Explore I WHALE WATCHING
Whale watching on Queensland’s Fraser Coast. BELOW: Wineglass Bay Cruises.
Dark past, bright future Hervey Bay in Queensland celebrates its annual Ocean Festival each August, on the “humpback highway” that is the Fraser Coast. In New South Wales, from May to late November, head to Jervis Bay and popular Byron Bay for sightings, or take a tour from Sydney’s Circular Quay beyond the harbour. In Victoria, Warrnambool is the place to be from May to September, while in South Australia, Victor Harbor and Ceduna are among the best places for sightings from June to September. In Western Australia, boat tours run from Augusta (at the state’s south westerly tip, under four hours from Perth) in early June, with activity moving southward to Geographe Bay (near Dunsborough) from September. The far northwest of WA around Broome and further south in Exmouth are also key sites; here whales socialise and birth their calves. Southern right whales mate and calve in the now-safe bays near Albany in the state’s Great
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Southern region. Get to know the darker side of the story at Albany’s Historic Whaling Station. It was Australia’s last shore-based whaling station and closed in 1978 after 178 years in business. The social and economic story is tightly woven with that of the people who settled in the region, and visitors can view a restored whaling ship and processing plant. While whale populations still face threats, Micheline points to
healthier numbers since the end of commercial whaling. “With the increase of the humpback whale population from around 200 to 300 in 1963, to around 40,000, 50 years later there have been a few changes,” she says. These increased numbers are aiding research into behaviour. “It seems humpbacks are most likely returning to many coastal regions, now appearing to migrate past or through many coastal bays
PHOTOGRAPHY TOURISM TASMANIA / KATHRYN LEAHY, TOURISM & EVENTS QUEENSLAND
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