Wild Whales and Koalas

After Andrea's loo drama and dicky tummy, we did Fraser Island and then some Whale Watching. It was another early start to get to the boat for 8. We weren't really expecting much from the whale watching as it was the start of the whale season where they travel from the Whitsundays down to Hervey bay/Fraser Island to rear their young. The journey there was quite good as there was a few pods of dolphins traveling alongside us jumping out of the water and also swimming sideways alongside the boat so they could see everyone taking pictures and waving. :)

Then it was a little traveling around looking for signs of whale activity and watching grass growing too. We'd pretty much resigned ourselves to the fact that we weren't gonna see any, when on the radio another tour broadcasts that they've found one. All of a sudden about five big whale watching boats descend on the location and lo and behold it was a baby humpback whale :) The boats had to keep a distance from the whale, but it was pretty impressive nonetheless. It kept coming up to the surface and doing the tail thing and having a nosey at the boats too, it didn't jump out of the water though. We also saw a big sea turtle whilst looking at the whale, which was a bonus. There wasn't much else to this trip to report on, other than the "fantastic" underwater viewing room downstairs on the boat. This consisted of going to the bottom of the boat and lying down to peer out of these portholes ! Not the underwater spectacle we were expecting.

After returning back to the harbor, it was time for the 3 hour drive back down to Andy and Allison's place. The next day it was a day trip around the area with Andy and Allison. Alistair was down in Brisbane preparing for his lawyer exam so it was just the four of us plus Amy! The first part of our journey was to have a look at the house that Andy and Allison were interested in. The place was absolutely stunning with ocean views, the only problem with it was the fact that it was on the side of a hill, which meant a steep incline on the garden and it also wasn't very Amy friendly. It never had a pool either and would of involved a lot of work getting one put in. For Aussie Andy the pool is a must. Leaving here, we then decided to set off for Noosa Heads, but first Amy gave everyone quite a scare by waking up screaming and holding her head, so we headed for the hospital at Nambour. By the time we got to Nambour though, Amy's distress had subsided. We decided to have a Mac lunch in the area so they could keep an eye on her, she was fine though. I must admit it must be hard being a parent and a doctor, I think that all sorts of terrible things must of gone through Allison's head when Amy was in distress. Not that i'm a parent (unless you include my cats), i would honestly say that ignorance is bliss in instances like this.

With a decidedly chirpy Amy, we then headed for Noosa Heads. We went for a walk in the nature reserve there and actually saw our first wild koala ! That was really impressive. I think you can tell when your close to a koala because you get this overwhelming smell of eucalyptus and poo, that's a good tip that David Attenbourough would be proud of. :) Walking back to the car through the park, we then saw a pair of wild Tawny Frogmouths, wow! They were snuggled up together on a branch. Noosa heads itself is a very posh place and has some very famous people that live there. Having a beer and a bit of window shopping we then headed back home.