The Wilko's Australian Adventure: Whale Watching Hervey Bay

Day 28 - Whale Watching Hervey Bay

Hervey Bay

Friday, 19 August 2011

Well, today was a great day. We were picked up from Fraser Lodge (our campsite) at 06:50 and taken to the marina to meet our boat. We had chosen The Blue Dolphin as our tour boat to go whale watching. This is an 11.6m catamaran which was virtually brand new, having been launched only a few weeks ago. Peter and Jodie were our hosts and we were met on board with a coffee and a Danish pastry. Peter is an expert on whales and gave us a briefing on hump back whales while we were motoring out to the bay (the catamaran is a sail boat but we were motoring out to get to the whales as quickly as possible). The boat was great and we could go where we liked on board. There were 24 guests on board. On our way out we could see a few other boats that were faster than us but were only out for half a day, and were letting us know where the whales were. However, well before we reached the other boats we came across our first couple of whales which entertained us by leaping out of the water and slamming their bodies down. We watched them for a while then motored on into the bay. Peter seemed to know where to go to look for the whales as we kept away from the other boats (there weren't that many other boats, perhaps 3 or 4) and we had some VERY close encounters. The whales seemed interested in us and would poke their heads up out of the water about 6 feet from the boat, getting high enough so their eyes were above the water, then they would roll over and show us their tummies and fins. Often they would suspend themselves upside down in the water with their tails resting on the surface and just stay there. Our boat had steps down to the water level at the back and we could literally stand about 6 feet from these 30 tonne mammals. They definitely seemed curious about us. I was wearing a pink checked shirt and I think I must have had a crill-like appearance. Peter told us to whoop and holler and try and be interesting to the whales and it certainly seemed to work. In fact Lizzi thought there might be a whale tour office under the water selling human-watching tickets to whales. It certainly wasn't clear who was watching who.

By the time the other boats had zoomed over to us, we had already moved on to the next pod (a group of whales is called a pod, and if they belonged to me they would be an iPod).

We saw plenty of dolphins too, but the whales were simply majestic. It was a far better experience than any of us had hoped would be possible.

Unfortunately, in the excitement, I had a bit of a video camera disaster. I must have got mixed up with my on and off button and was switching the camera off when the whales were performing and switching it back on when I put it back in the bag. Luckily I noticed what I was doing before the battery died and I did manage to get some pretty cool footage. However in many ways it was a blessing in disguise as when the camera ran out of battery, I was able to watch the whales and enjoy the amazing experience for itself without having to worry about the camera. We did take just over a million photos though, many of which were of the sea, either before or just after the whales had jumped!

Must mention lunch- very nice cold meats buffet with a complimentary beer, wine or soft drink, which we hurriedly ate, however the whales were a bit inconsiderate and we kept having to put our plates down when another whale appeared.

I reckon the whales were near our boat for a couple of hours, it was great.

When our time was up we set sail for home, literally. We got the sails up and made our way back to Hervey Bay, with a selection of tropical fruits and banana cake to keep us going. Dolphins were swimming in our bow wave and we were surrounded by whales as we left. It was great. The girls all said they thought it was one of their best days ever.

When we got back to shore we were driven back to our campsite. We then went out to one of the local pubs to come down from the excitement and talk about our day. However the test match was on in the pub and I spent most of the time trying to explain the concept of a night-watchman to the girls.

Spag boll for tea. Everyone is in bed again (it is half past eight after all). We leave Hervey Bay tomorrow morning, and we're sorry to leave as it is a lovely town. We are heading for Noosa in the morning. The staff here have recommended we drop in to Eumundi Market on the way, and also visit a pub which has been made like a cartoon (I can't remember the name of this).

	Photo 1 [Map]		Photo 2 [Map]
	Photo 3 [Map]		Photo 4 [Map]
	Photo 5 [Map]		Photo 6 [Map]
	Photo 7 [Map]		Photo 8 [Map]
	The Blue Dolphin [Map]		Photo 9 [Map]
	Photo 10 [Map]		Photo 11 [Map]
	Photo 12 [Map]		Photo 13 [Map]