'Thar she blows!'

Thar she blows!

It is only 12 weeks until all eyes start to search the horizon to find the fine spray of mist that indicates the first sighting of the first whale of the 25^th season of whale watching in Hervey Bay.

Tension mounts. You have been onboard for about 20 minutes and the expanse of water glistens; the golden sands and dunes of Fraser Island take your attention. You have driven, flown or bused your way into Hervey Bay for what is probably a once in a lifetime adventure - to see a humpback whale. You begin to think that maybe you will not see a whale today. Then you hear the call, ‘thar she blows.’

You bounce to your feet and look in the direction of pointing fingers. The boat slows and silence once again descends amongst the group. You look expectantly but see nothing. It is like everyone is holding their breath, and then an audible whoosh and what sounds like a grunt– it’s a whale. Cheers and awes erupt at the realisation of a dream - 40 ton of humpback whale, right there beside the boat. Then whoosh another whale. Your breath is really taken away now.

Whale hunters coined the phrase ‘Thar she blows!’ on sighting this column of vapor as the whale exhaled. With each breath that we take we exchange probably 15% of the air in our lungs. A whale exchanges over 90% and they do that in a matter of seconds. They can hold their breath for up to 45 minutes and no wonder, they have lungs the size of the latest Mini Minor.

I was sinking my teeth into a chocolate Bilby on Easter Sunday when my thoughts went to the whales that would soon be gracing the waters of Platypus Bay off Hervey Bay very soon. They don’t have teeth to sink into anything.

The Humpback whale is a toothless whale. They are called baleen whales or mysticeti whales. They have baleen plates instead of teeth so are what we call filter feeders. Baleen, also known as "whalebone" is not really bone, but is made of keratin, the same protein substance as our own hair and nails, and the horns of cattle. The word baleen is derived from the Latin word for whale ‘baleena’.

Humpback whales are mammals just like you and me, and exhibit a number of traits common to all mammals. They are warm blooded, they breathe air and they bear live young and nurse them with milk. Unlike me though they are seasonal feeders. They eat twice a day for about 120 days. That equates roughly to 240,00kg of food.

In order to feed, a humpback whale opens its mouth and scoops food (such as krill, plankton and small fish), together with large volumes of water. It then partly shuts its mouth and presses its tongue against its upper jaw, forcing the water to pass out sideways through the baleen. This sieves out the food that it then swallows.

Can you imagine the mess if that was how I ate my Easter egg each season. Imagine what I would look like if I ate that many kilos of chocolate Bilby. I’ll stick to being a grazer while I wait for these majestic giants to return to the calm waters off Hervey Bay. Why are the waters calm? We are sheltered from the predominating south easters by Fraser Island.

Platypus Bay

The work that goes into making a whale season in Hervey Bay a successful season now begins in earnest. Website updates, brochure updates, putting advertising in place (and isn't that a hard one – deciding where you advertising dollar is best spent), attend trade shows, visit the local agents. The list is never ending – all for the love of this.

The season in Hervey Bay runs from mid July until the end of October. The reason for what may be considered a short season is because the whales only stop and play, for a day or even a week, in the Bay on their southern migration. Other centres around the country run longer seasons as they are in open ocean and get the whales on the move on both the northern and southern migration.

Hervey Bay is sheltered by World Heritage Fraser Island (the world's largest sand island) so as the humpback whales leave the Antarctic and head for the warm waters of the Whitsundays they swim up the coast,which for Hervey Bay means the eastern side of Fraser Island and it is not until they are heading south that a percentage of the migration funnel into the calm waters of what on the marine chart is known as Platypus Bay.

Now you know I love to talk about 'what is in a name?' Well, I find the name Platypus Bay rather amusing so I, of course, Googled! I had the interesting and unique to Australia Platypus swimming happily around the western shores off Fraser Island having a wonderful time on holiday. Everyone loves a holiday in Hervey Bay. So how did the Bay get its name? I have no idea. I could not find anything about the name but I did find out how Hervey Bay got its name. James Cook named Hervey Bay after Augustus John Hervey (1724-1779). Hervey was the Third Earl of Bristol and Lord of the Admiralty.

So while I am none the wiser how Platypus Bay got its name I will carry on researching and go on with the task at hand – getting ready for the 2011 whale watch season in Hervey Bay.

Whale Names - Introducing Nala

Nala is the patron whale of Hervey Bay. The Hervey Bay community adopted Nala in 2005 as part of the Humpback Icon Project, which celebrates the annual migration and campaigns against whaling. Nala is part of the 11,000 strong east Australian humback whale population.

She was first spotted in 1987 and named in 1996, after the character from the Lion King movie, by a group of children aboard the Oceania Project research vessel. The tradition of the Lion King continued, naming her offspring Simba in 1996; Pumba in 1998; Rafiki in 1999; Mufasa in 2002; Timone in 2003 and Zazu in 2006.

By 2010 they had run out of movie names and so it was put to the public to name Nala’s new calf. The Chronicle offered a whale watch trip as first prize. Many a name was proffered. Alan was one of them, Nala spelt backwards, but alas it was a girl. But it was Jennifer McLean’s suggestion of Mirrhi, the Aboriginal name meaning ‘little girl’, which won.

Wally Franklin from the Oceania Project said Aboriginal names could provide inspiration for naming Nala’s calves further down the track when she brought them to Hervey Bay.

It is not the first time an Aboriginal word has been used to name a humpback whale. Migaloo, who is as a "hypo-pigmented" humpback or albino whale, is another famous whale seen on the east coast of Australia. Migaloo is the name Aboriginal community elders from the Hervey Bay area in Queeensland use to describe a White Fella. He is a rather large white fella often being described as ‘bigger than a truck’. I am not sure if that is a pick up truck, semi trailer or a B Double. I would hazard a guess, a B Double.

For more stories on whales, like Phantom and her calf Opera and how they got their names visit the web site of The Oceania Project: http://www.oceania.org.au/whales/whales.html

What's in a Name

What's in a name.
My granddaughter was born in the September. It was November and do you think a name could be chosen that sounded just right and suited this tiny new bundle of sleepiness. The local barmaid's name was thrown forward as a suggestion - no. Nothing against the girl but it just didn't sit right. The array of names on the fridge changed on a daily basis and verbalised constantly but - no. None of them fitted.

I suggested Talei which is Fijian for precious. This stirred some feelings and the name was used in a whimsical way - it took two weeks before it was accepted as the name she would have and use from this day forward.

Zoe is Greek for life It was added in honour of me. While living in Greece that is what I was called - there is no Sh in Greek so Zoe it was for me then and Talei now. Talei Zoe.

The Renee came some time later - a long story and another chapter of my blog. Renee is French for reborn.

So we ended up with Precious Life Reborn - just in time to fill in the registration paper work for the government. Talei Zoe Renee.

Talai was born on the same date as a very special 'Nan'. Nan had passed so in essence a precious life had indeed been reborn.

What's in a name - it fascinates me!

New Website

All is very exciting as I work with my web designer coming up with my very own web page - Shirley Cameron-Smith.
It is an interesting exercise thinking about yourself and your business. Just exactly who are you, and what do you do.
I thought these would be easy questions to answer. What I am finding is that while they are easy in some respect, because you know the subject well, it is confronting. I am confronted with thinking about EXACTLY who I am and exactly what it is that I do do.
I have underestimated myself. I have obviously been doing this for years. What an eye opener this, creating a website, has been for me.
Loving every minute, driving the web designer mad but boy what a ride.

Whale watching Hervey Bay 2010

The 2010 Hervey Bay whale watch season has almost come to end and the old empty feeling is already setting in. The season is only short, mid July until end of November but it is full on and sooooo eventful. I work in the office and only get to see the whales if I can jump onboard on my day off so I rely on all the stories from passengers and crew to get me through the day. I also use the radio and tune in to the fleet and listen to their chatter. when you can here the squeals and sighs of the passengers in the background you know they are having a great day on the water - I almost feel I am there with them watching these amazing mammals that come to rest and play in Hervey Bay on the southern migration.
It has been an interesting season with an interesting mix of international travelers. Two years ago it was predominately British families who had taken advantage of the strength of the English pound to visit Australia and made the trip to Hervey Bay to see the whales and visit World Heritage Fraser Island. This year the French came marching through early in the season with the Danes and Germans arriving later in October.
Overall most operators said their passenger numbers were slightly down this season due to a lot of factors including the fact that the wind was slightly up more often than it was down this season. Nature is wonderful - it is very unpredictable and we struggle to keep up with it even when the weather man tries extremely hard to keep us informed and predict what the weather will be like. These predictions kept a large number of intrastate, particularly Brisbane people from venturing the three hours north to take a look at what the whales do when they spent a week or two in the bay.
Whale watching in Hervey Bay is unique for that very reason. The whales that come into the bay stay from one or two days to two or three weeks. Hervey Bay's patron whale, Nala spent about 4 weeks in the bay this season with her new calf, whose name escapes me at the moment - a beautiful sounding Aboriginal name meaning precious. All Nala's other offspring have been named after characters from the Lion King. Check out Wally and Trish Franklins website www.oceania.org - they are sure to have a picture of her.
Well till next whale season - I can't wait.