Day 52 - Friday 24 August - There she blows!

Day 52

Friday

24 August

Finished book 9 The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O’Farrell. I really enjoyed this novel about a woman locked away in a mental asylum for 60 years, because she didn’t conform to her parent’s ideals. I wonder how many shared the same fate? 

Broome 

The winds came gusting in through the night and had us gleefully exclaiming, “thank goodness we didn’t put the awning out.” We got up dressed and fed and then planned out our morning. We needed to do a shop for a few small bits, so we decided we would get our steps in early and head out to Woollies, a good couple of K’s from the park. 

We wound our way through the streets, passing the various homes, some in better condition than others. Some fenced, others not. Some with neat gardens, others not. We eventually popped out on the main road and the shop was within sight. 

We did a wander of the mall, seeing what was on offer, putting in scripts and then grabbing the groceries we required. With our bags, full and hefted on to shoulders, we made the return trek. Passing the high school, where the recess bell had gone and scruffy teens were milling about in the yard or kicking a ball. 

We returned through the suburbs, passing the auspicious home of Alistair McAlpine, the man credited with the Broome resurgence. Finally making it back to the park for just after 11am. We packed the shopping away, Paul went for a shower and I used the spare hour to use the free wifi, loading as much as I could.

I returned to the van with time to pack our bags, stuff chocolate in the gob and then make the return walk up the hill, to wait for the courtesy bus to take us to our sailing boat. We stood with two other tourers, before Hannah arrived and we were bundled into the rattling mini-van and ferried out to Gantheaume Point and deposited on the sand to await the sea-legs tender to whisk us out to the catamaran, Ballena. 

We joined the fellow passengers, about 30 altogether, shoved our thongs in a box and then found a spot to sit. We began to motor away from the shore, off on our 4 hours adventure in search of Humpback Whales. 

It wasn’t long before whales were spotted beyond the boat and the captain steered the boat in their direction. The first hour was spent in a whale nursery. The pairs we came across were Mum’s and calves and they were not keen to have us around, with the mum’s shepherding the youngster away from the boat. 

We then moved further out, about 7 nautical miles in search of males, who were more likely to be interactive. It was like the whale super highway, with plenty of them about. The engines were cut and we just bobbed around in the water. This allowed us to hear the whales reaching the surface and blowing. At one stage, we couldn’t help but see whales, they were everywhere you looked, some close by, some further away.

Unfortunately, we didn’t have any really checking us out, like we had in Hervey Bay. I think we were spoilt over there. I was just waiting for one spy hop near us or breach the water, but they weren’t that playful. We did get a couple of fin slaps and some tail action, but not much else. 

I was also looking for other sea-life, but there wasn’t much else visible. We did see a sea snake moving along the surface though. 

After chasing the males for a while, we were told we would be returning to the mooring, so we found a seat on the back of the boat, enjoying the sun on our skin and a sneaky drink. It was bliss and a lovely way to spend the afternoon. 

Once tied up to the buoy, we boarded the tender and returned to the beach and then were driven back to our caravan park, just in time to order a pizza from the J’s pizza truck. We took our stuff back to the van and unpacked before Paul returned to collect the pizza. We devoured the large supreme and then I went through the collection of photos from our day out. 

When I was done, I packed up the computer and jumped into bed, keen to finish my novel, before the day was out.