Eden trip: Day 3
On Sunday morning, we were up bright and early (6:30am) to get down to the harbour for whale-watching aboard our catamaran boat, "Cat Balou". It was a beautiful calm morning, but outside of the habour, the wind was picking up. We chose to stand at the bow of the boat, and within minutes of moving out onto the open water, we hit a huge swell and all got SOAKED from head to toe. Maggie and I found the two-point position (how you sit on a horse in prepartion to jump, for those non-horsey people reading) to be most effective for absorbing the movement. It was fun for awhile, but I started to get stiff eventually due to the necessity to brace somewhat, and the turbulent waters were too much for a few passengers -- including Al. Maggie is a sympathy chucker, so she couldn't comfort him -- thus, in her own words, she "sent Gregg to take Al out back to shoot him." *laughs* Poor Al. He did get to see a couple whales before he started feeding the fish and had to find the most stable part of the boat to ease his stomach. I was happy that, as with the aerial photography shoot I did recently, I only had a queasiness factor of 1/10 the whole time. I can't imagine getting sick within the first part of the trip and then having to endure the feeling and the cause OF the feeling for another 2-3 hours! My parents have regaled me with tales of how my dad thought he had an iron stomach until he went on a boat to Great Keppel Island and the ocean told him differently. I'm not sure that my mum ever had a strong stomach, but since that trip she can't look at someone in a rocking chair without feeling sick, haha!
Our cruel mistress.
Maggie and I were able to stay up front almost the entire time and were treated to what some of the regulars reckoned (just practicing my Aussie there) was the most activity from the whales they've seen in YEARS. At first we only saw the top of one, including an exhale from the blowhole, and then a tail wave -- plus one breach that I don't think anyone was quick enough to catch on camera -- but when we changed locations, we found a mother and her calf who put on quite a show! They both breached multiple times and the mother came out of the water less than 4m away from the boat... wow! As a finale, the mother and calf did tandem pec "waves", ending with the mother on her back waving both pec fins at the same time.
Momma and calf show up.
Look at me!
Fountains of water on either side of the breech landing.
This is the mother 4m from the boat... zoomed out on my camera!!
Here she is again at a more respectable distance.
Momma and calf breaching at the same time
(I wasn't quick enough to catch the jumps themselves)
Waving the pec fins (how cute is it that baby is mimicing mum?)
Clap your hands together, say yeah!
As you can see, we were still well within the bay.
In thinking about it, it is quite odd to try to imagine why a whale would want to launch itself out of the water and do a giant bellyflop onto the water. Apparently there is no definitive answer to this pondering. Maybe they are just trying to see what all those funny lookin' bipeds are doin' on those fandangled floaty majiggers.
The guide told us an interesting story of how the Killer Whales used to help whalers hunt Humpback Whales. Believe it or not guys, it is said that the Killer Whales would herd the Humpback Whales into the bay, and even go so far as to jump on top of them to block their blowhole! In reward for their help, the men would cut out the tongue and lips of the Humpbacks they harpooned and feed them to the Killer Whales. Supposedly the Killers continued this relationship for so many years that they were given names and when one that had assisted the men for over 50 years died, they mounted his skeleton in the present-day Whale Museum. Now that's love if I've ever seen it. /sarcasm
After this, we went into a sheltered part of the bay opposite where we had left and were served a snack, then made our way back to the harbour (I did not partake, with interests in maintaining my nausea-free excursion). Usually the boat has to leave Twofold Bay to find whales, but this time we found plenty within it, and were glad of that since the water would certainly have been even rougher out there.
A Japanese boat used for shipping wood chips.
A fur seal we saw on the rocks coming back into the harbour.
After returning to dry land, we went back to the campground and had lunch and a nap. We then got a call from Gregg who invited us out to see if we could find some animals with a friend of his who does wildlife education, and another guy who is a national birding expert. Lucky lucky!
We ducked in at the beach across from the campground to get a quick postcard snap.
There was a model pirate contest at the harbour that we looked at while we waited.
I wish I could have entered! I can sit really still, y'know. ;)
Once we met up, we (Maggie, Al, Gregg, and I) followed the animal guys (Andrew and Nic, along with their wives and the two whale research girls that had been on the boat) out to Ben Boyd National Park. With the aid of walkie-talkies, they were able to tell us when they spotted something. It wasn't long before they pulled over and said they had heard/seen a Lace Monitor scurrying through the underbrush as we drove by. We backtracked and all got out, looked up and down, before finally spotting him up a tree, camouflaged perfectly with the bark. We all took some photos (we could have formed a photography club with all the avid photographers in the group) and then moved on.
We stopped to explore some trails at the park.
Maggie and I walked down towards the coast and caught some gorgeous views.
My latest experiment: a vertical panorama. You like? I like!
The scary forest we had to walk through to get back to the group.
(imagine walking through this at night -- eek!)
In rejoining the group, we found "Boyd's Tower", which was denied permission to be a lighthouse back in the day and so was operated as a whale lookout back in the days of whale hunting. I also enjoyed admiring this fine example of "broccoli trees", as I call them... I think they are actually called Paper Bark Trees.
We moved on to another park and found a cute little Jackie Lizard and a termite mound, enroute to checking out the nest of two Sea Eagles, whose mastery of the air currents was impressive. They simply floated, nearly in place, above their nest.
We stopped to admire an original homestead at the Davidson Whaling Station.
We found a plethora of songbirds bathing in a downspout basin by the house.
Thanks to Nic and Gregg, I have names for all of them!
New Holland Honeyeater.
As above, with his missus.
Eastern Yellow Robin.
Yellow-Faced Honeyeater.
White-throated Honeyeater.
Wombat hole.
By the parking lot (I mean, car park).
On the way back to town, we found a dead Lace Monitor. I'll spare you the pictures of one of the research girls picking it up by the tail (it was as long as her when she did so). The ants had given us a window into its stomach, and we could see what it had last eaten; it contained fur, whatever it was, and Andrew guessed that it might have been eating roadkill itself when it got hit. Ironic.
I shall leave you with that disturbing image, because I'm nice like that. Fear not... the next post just has nice scenery, and the one after that will be of pretty flowers and cute puppies! And the one after that will be more scenery. You're probably going to get all of these tomorrow though, because after that I will be living off of whatever wireless signal I can find in Sydney and north until the end of the month!
Our cruel mistress.
Maggie and I were able to stay up front almost the entire time and were treated to what some of the regulars reckoned (just practicing my Aussie there) was the most activity from the whales they've seen in YEARS. At first we only saw the top of one, including an exhale from the blowhole, and then a tail wave -- plus one breach that I don't think anyone was quick enough to catch on camera -- but when we changed locations, we found a mother and her calf who put on quite a show! They both breached multiple times and the mother came out of the water less than 4m away from the boat... wow! As a finale, the mother and calf did tandem pec "waves", ending with the mother on her back waving both pec fins at the same time.
Momma and calf show up.
Look at me!
Fountains of water on either side of the breech landing.
This is the mother 4m from the boat... zoomed out on my camera!!
Here she is again at a more respectable distance.
Momma and calf breaching at the same time
(I wasn't quick enough to catch the jumps themselves)
Waving the pec fins (how cute is it that baby is mimicing mum?)
Clap your hands together, say yeah!
As you can see, we were still well within the bay.
In thinking about it, it is quite odd to try to imagine why a whale would want to launch itself out of the water and do a giant bellyflop onto the water. Apparently there is no definitive answer to this pondering. Maybe they are just trying to see what all those funny lookin' bipeds are doin' on those fandangled floaty majiggers.
The guide told us an interesting story of how the Killer Whales used to help whalers hunt Humpback Whales. Believe it or not guys, it is said that the Killer Whales would herd the Humpback Whales into the bay, and even go so far as to jump on top of them to block their blowhole! In reward for their help, the men would cut out the tongue and lips of the Humpbacks they harpooned and feed them to the Killer Whales. Supposedly the Killers continued this relationship for so many years that they were given names and when one that had assisted the men for over 50 years died, they mounted his skeleton in the present-day Whale Museum. Now that's love if I've ever seen it. /sarcasm
After this, we went into a sheltered part of the bay opposite where we had left and were served a snack, then made our way back to the harbour (I did not partake, with interests in maintaining my nausea-free excursion). Usually the boat has to leave Twofold Bay to find whales, but this time we found plenty within it, and were glad of that since the water would certainly have been even rougher out there.
A Japanese boat used for shipping wood chips.
A fur seal we saw on the rocks coming back into the harbour.
After returning to dry land, we went back to the campground and had lunch and a nap. We then got a call from Gregg who invited us out to see if we could find some animals with a friend of his who does wildlife education, and another guy who is a national birding expert. Lucky lucky!
We ducked in at the beach across from the campground to get a quick postcard snap.
There was a model pirate contest at the harbour that we looked at while we waited.
I wish I could have entered! I can sit really still, y'know. ;)
Once we met up, we (Maggie, Al, Gregg, and I) followed the animal guys (Andrew and Nic, along with their wives and the two whale research girls that had been on the boat) out to Ben Boyd National Park. With the aid of walkie-talkies, they were able to tell us when they spotted something. It wasn't long before they pulled over and said they had heard/seen a Lace Monitor scurrying through the underbrush as we drove by. We backtracked and all got out, looked up and down, before finally spotting him up a tree, camouflaged perfectly with the bark. We all took some photos (we could have formed a photography club with all the avid photographers in the group) and then moved on.
We stopped to explore some trails at the park.
Maggie and I walked down towards the coast and caught some gorgeous views.
My latest experiment: a vertical panorama. You like? I like!
The scary forest we had to walk through to get back to the group.
(imagine walking through this at night -- eek!)
In rejoining the group, we found "Boyd's Tower", which was denied permission to be a lighthouse back in the day and so was operated as a whale lookout back in the days of whale hunting. I also enjoyed admiring this fine example of "broccoli trees", as I call them... I think they are actually called Paper Bark Trees.
We moved on to another park and found a cute little Jackie Lizard and a termite mound, enroute to checking out the nest of two Sea Eagles, whose mastery of the air currents was impressive. They simply floated, nearly in place, above their nest.
We stopped to admire an original homestead at the Davidson Whaling Station.
We found a plethora of songbirds bathing in a downspout basin by the house.
Thanks to Nic and Gregg, I have names for all of them!
New Holland Honeyeater.
As above, with his missus.
Eastern Yellow Robin.
Yellow-Faced Honeyeater.
White-throated Honeyeater.
Wombat hole.
By the parking lot (I mean, car park).
On the way back to town, we found a dead Lace Monitor. I'll spare you the pictures of one of the research girls picking it up by the tail (it was as long as her when she did so). The ants had given us a window into its stomach, and we could see what it had last eaten; it contained fur, whatever it was, and Andrew guessed that it might have been eating roadkill itself when it got hit. Ironic.
I shall leave you with that disturbing image, because I'm nice like that. Fear not... the next post just has nice scenery, and the one after that will be of pretty flowers and cute puppies! And the one after that will be more scenery. You're probably going to get all of these tomorrow though, because after that I will be living off of whatever wireless signal I can find in Sydney and north until the end of the month!