On advice from someone at Newcastle (not THAT Newcastle the other one!) I went to Port Stephen's with the objective of seeing dolphins and hoping to see some whales, it was the very end of the whale breading season for this year! After searching for whales in New Zealand the mere mention of them and the chance that I might see them I was off there like a shot! I caught the overnight bus and eventually arrived outside the Samurai backpackers. If you ever find yourself in that part of the world I thoroughly recommend it! Its in Anna Bay in the rather exclusive Port Stephen's, Anna Bay is basically a small hamlet in the middle of a forrest, As the driver dropped me off, for a minute I was in a state of panic, he must have the wrong place! I was there alone, on a road in the forest with nothing around me, but trees! No need to panic though, all I had to do was turn a corner and as the pictures show I was as the pictures show in paradise!

The owners were great, the first thing they did when I arrived was show me the wild koala's and its baby living in a tree right next to the "bungalow" where i was staying awww!!. Then they showed me the "bush' or outside kitchen (see the pics) but told me to be aware of the wild parrots that live in the forest and especially the Kookabarrows, which as soon as your back was turned would steal your toast from the toaster! Later they told me to come over to their house where i would meet their pet python!!

The next afternoon, I went to the beautiful Nelson bay with its amazingly clear waters, so clear that you could see all the fish swimming in the bottom of the sea to go on a whale watching tour. Judging by all the posh shops and yachts in the harbour, this was the home of the rich and famous! It took me a while to get down there as my bus didn't turn up, but the people in this part of the world are lovely, a stranger I had been talking to at the bus stop had arranged for their friend to give me a lift,

As the boat took off we were told that everyday the trip had been running for the last 3 months they had seen hump backed whales breaching (flipping onto their backs!) a very good sign. The hump backs usually live in the colder Antarctic waters south of New Zealand but around June time they swim north to the warmer waters around Australia and South Africa to have their calves, once born the mothers and babies swim back south again to feed before the Pacific waters get to hot for them to survive and this is what i was hoping to see.

Unfortunately as luck wouldn't have it! I never saw a humpback whale, but did see some Pilot Whales (about the size and shape of dolphins) which hadn't been seen in those parts of the water for over 5 years! In the small harbour on the way back into Port Stephens we did see a lot of dolphins jumping around in the water by the shore! so not a totally wasted day! Determined as I was to see the whales I changed my travel plans and stayed another day....and it was the perfect day with perfect blue skies and calm seas. Within 20 minutes of being in the boat I saw my first humpback whale breach in the distance, we weren't able to sail too close as there are laws in Oz to protect them but but as we stopped in the water they came closer and closer to the boat. In no time at all we were all whale spotting experts, spotting them blowing air from their blow holes at the surface which they would do 5 times and then usually jump in the air. During this trip the best sight that I saw I the 4 hours was a mother whales banging her tail fin against the surface of the water, we think to call together other whales in the area, (all mother and baby whales have a matriarch to watch over them both) while a baby calf whales right beside her did backflips! Most whales breach to get rid of any barnacle on their backs but these ones were just playing. Of course I never managed to capture any of this on film, but it was a lovely memory.

The next day it hot 38-degrees, so I packed up my stuff and very happily and headed north!