Day 70 and 71 Sep 2nd and 3rd Hervey Bay

Our next day and half is spent around Hervey Bay - self proclaimed "Whale Watching" capital of Australia. Having been disappointed with our lack of dolphins and given how much we all enjoyed the whale watch at Kaikoura in NZ ( Tiegan particularly - she now wants to study marine biology!)  We catch up on some beach time in the sun and do the laundry which is much needed. We have met some amazing folk on our travels and this town is no exception. Bombarded with the choice of "whale watch" tours we stumble upon the petrol station/chandelry in the marina and a super helpful chap. He sorts the wheat from the chaff and helps us narrow down our options given the time we have available and the weather conditions - the costs for all tours are pretty much identical as the companies have an agreement not to undercut one another. Our decisions come down to the length of time on the water (4,6 or 7 hours) the type and size of boat - yacht, catamaran or single hull. After much deliberation in the van sitting in the marina car park (and a fairly heated discussion - tensions running high all around today!) we make our choice and go back inside to book our trip for the next morning - the man offers us the use of his phone to do this and the use of his car park to camp in overnight.

We board the Tasman Venture and spend the next 4 hours in the waters around Hervey Bay  watching the most magnificent humpback whales almost within touching distance. Unlike in NZ where the sperm whales surfaced for 10 minutes or so before diving down again for 45 minutes and were solitary - humpback whales stay on the surface for prolonged periods and get extremely close to us - almost within touching distance and are social creatures. Humpback Whales are regular visitors to the coastal waters off southern Queensland. Each year, during winter, whales migrate from Antarctic waters, pass through South Island New Zealand , to the warm waters of the tropics for calving.
They swim as single animals, in pairs and in pods of up to six.  We were treated to the full range of behaviours - tail slaps, breaching and pectoral fin waves. They were so close... the pictures speak volumes but dont really give a sense of how magical this experience was.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the way back to the van the girls spot the lifesize model and pose for the obligatory photo!

Monday 8th August - Kaikoura and another awesome Handley adventure!

Kaikoura is located on a rocky peninsula, protruding from lush farmland beneath the mountains.   In Maori legend, Maui placed his foot on this peninsula to steady himself while he 'fished-up' the North Island and the name Kaikoura translates to 'meal of crayfish' (Kai - food, koura - crayfish), and it is crayfish for which the region has traditionally been famous. In the waters off the peninsula, a complex marine system provides an abundantly rich habitat for marine mammals and seabirds making it an ideal place for getting 'close to nature'. Our plan for today!.

In 1770 Captain Cook first discovered the Kaikoura peninsula, believing it to be an island. The first shore whaling station was established in 1843, located near where Fyffe House still stands today. Other whaling stations soon followed, and at one stage the industry employed over one hundred men in the Kaikoura district alone.   Whale numbers steadily declined after 1850 and the exportation of them became un-economic, leading whalers to turn to alternative means of existence, such as farming. Whaling continued sporadically until as recently as 1964 when the last of NZ' s whaling operations ceased.

Today, the emphasis in Kaikoura is the conservation of marine life, working with a sustainable tourist industry which allows visitors from all over the world to appreciate life in the ocean. In 1978, the Marine Mammal Protection Act was finally passed, providing total protection to New Zealand' s whales, dolphins and seals.  Kaikoura lies within the Southern Hemisphere Whale Sanctuary.

We meet at the "Whaleway Station" before boarding the bus for the 8 minute drive to the boat which will take us out to the deep water and the marine life we have come to see. Several different species of whale can be seen off Kaikoura at different times of the year, but almost always the huge Sperm Whales. 

The captain of the boat lowers a hydrophone into the water to trace any whales in the area

 

 

We are amazed by the truly awesome spectacle of sperm whales breaching and blowing plumes of water before diving down again to the icy depths. We get very close - and see two whales on our trip. However the highlight was the pods of spinner dolphins we encounter while waiting for our sperm whale to resurface. Literally hundreds of dolphins, leaping, splashing, diving and playing all within touching distance of our craft and it leaves all four of us with a feeling of wanting more and quite emotional. We promise ourselves that at the next opportunity we will swim with dolphins.  Another remarkable day - finished with fish and chips in the evening sunshine of Kaikoura.

Tomorrow we head for North Island.

Wednesday 6th July - Leaving Maqai

We are fed up! Everything is damp, we are dirty and we feel like caged animals. We have made the decision to leave the remoteness and frankly appalling weather and leave Maqai. We have had enough of camping and cold showers and sand in everything and not feeling clean and damp beds.  We seem to have been followed around Fiji by unseasonably bad weather and this hasnt helped - so we pack up, have the goodbye song, say our goodbyes 

 

 

 climb aboard the speed boat...                                    and take one last look at Maqai as we speed away.

We have an exciting boat to boat mid sea transfer as soon as we get off the reef and then a series of vans and pickups before reaching civilisation, the sun shining and best of all an ice cold can of Sprite from good old MH (Fijian Sainsburys as the girls call it.)

We say goodbye to James and Hannah (from NZ) who continued on round Taveuni to their new luxury resort and say hello to "First Light" in Waiyevo - near the ferry port. Hopefully we will meet up with them again when we are in Aukland, NZ.

It looks horrendous from the road; rooms above a small parade of tatty looking shops and a cafe, but as soon as we venture up the stairs the outlook is brighter and we heave a collective sigh of relief and head to the comfort of a hot shower.

Nicole attempts to hand wash our dirty clothes and towels while sitting on the floor of the shower but gives it up as an impossible task - the lady from the cafe downstairs does a far better job, and dries, folds and delivers it back in less than 12 hours, all for $10 FJ (about £3).

Waiyevo is a quiet little place - really only notable for the fact that the 180 line runs through it. This invisible line - otherwise known as the international dateline - means that technically we stood in today and tomorrow or was it today and yesterday! (We never did figure it out!)  Although Fiji conveniently bends the line so that as a whole it works on the same timezone - however, we are learning that "Fiji Time" operates entirely differently though. We venture up the hill to jump from one to the other.

















We return to find that because we havent ordered our supper by 11am, from perhaps the grumpiest Fijian lady ever from the cafe under our motel, there is no supper and we have no choice (!) but to eat the cheapest thing on the menu at the very pricey neighbouring resort - it was very pleasant though!