Whales - at last!

Leaving Kangaroo Island, we chose the coastal route towards Victor Harbor. It is a lovely seaside town 80km south of Adelaide, popular destination for weekend getaway for city folks.

Horse drawn tram - a local tourist attraction.
















An impressive row of huge pine trees.
















Soon this sight re-activated our desires to go whale watching again. The Whale Center provides information of daily whale sightings reported. There is a lookout point at Encounter Bay along the foreshore - more like a public park.
















It is a joke if this was all we saw of whales!
































Of course others were there for the same reason when we arrived - people with binos gazing at the ocean. With surfs breaking it was like trying to find needle in haystack. We stayed probably an hour without success except for few false alarms. Lisa seemed more determined than me - she like to come back again next day.

Fortunately a passing couple told us they just came back from Nullarbor; 30-40 whales sighted there!

Huh.. Nullarbor, where is it? They were kind enough to show us on the map. What! 3 hrs driving back to Port Augustus and another 700km to the top of the Australian Bight (direction toward Western Australia); wasn't part of our travel plan!

If we drive overnight we could be there by the morning. A quick decision was taken to go for it. Lisa would take the wheels to Port Augustus and I took over from there. We arrived in the early hours.. may be 4 am, caught a nap here till the gates opened.
















I am a late riser, so a rare occasion to catch sunrise.
















We were delighted.. sights of Southern Right whales soon as we reached the shore! Only wish I have a better camera for wildlife shots.















































Many calves swam close to the mother. This calf piggy back on mum.
















We had a wonderful time watching them here. Easily spotted more than a dozen around!
















Warm currents from the Indian Ocean hugs the coast to get this far. How did the whales know it? And come back here annually to breed over the generations from Antartica.. few thousand km away!
































More visitors arrived as we left.
















Walkway leading down to viewing areas.
















These bikes were geared up for a long tour, could have came further away than us!
















Another opportunity to stop by at Hahndoff on our way back towards Victoria.
















Nullarbor is probably the best place to watch the Southern Rights! Our aspirations were finally fulfilled here! It was also a journey of will & determination to achieve a personal goal.