We booked into the Caravan Park at 10.30am & was clearly told that check in was 12 noon. I asked if the site was available & the guy on the radio said all sites were available. The person at reception was nearly in tears (what did I do). The groundsman came around later & apologised (he does this to everyone) & told us the person at reception is a part owner & is the reason the park is not doing well. The park itself is great. Strange!
Today we went looking for Killer Wales on a boat out of Bremer Bay. Bremer Canyon is about 50km off shore & is about 1500 metres deep. It takes about 2 hours to get out there on the Alison Maree. Seas weren’t too bad. Only a 3 metre sloppy swell out of the South.
Didn’t see too many early. Only a small pod.
Then all hell broke loose. The first thing we noticed was a pod of Killer Whales moving a lot quicker than normal. Then we noticed a number of other pods heading towards us. Once we got up close we could see they were chasing another whale. It had already been hit once but was trying to get away. It was a rare Beaked Whale around 7m long & probably weighing 5-6tonne.
We watched them chase it for around 10 minutes before the inevitable. Excuse the quality of the video as I was trying to hang on & not fall overboard. Watch it to the end if you can.
Pods continued to come in until there were at least 60-70 around the boat. The crew have only seen one other predation since they have been doing the tour.
Saw some great behaviors such as tail slapping & sky hopping. There were a number of really big males as well.
Wandering albatross was following the whales around looking for scraps.
There was even a pod of Pilot Whales that came past the boat at speed.
Had a look at Glasse Island on the way back to catch up with the resident Australian Sealions.
The other learning from the trip was that Kwell’s do not work on Ulrika. Looks like girting Australia by sea is a non starter 🙂
A must do & we would recommend to anyone.
Lunch at the Bremer Bay Resort. The only pub in town.
Just down the road from the Caravan Park is the Wellstead Museum. It is on a farm that has been owned by the Wellstead family since 1850. As the photos show the museum has a very eclectic collection.
Everything was numbered & there is a book with a description of every item. You could spend days looking through it. A very impressive collection.
In the shearing sheds there is still the names & years of the shearers on the walls.
Bremer Bay from the lookout.
There are some wonderful beaches in the area. Here are just a few. This is Native Dog Beach.
This is Blossoms Beach.
And this is Little Boat Harbour Beach.
Off to Esperance tomorrow.
Quote of the Day
“Sea World’s killer whale collection needs constant replenishing. The average life span of the animals in captivity is less than half the average for killer whales in the ocean.”
Nina Easton