Hervey Bay and the Whales

For Elaine's last weekend in Australia we went to Hervey Bay (pronounced Harvey Bay by Queenslanders). While Hervey Bay is quite beautiful, there is one main reason to take the five hour drive north - to see the migrating Humpback Whales. We met Dave at Underwater World in Mooloolaba where he had been on a two-day excursion for school. After we took in the sights there we began our journey north.

Saturday morning was a comedy of errors. We had risen at 7 o'clock so we would be ready in time to catch the boat taking us whale watching. Just as we were about to head out the door a phone call came through saying that our boat had a small engine fire and as a result would not be going out that day! While we were thankful this incident took place before we got on the boat and not when we were out at sea, we were disappointed that we may not get to see whales. A flurry of phone calls were made, and finally we found a spot on a boat that afternoon. Phew!

We got ourselves settled on the Whale Song, and at one o'clock the boat made its way out to sea. Once you leave the sheltered blue waters of Hervey Bay you make a crossing to the northwest side of Fraser Island, and follow its sandy shoreline east. Fraser Island looks like a paradise as its beaches stretch for miles and miles. I think we will have to look into exploring it before we leave Australia.

The trip up, to where the whales were, took about an hour and a half. We traveled pretty much the entire length of Fraser Island which is about 125kms long. We had dolphins playing in front of the boat and racing ahead of us, leaping out of the water. They really are playful animals. Once we arrived in the bay where the whales had been spotted the work began - now we had to find them. This isn't necessarily the easiest task - we were looking for them in a 50km-wide bay - they could have been anywhere. Gemma was diligent looking for whales with her binoculars.

Our first sighting was of a whale way way way off in the distance, in fact it was more of a splash in the distance rather than the distinct shape of a whale. My first thought was, we have come all this way and that may be all we see. This is the nature of doing anything involving wild animals - they dictate the experience not you. But our captain new better and made his way slowly over to where the splash had been sited, and once near enough cut the engines and let the boat float along. It wasn't long before the whales came closer to have a look - they are very curious and social creatures.

Each year Humpback whales migrate from the cold waters of Antarctica to the tropical waters of eastern Australia to have their calves. Hervey Bay is one of many stops on their migration back down south to Antarctica. In Antarctica they will fill-up on krill over the summer months in preparation for the long journey north.

We were so fortunate to have up-close views of three whales over about an hour and a half. They came right up to the boat to 'people watch'. One whale in particular was very playful, she did spy-hopping (when they bob their head out of the water to get a good look at you), rolling onto her belly and waving her fins. It was a real treat. Just as we thought it was all over, one whale came jumping out of the water - breaching as it is called- and said its goodbye with a big splash.

Dave managed to get some video footage of our time with the whales.



At about 5:30 our captain decided it was time to head for home - the whales had moved on which enabled us to move on as well. Fire up the engines and take us back to shore! Unfortunately, engine troubles that had presented themselves in the morning (and were supposedly fixed) cropped up again - we would have only one engine for the journey home! So what was supposed to be a hour and a half journey took three! Luckily there was plenty of wine, beer and food on board, and in the end it turned out to be a festive time with people getting to know one another. For never having had the inclination to take a formal tour to see whales, it was a great experience.

On our way back to Brisbane, we stopped in at one of our favorite spots to share it with Elaine - Tea Tree Bay in Noosa. We were lucky to see a koala again but this time it was actually awake and eating! It is rare to see them active.


Until next time,
love H, D, G, and R