Whales Across the Nullarbor

We spent 3 days travelling across the Nullarbor Plains from Ceduna to Kalgoorlie. The wet season experienced by southern Australia was starkly evident, with the landscape being more green than brown, and covered with grasses and groundcover plants, instead of just scrubby bush and dirt. In fact it rained for the final 500km of the journey, which made it rather tiring.

The highlight of travelling across the Nullarbor at this time of year is the Head of Bight whale watching area. Southern right whales visit the Great Australian Bight during winter and early Spring, to give birth and rest up away from the cold Antarctic waters. The Head of Bight is the northernmost point of the Great Australian Bight, and provides viewing platforms down to the sheltered waters favoured by the whales and along the spectacular cliff formations that plunge down into the waters of the Bight. Although the whale photo at the top doesn't look like much, we were more than satisfied with our close up experience with these massive mammals, as the whale and her calf pictured cruised slowly along the cliff line right below where we were standing. In fact, there at least half a dozen whales within easy spotting distance, some of them sporting playfully in the waves only a couple of hundred metres offshore.

Its been a fairly tiring 3 days travelling, although gaining 1.5 hours due to the time change has meant we haven't arrived at our destination too late each day. We usually spend travel time chatting quietly or just looking at the scenery, but we decided to turn the last 2 long days into our own private music festival, and have been taking it in turns to pick the next cd to play. Needless to say John's choices tended more towards the headbanging than Wendy's quieter selections!