Whale Watching and Life Update
Week-old humpback whale calf
✒️ Written by: Abbie
It may have been a little while since we uploaded a blog post, and that's because we've simply been so busy traveling, settling, and—regrettably—working.
While we still have many stories to share from our travels, in the background we have officially finished the first half of our Aussie adventures and found somewhere to call home. That place being the beautiful Gold Coast.
We decided on Gold Coast when we passed through during our campervan travels (which are yet to be documented in blog form). Australia's larger cities would have been more predictable, but we felt like in Sydney you couldn't be both in the CBD and by the beach at the same time, and Brisbane barely even has a beach! In Gold Coast, we have a perfect mix of being right in the centre of excitement, while also being seconds from the sea. We've lived here for a month already, and we're loving every second.
James has thrown himself into his remote work for his company back home, and I am pleased to say I've found two part time jobs: Team Lead at Krispy Kreme, and Wait Staff at a gorgeous beach-side restaurant. Time for us to re-build those savings we spent on our incredible travels!
We still plan to keep traveling while we're settled: Gold Coast is in close proximity to some amazing places such as Brisbane, Tambourine Mountain, Byron Bay, and so on. But for now, money is tight, and our current adventures look more like going for beach walks, running along the esplanade, grabbing a coffee and sipping it while watching humpback whales from the shore, and exploring the hubs at our fingertips such as Surfers Paradise, Burleigh Heads, and Broadbeach. With public transport only costing 50c around these parts, we can do endless activities on a budget.
There is one bucket list thing we've already ticked off though: a whale watch boat trip. We've been desperate to see whales up close, and when we started seeing their splashes and tail fins erupting out of the sea from our very own flat window, we knew it was officially whale season. This happens every winter in Australia and other countries in the lower Southern Hemisphere, as the humpback whale population migrate from the cold Antarctic to warmer waters for breeding and giving birth.
We decided to go with local Kokomo Cruises, as they have a smaller boat than most, meaning less crowded, closer whale action, and faster trip out to sea. We got up bright and early and took the short 15 minute bus journey to Main Beach.
The boat was pretty much full of tourists like us, but didn't feel crowded at all and there was loads of space to walk around. We got seated and listened to loud music as the boat sped out of the marina and into the ocean. Our captain, Nick, prepared us for the beautiful sight of the Gold Coast and its many beachside high-rises appearing to our right. Everyone started taking photos.
Shortly after, we sighted our first whale and slowed right down. Nick turned off the engines once we were close enough, and the whale almost immediately breached—jumping out of the water and stunning us all. We were now allowed to get up and walk around the boat. Everyone leapt from their seats with cameras trying to snap the fleeting moment. We waited in anticipated silence for the whale to breach again, and it did.
We watched this same whale for some time, playing at the surface and exposing all manner of fins from the water. It splashed its tail on the ocean's surface repeatedly, and the noise was immense. Sometimes, it would disappear for minutes, and we waited with baited breath for its reappearance, which was often in the form of a breach. It played a trick on us at one point, and popped back up behind the boat where no one was looking.
With more sightings of whales in the distance, we moved from one to another, snapping some amazing shots. All of the whale photos in this article were taken by James, who couldn't believe he'd already been lucky enough to get some brilliant photos of the whale breaching.
For a while, we waited around a small pod of about three whales, but they didn't want to show themselves. Whenever we saw one of these immense creatures in the distance, we traveled a little closer.
When Nick declared that there's a mother and baby calf nearby, excitement grew. We watched as the one-week-old calf experimented with breaching, and followed the pair as they gracefully swam north. The mother made sure to position herself between us and her baby, just in case we meant harm. Nick assured us, however, that whales are intelligent creatures with incredible hearing, who know what a boat is and know we are there, and would simply swim away if they felt threatened.
After a couple more whale sightings, we begrudgingly made our way back towards the coast and up to the inlet at Main Beach. As we sailed into calmer waters, we passed a dolphin, who looked a lot smaller than usual now we had seen gigantic whales.
The whale watch trip was absolutely one of the highlights of this entire adventure so far. It certainly won't be the only time we do this; living in such close proximity to these whales on their winter migration, it would be rude not to!
Stay tuned as we catch you all up on the other places we've been and things we've seen, as well as more updates about life on the Gold Coast.