Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Our whale watching weekend...

Last Friday we left work at lunch time to beat the traffic to Hervey Bay. It rained the entire journey, but EA was driving so we arrived safely.

We stayed at the Mantra resort, overlooking the marina:

The view at sunrise

Our room was fantastic - it was a one bedroom spa apartment. I paid extra for the spa, but as usual we didn't have time to use it. I don't know why I keep doing it!

After a lovely dinner at the restaurant next door, we had a reasonably early night so to be up and at them for a 7am departure the following morning.

Me looking forward to seeing the whales!

Here is a selection of the best photos we took on the day. We saw SO MANY whales, and it's fairly uncommon to see them breach (jump right out of the water) - apparently of 4000 whales that travel through, only about 400 are that active. So we were really lucky. As you can see, the whales were swimming under our boat and coming up right beside it (called 'mugging'). So beautiful and amazing. I'd been whale watching when I was a kid, but didn't remember them being so huge and beautiful.














After returning to the marina, we went to Salt Cafe at Peppers Resort for lunch.

The view from our table



EA not happy I keep taking photos for my blog - apparently he hasn't given me permission, but I say 'pfft' to that...


Oh look, it's almost a smile!

We then went home for a nice long nap before going out for dinner. We went to Pier Restaurant on the Esplanade, and the food was lovely. The ambience was tainted a bit by the wait staff (there's no nice way to say it - mutton dressed as lamb) and the entertainment - an old warbler who wasn't even playing the keyboard but was pretending to and disco lights in his little corner.

Cocktail and a beer



Calamari, crabs, prawns, oysters, scallops, bugs, fish, salad and fruit


Eye fillet steak with prawn, Hervey Bay scallop and bug finished with a creamy garlic sauce

After that big day we needed another early night - I was absolutely exhausted (and sunburnt).

We ate breakfast at the same restaurant from Friday night. Cafe Balaena, I think.

Eggs benedict and some sort of cheese-on-toast-with-bacon-and-beans thingy

We drove home via Sexie Coffie which is out of Maryborough but after the Hervey Bay exit - we've been there before - the coffee is great there!


And that was our weekend - I haven't blogged about our Bunya Mountains trip yet - might do that tomorrow.

We love taking our mini-breaks. It just breaks up the monotony of work and general life. It gives us something to look forward to - I book these getaways months in advance so we can count down to them.

Needless to say, after all that eatin' and not much walkin', this was my result on the treadmill Sunday night - I was slower than my last record by almost 40 seconds! Doom.


6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looks amazing!! I've never done whale watching before, so keen to try it!

Helen said...

mmmm thanks for a great idea, planning a getaway in the next few weekends and whale watching could be great:)

Simone Rennard said...

How inspiring. Whales are phenomenal creatures!
I haven't been on a mini trip (or a holiday) in SUCH a long time...And since its Spring now this post has woken me up! Thanks! x

Just a girl said...

wow your photos look amazing, so close to the wales.
I wish i could have mini getaways like that

missklicious said...

Amazing photos of the whales, such beautiful creatures!

Aspiring Domestic Goddess said...

1. I cannot believe you saw Whales.
I must do this.
Amazing.

2. EA is a cutie!!

3. there is no 3.

 

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