Whale of a Day in Australia!

Hi Everyone!

We've made it back to Perth yet again after a fun, sunny, and relaxing trip to the Margaret River area of Western Australia. After our friends, Matt & Jen, departed for work/school we were off to Yallingup to see if there was surf. There wasn't. So, we went for a short run along the placid shores of Dunsborough. After heading back to Yallingup to see if there was any surf yet, we gave it a go. It was windy, choppy and not that great, but it was fantastic to be in the water and we had the place all to ourselves since it wasn't anything to speak of. In the afternoon, we continued on to Busselton and walked the 2km jetty. It is quite in need of repair but it was a good brisk walk. There was an ice cream shack at the start of the jetty and after 4 kms we figured we'd reward ourselves. Much to our dismay, the shack closed at 5 o'clock. We arrived at around 5:10 to no ice cream! :( Anyway, we found a nice caravan park with a jumping balloon - very cool and fun - and a hot tub. After a good laugh on the jumping balloon (it was kind of like if you took a plastic, rectangular parachute and laid it on the ground over a hole that you could pump air into) we retreated to the hot tub.

We met a couple in the tub who were also on their honeymoon. They were primary teachers from Switzerland on leave from their positions. We carefully inquired about their names -- it was uncanny! The woman's name was K - A - R - I - N! And her husband's name was Christain. Not the same but a lot was the same, don't you think?! They had just done a Whale Watch off the coast of Dunesborough and were raving about it non-stop. So, this morning on our way back to Perth, we went for the Whale Watch. It was AMAZING! The part of the coast off Cape Naturaliste is known as sort of a Whale Superhighway from August through November and it didn't show any slow traffic today!

Along with a group of Year 6's from a School Group, which just meant a lot of shrieking, we embarked upon the search for whales. After a short trip out, we spied a few Blue Whales about 50 m out from the boat! After a few surface blows, they vanished to the deeper water. Then after a few more minutes, a humpback calf broke through the surface of the water, twirled above the frothy brine and landed with a huge splash just in front of the boat! It was fantastic! We saw the calf's parents offer a few blows of slow surfacing - they are massive! We swung back toward the shore and spotted a few New Zealand seals. As we slowly made our way back toward shore and more shallow water, we were sure the show was over. But, we spotted a few more humpbacks straight ahead. There were at least two adults and they showed their enormous flukes for what seemed like a long time. Gorgeous - the stuff we've only seen on TV! As we turned around to try to follow them, they seemed gone. But, then the two adults surfaced 25m from the ship! And again, the young calf treated us to an airborne twirl into the sea. It was quite an amazing day admiring the power of the natural world. The captain of the ship said that it has taken about 20 years for the creatures to even be curious enough to come close to a boat. I was glad that they were curious and safe in our presence. It was an experience we'll never forget. Of course, taking photos of the whales proved to be challenging. We'll try to post them tomorrow if we've got time.

After a quick lunch, we were back on the road toward Perth. Weren't we lucky that to get there we had to go right past Dunsborough and the very same ice cream shop we missed out on yesterday! Of course, we made a short detour to indulge our sweet tooth and the sugar buzz kept us going all the way back to Jen & Matt's house.

We're headed to Christchurch tomorrow evening. I'll try to post some other pieces from our Australian adventure if we've got time tomorrow.

We hope you are all well! Miss you!

K & P