On the Road Again Perth Odessey 2010

Day 31

5/9/2010

Oh boy what a day in down town Albany, we went to a market in the boat shed on the harbour this morning, as we were leaving after buying some of the most incredible goat, sheep and cow cheeses, yogurt and milk we were told by a local that there were a number of whales in the bay playing, well this we had to see.   Stopping off at a lookout above the bay there they were, five in total that we could see, earlier there were twelve close to shore, within 100 metres of the beach.  For most of the time we were and that was about 2 ½ hrs there they were split up into three groups, two pair and one single.

A small boat stopped about 200 metres from one pair, no sooner had he turned off his motor over they came, swimming around the boat then from side and rubbing along side of the boat, how must have those on board have felt.  At one stage one of the men on the boat lent over the bow (that’s the sharp end of the boat, “how nautical am I”) and attempted to touch one as it came so close, all this is within 100 to 200 metres from the shore.

As the story goes; one large old whale came into the bay several days ago to die, it appears there is a ritual that when one whale is dying a group of others follow into a sheltered bay and form a security screen to keep the sharks away until it has died.  The local marine/whale experts agreed there was nothing to be done to help except to expediate the process and euthanize the animal.  As the whale was too big for injection which is apparently normal in these cases (I think that may be the size needle my dentist uses) they used an explosive to the head with instant success, the rest of the whales are happily playing in the bay to everyone’s delight.

The scenery here is beautiful, from white squeaky sandy beaches to smooth granite hill running into the sea, a calm balmy bay on one side and the Great Southern Ocean on the other, small bushes, shrubs and trees the tallest being no more than 2 metres covering the ground from the granite rocks to the sea, the sun shining onto white sandy outcrops on the other side of the bay this was being lit up just for us, now how good does it get.

Out back of our van are two goats, these are used as lawn mowers to keep the grass down between the park and the river, one sits on a tree stump at night, I think this must be his bed.

Weather report; Brocken cloud for most of the day with long sessions of bright sun, no wind about 18 degrees.

Thomas report, please keep praying, little change.

Catch you tomorrow

John & Sheryle