Whales, water and wow!!!

G’day possums from the glorious Gold Coast!  Well, a little cloudy this morning as I sit on the balcony soaking up the early morning sunshine (7am here) and listen to the roar of the ocean whilst drinking my morning coffee and watch the streets being turned into a race track before my eyes. Yesterday was my first full day here, and it was all about the water….

So I woke up after a bit of a fitful sleep, to a text from Pops telling me all he had been up to.  Man alive I nearly choked! I have asked him to send me a text each day with the shenanigans he has been up to and said I will pass them on to you all.  Either via my blog or fb.  That little gem will follow….

Anyhoo, back to my morning.  Seeing as I only had two full days here, I would divide my time between the Ocean and the canals and waterways that snake their way through this city.  So, it was going to be  Dora and I cycling all the way down the coastal bike path once day, and seeing as I was slap bang in the middle of the Whale Watching season it would be rude, and indeed foolish, to pass up this unique opportunity , so that would be the other.  Fate determined which was which when I called the whale watching company and was told it was best to go that day as the wind looking to be picking up for tomorrow and they may have to cancel (I can confirm the wind has picked up a tad as I sit here trying to prevent my toupee from escaping…)

That settled it then, I saddled up Dora and we headed off out, stopping for supplies on route.  I chained Dora to the nearby bike rack,  thinking the worst and that I would return to find her gone, just her chain remaining, but I left her none the less as there were whales waiting to be watched….

Whilst waiting for the trip to start I made the snap decision to follow this trip with an afternoon river cruise, nibbles included, so that my day water day would be complete.  All booked, lunch pack bought for the whale trip, I waited to board with my fellow passengers.

As the group grew, it became apparent that trips like this always attracted the same sort of crowd, a diluted version of the cast list of a 1970’s disaster movie, a la Towering inferno and the Poseidon Adventure.  There is always a single girl (me) and a handsome single man (the hero who fall for the girl, that last bit didn’t happen), an old couple that argue, a big fat woman with a rich millionaire, two silly young things wearing not a lot of clothes, a rat of a man and his down trodden wife, a shouty and overbearing American couple and the obligatory gaggle of Chinese, Japanese and Koreans with cameras the size of suitcases and outfits with hats (and socks) that wouldn’t look out of place at Ascot….The only one missing was the blind one.

So we piled onto the boast operated by Whales in Paradise (an easy but straight to the point name) and headed out to the Ocean via the river, passing stunning multi million pound waterfront properties, interspersed with little shacks owned by people who are not willing to give up there little home for the developers to come in and make a packet.

Finally we picked up speed and we were out in the Ocean.  The crew had offered sick bags at the start of the journey as they anticipated it to be a little rough, and at this point most of the camera wielding Ascot goers had their faces firmly stuck in little sandwich bags, and remained that way for most of the trip.

It was awesome.  I did a Kate Winslet but had no-one to take my picture so you will just have to imagine.  Soon we were out in open water with the stunning Gold Coast skyline to our right and we heard our first whale.  Yep, that blow of water from that little hole is loud!! And there they were.  The magnificent hump back whale.  Amazing.  And what was more incredible was that it was a mum and her calf! The guys on the boat said that was unusual, and I felt very privileged that this magnificent creature felt comfortable enough to show us her baby. We saw a couple of others too and although we didn’t get one breaching (jumping out of the water) or the tail fin shot, it was a truly amazing experience to be that close to such a magnificent creature.  And yes, I cried…. I could go one but will let the pictures tell the story.

We were out for about 2 hours and we headed for home, flanked by a pod of playful dolphins and as we came back to the dock, my afternoon cruise boat was there.  With about 40 mins to spare I quickly went and checked on Dora, still there, and did a bit of retail therapy, then boarded the boat for the leisurely sail through the waterways.  And very pleasant it was too.  The network of canals and the houses are incredible, once again I will let the picture tell the story (thank Christ I hear you say).

So after nomming the little cheese and biscuit plate, laughing at the very funny dry sense of humour of the Captain (went over most people’s heads but I love the sarcastic Aussie humour) it was back to Dora and time to meander home.

Almost time for the sunset (I know you will be missing my sunset shots, but they will be coming when I move on as the best place for the sunset here is in my apartment looking out the back window but I don’t want to be in doors at 6pm!! Will try harder today) and I sat at various points along the beach admiring the view.  Then as I was sitting near a young couple they stopped frolicking and pointed out to the sea.  There, very near to shore were two distinctive whale tails.  As we watched on, it became apparent that they may be in trouble, and after chatting to this couple who agreed as there were shark nets nearby and they may have been entangled, we tried to call Sea World as they deal with rescue (not the one in Florida, there is one here too!). 

With no luck on the number I spied a group of Police a little way down the beach and spoke to them and thankfully it had been reported and they appeared to be ok.  As I was talking to them a reporter came over to me and asked if I had seen what had happened (at this point the beautiful creatures had moved on) and I told her what I had seen and showed her my grainy camera video footage.

And before you could say ‘hey, aren’t you that woman who stalks the Royal family wearing red white and blue’ I was on camera.  Coldsore and all.  No idea what channel but tonight the Gold Coast will be watching an overweight, slightly sweaty coldsore bearing 43 year old Pom prattling on about how she tried to save the whales…..

After all that excitement it was back home for me and Dora, a little detour to the foyer to update the blogs that had been stacking, along with 2 Germans, 4 Koreans and one unknown origin before relaxing and looking through my pictures, deleting all the ones that I thought were a whale, only to find they were waves….

And here I now sit on a slightly cloudy but still glorious Tuesday morning and today is all about me, Dora and the beach!  We are going to attempt to cycle all the way down the coast so tune in for the next instalment…..

Much love and TTFN xx