Articles
The thrill of the first whale Still time to submit photos
A whale surfaces near the charter boat. Photo Brian Grant. Victoria Cosford
The barest breeze ruffled the glassy water out the back of the Fishermen’s Co-op at Brunswick Heads. About thirty of us settled into the bright red RIB – or Rigid Inflatable Boat – which was to take us out beyond the bar to look for whales. The mid-winter’s day, for such a pursuit, could not have been more perfect. Byron Bay Eco Charters is an organisation conducting ‘Whale Watching and Dolphin Adventure Tours’. Rowena our guide suggested that seating up the front was a little bumpier and for ‘the more adventurous’; having breakfasted somewhat grandly, I chose some seats toward the back (‘for the more chilled-out’, Waz the skipper kindly commented.) Gulls squawked across the river and pelicans slid soundlessly along its surface as we fastened our life-vests. ‘We are retracing the route the earliest settlers will have taken’, Rowena began, before launching into a brief history of the cedar cutters, the wood being floated downriver then loaded on to the waiting schooners. Even before we had passed the bar a bottlenose dolphin
had broken the shining surface of the water. And then we were off, flying across the turquoise and almost instantly encountering a small pilot whale with another dolphin nearby. The whales, Rowena explained, were on their northern migration from the Antarctica, to give birth to their young in the warmer waters. I was beginning to wonder if the capacity to spot whales required a genetic predisposition: I’d barely glimpsed that first whale and have long been accustomed to just missing the many whales my partner constantly spots over the winter months. Everyone else in the boat seemed to be squeaking with the excitement that comes with regular glimpses of tails and fins and ‘footprints’. We were nearly at the Cape by now, the engine stilled so that we were just rocking gently – and suddenly there it was, a whale within metres of our vessel, glossy rump bulging out of the water before sinking back down. I could see it! I could now proclaim that, yes, whales do exist! At that point Rowena explained that we were about to listen to a hydraphone which would convey the noises the
whale was making – its song. And sure enough after several minutes the sounds began, a little like wind in a tunnel, then like a violin being tuned, then a bellowing cow, then a cello. It was spine-tingling and enchanting – though nothing prepared us for the apparition of the whale beside the boat, so close we could have reached out and touched it. Its massive sleek body moved all the way around us, unhurried and incurious, and all the adults turned into over-excited children with smiles wide enough to split our faces. ‘I’m just dirty I never charged any of you,’ exclaimed organiser Sean Morris – but he was grinning as he said it. And shortly afterwards it was time to head back, our two hours over and most richly satisfied. ‘Even if you don’t see a whale,’ Sean was saying,’ it’s just gorgeous to be offshore there.’ But we did see a whale.
Due to the large volume of last minute entries, the Simple Pleasures Photo Competition has been extended to 4pm Friday August 14, giving participants an extra week to enter their photographs. Five judges will evaluate entries based on technical merit, artistic interpretation, originality, charm/character and depiction of the theme ‘All the great things are simple’, a quote from Sir Winston Churchill. Following the judging night an exhibition of entries will be mounted in shop windows around the CBD of Brunswick Heads from Saturday August 22 to Friday September 25 and the community will have an opportunity to vote for their favourite photograph for the People’s Choice award until Friday September 11. ‘So far we have distributed in excess of 200 entry forms through the Brunswick Heads Visitors Centre and fielded dozens of online enquiries; the quality of the work is outstanding this year,’ says Lanie Loughlin event coordinator. ‘It is particularly exciting to see more entries in the categories 12yrs and under and 13 to 18yrs.’ Twelve finalists will be announced in The Echo on Tuesday September 8 and invited to attend the prize award ceremony held on Sunday September 13 when winners and runnersup will share in a prize pool
‘Mohammed’ by Doug Barry Martin from the 2008 Simple Pleasures Calender.
worth over $1500, all donated by local business sponsors. After the prize award ceremony several photographs will be selected for the 2010 Brunswick Heads Calendar and the next series of postcards. Entry forms and informa-
tion are still available online at www.brunswickheads.org. au or from the Brunswick Visitor Centre, 7 Park Street, Brunswick Heads. For all enquiries and information please contact Lanie Loughlin events@brunswickheads.org. au or 0401 470 188.
A little bit country, a little bit alphabet
■ Byron Bay Eco Tours Whale Watching Cruises provide a free shuttle bus service from the Byron Bay Visitors Centre in Jonson Street. Bookings are essential and can be made via their website www.130humpback.com.
Mullum ex-students enjoy breakfast Members of the Mullumbimby Ex-Students Association who got together for breakfast recently enjoyed not only the breakfast and the reunion, but some were seeing the refurbished school campus for the first time, as guests of the High School at the special NAIDOC Week assembly. The assembly heard president Neville Marks draw a parallel between the aims of the Association and the theme for this year’s celebrations ‘honouring our Elders, nurturing our youth’, which Mr Marks said reflected the hopes of the association to support and help students at the school. Among those who attended were Reg Byrnes of Mullumbimby, the oldest exwww.echo.net.au
Victoria Cosford Reg and Betty Byrnes at the ex-students’ breakfast.
student in the group who left school in December 1941, and Arthur Campbell, now of Corowa, who enjoyed catching up with friends and family in the district. Proceeds of the breakfast went to the project being sup-
ported by the Association, the purchase of an electronic lectern for the school auditorium. Information about the Association is available from the secretary, Robyn Gray, on 6688 4356 or mhexassn@ bigpond.com.
Hay bales, saddles and cowboy costumes composed the setting for the launch of The Country and Western Alphabet in Byron Bay recently. A joint effort by Paul McNeil and Barry Divola, it is the third in a series entitled Rockin’ Alphabets and is guaranteed to appeal ‘to kids’ sense of the ab-
surd, while tickling the funnybones of adults.’ Paul McNeil is a local man who worked as a Mambo artist for twenty years before getting together with well-known journalist and author Barry Divola to create the themed series in the ‘music genre’. There are, he told The Echo, another twenty books in the series to come.
Meanwhile he still does some work for Mambo but in addition owns SeaCell Surfboards and Gallery at the Byron Arts and Industry Park. The Country and Western Alphabet’ published by Love Police, will be at all good bookstores from August 15 or online now at www.lovepolice. com.au. The recommended retail price is $27.95
The Byron Shire Echo August 11, 2009 17