The stunning Lady Elliot Island, an Eco resort surrounded by the Barrier Reef where giant turtles pop their heads up from the waves and manta rays swim along the ocean floor was the little piece of paradise that delighted Prince Charles today.
The journey to the tiny island is about an hour and a half on a tiny plane flying over the Sunshine Coast.
The Prince had wanted to visit the Barrier Reef, to see first had the damage wrought by climate change and human kind. A passionate conservationist, Prince Charles was participating in a forum of business leaders, politicians, scientists and not-for-profit groups exploring new ways to protect the reef. He specifically wanted to be involved in the high level discussion and joined the round table.
Prince Charles looks at the Barrier Reef during a trip on a glass bottom boat at Lady Elliot’s Island.
The Weekly had flown on ahead and was there with the welcome party to greet the Prince. And it was quite a party. The holiday makers on the Eco resort couldn’t believe it when the Prince walked by and dressed in board shorts, swimsuits and sarongs they shook the Royal’s hand.
Fully expecting him and extremely excited were Australia’s conservation royalty the Irwin family – Terri and her children Bindi, 19, and Robert, 14.
A starstruck Bindi said the future King was an inspiration. “He is amazing. He is a true wildlife warrior,” Bindi said, with a nod to her late father, Steve Irwin. “He was so nice and so incredibly wise. He has so much knowledge. I wanted to take it all in.”
Bindi and Charles bonding over their love of animals and conservation.
Terri, Bob and Bindi tuning in to the Prince’s eco-talk.
Bindi, like her mum and brother, are clearly chuffed meeting with the Prince.
Bindi and Robert showed the Prince some newly hatched baby turtles and photographer Robert then presented the royal with a mounted canvas of one of his photographs as a gift. It was a giant turtle taken in the waters off Lady Elliot Island.
Prince Charles has spoken out twice in the past six months about the threat climate change poses to the Great Barrier Reef and other major coral reefs internationally, a situation he has called “catastrophic”. He said companies or individuals who resisted environmentally-friendly practices often claimed it was “the end of the world”.
“But you usually find there is life after death,” the Prince added.
The Irwins, here with our Royal correspondent, Juliet Rieden, clearly love The Weekly – and all its rich historical heritage – as much as we do!
The round table on Lady Elliot Island was convened by the Great Barrier Reef Foundation and attracted corporate heavyweights including Lendlease CEO Steve McCann, BHP chief external affairs officer Geoff Healy, Star Entertainment Group chairman John O’Neill as well as Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority boss Russ Reichelt, top reef scientist Ove Hoegh-Guldberg and Queensland Environment Minister Leanne Enoch.
After the meeting Prince Charles took a tour of the reef fringing the island through a glass bottom boat and marvelled at the coral and saw some coral trout.
As he flew out the Irwin family waved furiously. Bindi’s boyfriend Chandler would join the family later so she could show him some of the baby turtles. “He will love them,” she told The Weekly.
Follow Juliet’s LIVE coverage of Prince Charles and Camilla’s royal Commonwealth Games tour, follow her on Twitter @JulietRieden.
