor Lizard here that grow to 1.5 metres long.
Episode 3
Christmas Island lies far off the shores of Australia in the NW, and is the tip of an extinct volcano. They have the largest number of land crabs in the world and the Red Crab has the largest number in a migration in the world. There are about ten million who live in the rain forest in the centre of the island and once a year make the perilous 5 km journey to the ocean where they mate, The females wait 3 days for incubation in the burrows that the males made in advance of the females arriving. They wait for the Neap tide, when the difference between high and low tide is the smallest, then females, with their sacs of eggs under their belly, make their way down the cliffs, and after a bit of a jig, they release the eggs in the ocean. The eggs hatch immediately into larvae in the sea, The female parents make the long journey home inland. After a month in the sea the larvae morph into baby crabs and make their way back to the beach. Then after 3-5 days at the beach, their lungs change into the air breathing crab stage. Now they are ready to make the journey inland. It will be 4-5 years before their first annual migration to the ocean to reproduce.
Episode 4
Fraser Island lies to the south end of the Great Barrier Reef and is the largest sand island the world at 120 kms long. It is home to a variety of creatures, including the Fraser Island Dingo, which is regarded as the purest Dingo in Australia as it has not bred with other dogs like some have on the mainland.