Gismo Queen and her King

Maryborough/Hevey Bay - Saturday 25th August 2018

Sometimes it's good to be reminded how awesome mother nature is!


Today I went whale watching! It was so awesome, so amazing, so much better than any theatrical performance because none of this was staged. The whales came so close to the boat, almost like they wanted to play or put on a show for us. We saw males, females and some younger ones, although none of this year's babies. One of the males was trying to impress the other three females in the pod. One of the females was heavily pregnant so she was very mellow, just relaxing in the water. Obviously, I couldn't tell any of this but Trish on the boat was very knowledgable. She has been doing this for thirty years, and has been involved with the uni in whale research. They have been very fortunate to have observed one female for almost thirty years. Narla has been coming to Hervey Bay every year in this time, usually with a calf so she is a good breeder. This is undoubtedly helping the humpback whale population as numbers are getting close to those around Australia before whaling.


All of this happened off Fraser Island, off the north west coast of the island. It took us over an hour to get there, and even there, we would keep moving around, as more whales were sighted. While with them though, the motor is turned off and we just bob around in the water, so we can see and hear the whales playing. While we didn't see a whale breech, we saw so much so close that we could have almost touched the whales. I wasn't in the least bit disappointed as the whole experience was so amazing. I'll add some videos when I have better reception (only one bar out here at the famstay) because the videos were so much better thtan the photos.


I chose the boat/tour operator Tasman Venture because we used them for a Fraser Island adventure tour on Christmas Eve almost four years ago. Not only were they awesome with Greg but when I lost our GoPro while donuting, they went diving for it to try and retrieve. They didn't but it was such good service that I thought I'd reward them with loyalty. It was a good decision, as Trish did remember us (not for Greg, but because of the lost GoPro!) and also there was only about 30 people on board so it was nice and intimate.


SO, what did Greg do while I was up close and personal with whales? He hung out with Janne! Apparently they did a lot of catching up and had a lovely day together. I was gone for most of the day, as I had my nails done in Hervey Bay before whale watching, and we were late getting back in so I literally walked into Janne's in time for dinner!

posted by Tracey @ 9:02 am