Sunday 25th September - Whale Watching

Gaz stayed behind to play on the computer which was a shame  but i couldnt convince him to come with Emily and I. Tony didnt come either because he was heading further north to Bunderberg to pick up a limited edition bottle of Bunderburg Rum which he bought for 100 bucks, but apparently in a few years it will be worth a few hundred. Emily and I boarded the Tasman Venture at 8.30am. It was quite a large boat with approximately 50 people on board...one of which was the car dealer, Allan who sold us the car! He came over and had a chat a few times to Emily and I and seemed to be enjoying a good few glasses of white wine. The boat took us at top speed along the Coastline of Fraser Island. Emily and I were only expecting to see one or two whales so the first glimpses of a mother and calf in the distance and i was snapping away at the camera, frantically trying to get some good shots of the whale fins that could be seen above the sea water. The skipper decided the calf was feeding and as they werent very active, we would try and find some more whales so we headed further up the Fraser Island coast. This time we came across another mother and calf. The mother headed straight up towards the boat and the calf followed. Apparently this is called being 'mugged' by a whale. The mother came right up next to the boat and every time the calf moved away, she brought it back to us to show it off. They were humpback whales that we were seeing and i know whales are meant to be big, but it isnt until you are a few metres from them that you can really appreciate the size of these things. They are beautiful creatures. The mother and calf then began circling the boat and the calf bobbed its head out of the water playfully. The crew then lowered the platform at the back of the boat so that people could get level with the whales. It was an amazing site to see these huge mammals swim right up towards the boat. After a good 20 minutes we left the mother and calf and headed further up the side of Fraser Island. I think we had been spoilt too early so then the next 6 or so whales that we saw from a distance were cool but didnt have the wow factor of what we had just encountered. It was great to see the mothers swimming and feeding her calfs...typical that the males bugger off once the baby is born! Just as the boat was being turned around, the battery on my camera ran out. I had taken over 300 photos and hadnt charged the camera up for quite a while. silly me. let that be a lesson to me! and all the spare battery packs that chris gave me i had left at home. shame on me. i wont be making that mistake again! On the way back the boat slowed down to take a look at a few whales breaching right in front of us. As i didnt have any battery left in the camera, i filmed a few of the breaches with my phone. I couldnt belive just how many whales were out there. it was fantastic and is definitely my number 1 best experience so far here in Aus.

On the way back to the Marina, Emily and I sat on one of the benches at the back of the boat. An old gentleman....must have been in his 70's stood in front of us with his hand on the ladies toilet knob. I pointed out to him that this was the ladies toilet but if he wanted to go in, i wouldnt tell anyone if he didnt. The guy said "gentlemen are gentleman and ladies are ladies and i respect that." i said oh ok well the mens toilets are over there" and pointed in the direction to the other side of the boat. When the guy came out of the toilets, he slipped something in my bag which i had open on my lap. "whats this?" I asked. "Its my card." he replied...."what do i want that for?" i questioned...by which time he had already walked off. Emily and I sat disgusted yet in hysterics that some sick old man had just slipped me his number. gross. What was even more funny was the fat bald guy that started hitting on Emily in the last 10 minutes of the journey!

After the boat ride, Emily and I sat and ate fish and chips int he marina and then basked in the sunshine enjoying an ice cream. I kept telling Emily she was burning and she needed sun cream but she kept saying she was ok. I was insistent that she get out of the sun but she dismissed my advice. When we got back tot he flat she took a look in the mirror and resembled the eyes of a possum when she took her sun glasses off to reveal two big circles around her eyes of skin that was not burnt against a red face. Her chest looked raw.


Tony had just got back from Bunderburg and Gaz had not yet eaten so we all went to the Irish Pub down the road, Hoolihans, and they scoffed burger and chips. Emily and Tony have a long drive back to Brisbane so they didnt hang round. It wasnt long after they left that Min and Suzie arrive dback from Fraser Island having had an amazing time. Gaz and I are getting an early night as we are shattered!