This week, D and I had a recovery holiday from our trip – at least that’s what we’re calling it! A couple of months ago, well before our trip, D organised for us to go whale watching at Hervey Bay. I had been given a gift voucher for some hotel accommodation as a birthday gift from some amazing friends, and thus our recovery holiday came about! It was fabulous!

We started the weekend with a side trip to watch the Squish at soccer practice, and I have to tell you it is just about the very cutest thing I have ever seen!! 6 or so tiny humans playing all kinds of organised games that teach them motor skills, colours, counting and so much more… it is absolute chaos!! It is also one of those bittersweet moments, knowing how much Claytie would have loved this kind of stuff!

Following soccer, we managed to hit the road for the drive to Hervey Bay by about 9am, and prayed to the weather gods that the rainy, cold conditions at home wouldn’t follow us up the coast… it was a pretty miserable morning! Luckily by the time we reached Gympie the clouds were clearing, and the rest of the drive was much nicer! We checked into our hotel and managed a nap (with the footy grand final playing in the background) before going for a walk to explore the area. It was a lovely, relaxed way to spend the afternoon!

Sunday morning had us up early for Brekky, before heading to the marina to get on our boat. It was the last trip out for this years season… most of the whales have already started the migration back south, but there were still plenty about, and we were very lucky to see what we did. The weather was not the greatest, and the bay was quite rough… thankfully we had taken motion sickness medication with our Brekky, but it ended up a spectacular day anyway!

We headed out from Hervey Bay towards K’Gari Island. The waters in the bay are quite shallow with lots of sandbars so it was a zig zaggy, rolling with the waves kind of trip, but the scenery more than made up for it! We saw dingos on the beach, a pod of dolphins swimming along side of us at one stage, and then a giant loggerhead turtle before we reached our first whales. This late in the season, you usually find big females with their babies, as well as some of the older males who act as escorts. We got to see a couple of big mammas with their babies, teaching them to breach and slapping their pectoral fins. Apparently the fins are one third of the length of the whale, so we were able to estimate just how big the Mammas were! A fully grown female humpback whale can grow as long as 17 meters and weigh as much as 36 tonnes!!

We stayed with different pods for various lengths of time, until they dived deeper and we couldn’t see them, or until a different pod caught our attention. At one stage during the day we had whales on all sides of the boat… it was hard to know which way to look! The best part of the whole experience, for me, was when a mum, baby and a male ‘escort’ all came right up to the boat to check all of us out. We ended up covered in ‘whale snot’… other wise known as the spray that comes with their exhale! … sounds kind of gross, but was actually pretty amazing! Looking into their eyes while they were watching us and seeing the scratches and barnacles on their fins was pretty awe inspiring! It is the best kind of magic!

All up, our trip lasted for around 6 hours, with food and drinks included. Being the last trip for the season also meant that our boat was only about half full, so plenty of space to walk around and see the whales on all sides! I have only ever done much shorter trips, closer to home, but will absolutely come back and do this one again in the middle of the season next year! It is hard to put into words just how phenomenal it is to be out in the ocean watching these amazing creatures go about their day.

We got to have another slow start, and a walk along the pier at Urangan, before doing the drive back home. Although we did interrupt our drive home with a stop at the Sunshine Coast, for a yummy lunch of fresh prawns at the beach and a swim followed with an ice cream! Even though this getaway was only three days, it was a perfect, relaxing recovery holiday! … I feel incredibly lucky to have had so many fabulous experiences this year. Now it’s back to the real world and working to save for the next adventure!