It’s not very often I get to experience four of my favourite things at once, but on Friday morning last week, I was lucky enough to be on a boat in some chilly winter rain looking at an albatross with a lighthouse in the distance. It was a real quadruple whammy, and none of those things were even the stars of the show. But I’m getting ahead of myself …
It was a brisk winter morning at Tidal River as we trundled out onto the beach with Wanderer Adventures’ Captain Dave and Maddy the ecologist, all of us wrapped warmly in red, ankle-length waterproof smocks with only noses poking out between beanies, hoods and scarves.
We were nine hardy seafarers (day-trippers from Melbourne and some interstate campers staying at the Prom) boarding the remarkable, custom-built boat with wheels that’s set to take us out through the waves of Norman Bay and around the coastline on our quest to see the Prom’s most exciting winter visitors - the whales.
It was choppy and a little misty as we set off from the beach, but the visibility after two days of storms wasn’t too bad. Everyone’s eyes are on the water, searching for telltale spouts and signs that signal the presence of ocean giants. They do not keep us waiting long at all, and it’s approximately 30 seconds of sailing before we sight a tail waving at us from the mouth of Norman Bay.
Dave steers us out to within a safe and respectful distance of these huge mammals, and before we know it, we’re lucky enough to see three Humpback swimming around, including a baby. Maddy tells us that there are 25,000 Humpbacks swimming up and down the east coast of Australia, and that Wanderer staff help scientists learn more about these gentle giants by recording the individuals they see out on the water.
It’s just one of the ways the Wanderer team work with conservationists and biologists to preserve the birds and animals that call the Prom home. Last year, Dave and a crew of Parks Vic staff helped to rid Kanowna and other offshore islands of invasive mirror bush, which strangles native vegetation and destroys the burrows of the Short-tailed Shearwaters that arrive from the Northern Hemisphere very year to breed.
Dave and Maddy tell us dozens more fascinating stories and titbits about the Prom and its inhabitants, as we gaze at the ridiculously cute and friendly Australian Fur Seal pups that are having a ball in the waves around their colony on Kanowna Island, their mums largely ignoring them as they lounge about in big groups of ‘cuddle puddles’ onshore.
Then it’s down to the lighthouse, built by convicts in 1859, and past the southernmost tip of mainland Australia, where we are greeted by the shy albatrosses I love so much. They swoop in on their huge wings and take to the water near the boat, staring at us with what seems like great interest from under their furrowed brows. Then, the rain really starts to fall, and we sweep back up the coast through the clouds and the waves to landfall at Norman Bay once more.
It’s a wonderful day, and a great trip for the kids these holidays (the way the boat rides the waves is like being on a rollercoaster!), and that’s without seeing some of the other animals that are regularly spotted on this tour, including Southern Right Whales, Orcas, and dolphins. Truly, it’s a whale of a time! Cara Schultz
Cara travelled courtesy of Wanderer Adventures
