Visit to the coast itself

Although my home is only a handful of kilometers from the sea I vary rarely go to see it. The proximity to the coast gives us a wonderful climate year round so I am fully aware of the sea - but I tend to look more at the country places, the mountains and the farming areas. But that changed yesterday, There was word of high winds and big seas on the way and my eldest son mentioned that he spotted whales breaching while he was driving home from work. So with a sunny afternoon and a couple of hours to spare I dragged my ever willing husband into the car along with my camera, tripod and two lenses and off we went to Tweed Heads.
From the headland we could see the splash as whales hit the surface of the sea - but they were so far away that we couldn't actually see the whales. Into the car we clambered and off we drove to Fingal Head. This is on the other side of the Tweed River from where we had been standing, and, since the opening of the wide and fast highway to Byron Bay, had managed to be "cut off" from too many travellers. The short drive out to Fingal Headland is past riverside homes that are prone to get their feet wet in times of exceptionally high tides and full river flow. It is a pleasant drive - and we seemed to be the only car on the road. As expected, when we arrived at the little carpark we discovered that we were not the only car on the road! Typical!
The walk through the coastal woodland over loose sand got our blood flowing faster and we emerged at the bright white painted lighthouse.

There were not too many people on the lawns after all, we could see a few family groups but they were scattered far and wide. Following the direction they were looking we too could see the activity way out on the Pacific Ocean. There must have been a group of three or four whales in one place and another pair in another. The sea was positively churning with their activity! Again, much too far away for either of my lenses but interesting enough for us to sit down on the lawn and watch them.
Spotting a sea eagle I changed lenses but that was the only sighting of it, I never did get a chance to take a photo! However with the 55-300mm lens I was ready when a pair of dolphin cruised by.

The sea was a most glorious aqua blue and the sky a rich cobalt. Such a perfect day to be out here. The sea was not rough and the threatened strong winds did not even rustle the leaves. It was calm! Since we needed to have an early evening meal we didn't stay too long so made our way back along the boardwalk to the sandy track that lead us back to the car.

In an area that is a mecca for tourists from all over the country and the world it is amazing that we can find places like this that are free of crowds and have so much to offer.
AJ

Dolphin video

As well as taking photos of the dolphins as they were being fed by visitors to Tangalooma Resort I attempted a little bit of video using the Nikon D90.
Here is Amanda getting wet - she's the one with the long hair - she held on to her fish in an attempt to keep the dolphin with her!

Click on the title to see the video in Youtube or on the four-way arrows to see it full screen
AJ

Remembering Morton Island

Although today has been taken up with the everyday activities of home life I have just been looking back through my photographs taken over the weekend and my fascination with wildlife shows through them. Among all the scenery and sunsets there are plenty of records of the birds that have become friendly - thanks to the regular feeding of the dolphins.
Morton Island - and in particular, Tangalooma, was the site of one of the largest whaling stations in Australia. The average number of whales killed in 12 months was 600 and most of these whales were taken from the waters just in front of the resort in which we were staying. An old newsreel video recording - the sort that used to be shown before the film when us "oldies" went to the cinemas "way back when", showed how the whales actually swam and showed off around the whaling boats  - just as they do for the tourist whale watch boats. The whalers would estimate the size of the whales and pick out one that was over the set limit and harpoon it with massive explosive harpoons until they killed it. The waters were red with the blood of these huge intelligent (but in those days quite stupid and unsuspecting) whales.

I took a photo of one of the harpoons - the explosive spear head has been put back on the end (less the explosive, of course!) and the plaque gives more of the gruesome story. The number of whales is climbing back up again - the wanton killing reduced their numbers almost to the point of extinction, I wonder if later, once the numbers are considered too great, that commercial hunting will recommence.
There are no larger marsupials on Morton Island and the possums and other small mammals are quite secretive and difficult to spot so I had to content myself with the local bird life!
Kookaburras hang around the resort because there is a regular feeding time for them. As long as feed is put out at the same time every day it is quite easy to coax our native birds to come close.

I never attended the Kookaburra feeding - but I enjoyed taking a few shots of these unique Ozzies in as natural a scene as possible.
Another bird that seems to love hanging around tropical resorts on island is the Curlew. These fairly large birds with long legs have a very strange call that sound a little like a baby crying. They sound very mournful at night - a little ghostly, in fact!

I tried really hard to get close to these birds but just as I thought I could take one step closer they would strut away a few more paces! They will permit you to come close - but not THAT close! At one stage I was sneaking up on seven birds at a time but once I crouched down to take my photo I would be left with just two! This one looks quite relaxed - but it was "growling" at me!
Thanks to the regular feeding of the dolphins every evening, there is a colony of cormorants that have taken residence on the small patch of beach next to the jetty (the viewing platform is along the side of the jetty). I suspect that there are fish scraps that are missed by the dolphins and these are harvested by the cormorants ("shags" is a common name given to these birds). feeding wild dolphins has become a tourist draw card in many parts of the world, Australia has some very strict regulations regarding the feeding of them (including "no touching") and yet, in spite of the restrictions, people just love the novelty of being able to hold out a titbit and have a dolphin swim right up to them and take it from their hands. In this photo, one of the resort staff is giving a snack to one of the dolphins - its a bit like saying, "here's one for now, the next you will have to earn".

The dolphin picture was taken at night with out the use of a flash, the jetty lights gave out a barely adequate illumination for taking photos - a slow shutter speed was mandatory - so the only shots that worked were the ones where the dolphin and the people were quite still.
Finally I am showing a shot of one of those black and white cormorants at work! This next picture was taken on Sunday morning. I walked onto the jetty (the same one that is used to view the dolphins) and watched the cormorants as they swam under the water and chased small fish. I didn't think that I would be able to capture this action but with digital you try anything!

The bird swims as efficiently as a fish! I was fascinated.
Now I will have to set too and put my photos together in a web album that can be shared with all my fellow travellers - and I will have to find something else to write in my blog!
AJ

Tangalooma Whaling

It was such an early start this morning. I was in the shower by five thirty! With so many morning chores to be done before heading off to join our tour bus I had to start early! We were on the road by seven and after picking up a few other passengers along the way found ourselves at the wharf right on time for our ten o clock departure.
I had no idea how long it took to reach Tangalooma – the name of the resort on Morton Island, to which we were going but it took forever just to get to the mouth of the Brisbane River! We slowed down as we passed every moored ship – many of them! I guess that is so that the wake caused by our vessel did not throw them around as they were being unloaded. It actually took an hour and a quarter.

Our fast cat ferry (the one in the background!)

There was time to take a few photos from the jetty when we arrived before we all climbed back on board so we could go out into the ocean on a whale watching trip. The best part of that was the cup of coffee on board! We saw one whale breach (which was wonderful) but the rest of the time we saw water and felt the huge swell toss us around. I was happy when we pulled up and we were on solid ground again!

We were taken on a walking tour of the resort, which is huge and fantastic (and many more superlatives) but when I pointed out that one of the members of the party had major mobility problems (bad knees) we were all treated to a buggy ride for the rest of the resort travel.

Our rooms are quite luxuriant and after enjoying a welcome cup of tea and a muffin (from home!) I left with my camera to take a walk and some photos – I found a collection of curlews and had fun chasing them with the camera and then swung my attention to the sinking sun. I had picked a location earlier that would be good if there was a sunset so that is where I aimed to return to. It was perfect!

At six in the evening the lights on the jetty are turned on and in come the bottle nosed dolphins to be hand fed. We had to listen to a “Japanese Marine Biologist” for what seemed to be an overly long period of time as she explained about the rules of feeding and touching and the ages of the dolphins – all we were all interested in was SEEING them! But we were rewarded. Six dolphins came in and played below us in the water and four of them came in to be hand fed. Amanda, Steven’s girlfriend, braved the cold water and had the thrill of her life! She tried to hang onto her fish so the dolphin would stay longer!

Our day was completed with the most enormous and delicious five course meal that I could not complete! What a treat we have had today! I finished up by going around our table and taking photos of each of the couples, we have already become good friends! Yes, Colin and I had our photos taken (with my camera) too.

Another busy day tomorrow? You betcha!

AJ



Fingal dolphins

When Colin and I took out Sunday car trip to Fingal Head we were hoping to see whales. It was a clear day and the sea was quite gentle. Hearing shouts and seeing a few people pointing in one direction our eyes were directed to a patch of water where there were dozens of fins breaking the surface. I estimate there would have been twenty or more dolphins swimming towards us.

This was taken with the Nikon P90 which requires the user to activate the live-view (big screen on the back) and then press the OK button to start the recording. Since I had been using the camera as a telescope previously the focus was already set to the right distance.

This is nothing spectacular but just a bit of fun - if you are observant you will see what I didn't see at the time - a whale in the distance just breaks the surface as the clip ends!

AJ