North-migrating humpback whales were the centre of attention today on Jervis Bay for some of the Restless dancers. Here are some their accounts.
Matt tells about his experience from dusk til dawn.
It was extremely exciting. I got up early this morning about 5am and got myself ready to go for a hike down to the river where we spent Friday. I wanted to watch the sun come up over the river. It was quite exciting on the walk and I took my bamboo stick with me to feel for wombat holes. I took my little torch as well but mostly kept it off and only used it when I needed it. The light was just starting to peak over the hills. It was almost the same sort of light as early evening.
I was walking down the stony dirt path and ticking away with my bamboo stick and I heard a little rustling and thumping next to me on my right. To my left I heard click click click click click. So I stopped where I was and reached into my pocket to turn on my torch and I was standing in the middle of about eight really big kangaroos probably about 1.5m away. I was a bit scared cos they were standing tall upright as well and I heard their voice as well - that's the click click click thing. So I stood there for a second and looked at them and they looked at me and then after a bit they all turned away and jumped through the fence and into the next paddock. They squeeze between the wire.
So I got through the first gate and I totally forgot there was an electric fence there and I put my bamboo stick down on it and because it was wet it gave me a little spark which came out of the electric fence. The rest of the trip down to the river was quite uneventful. I came across a couple of wombat holes, had a look at them and journeyed on. When I got to the river the tide was out til about half way across, at least it was half as wide as I remember it from two days ago. The bank was quite muddy and boggy, so I didn't go too close to the edge. It was dark when I got there but the sun started peaking just over the hills and it was quite beautiful reflecting off the water.
There were some little footprints on the bank next to me. At first I thought it was a child's footprint, but then when I looked closer realised it was a wallaby or something. They sort of started just where I was standing and led a fair way up the bank and into the bush. After about 20 minutes of my standing there, I started to see a lot of fish swimming and breaching the surface and then started jumping as it got lighter. So I stood there and watched and listened to the sounds. When I could see very clearly I started to turn around and head back and on the trek back home I stopped here and there and thought about the things we did on Friday. That was really nice to look back and reflect on those experiences and think about the very new things I'd done. Like the blindfolding and walking barefoot across the prickly paddock.
When I got home I put a load of washing on and then I went to check out Arthur Boyd's homestead with Elizabeth and Miranda. I took some beautiful pictures of the lake which I found out was not a normal occurrence. It's usually just a gully but because of all the rain this year a lake was formed. I had a quick peak around the homestead before it was time to head off with the gang.
We went on a road trip to Huskisson and were privileged to go on a whale watching boat which was very exciting. We saw a pod of about eight whales as well as some dolphins and seals and a big old seabird called a Ganett. That was the first time I had seen whales. We were really close so it was really good bang for our buck. On the way home we saw some beautiful natural formations in the cliffs. It was a magical experience.
http://jervisbaywhaleadventures.com.au/
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