Whale Watching in Coff's Harbour

---

Day 44 in Australia
At 6am at the lonely bus stop we get picked up by Aussitel's mini bus and checked into our room. The decor is similar to Prisoner Cell Block and smells faintly of urine. We doze for a bit then set off exploring this new destination. The staff are super friendy so we sign up for BBQ that night. We wander down to the town centre of this lovely suburb the sun is shining and we are getting roasted alive in our jeans. In serious need of a cooling off we decide to head to the recommended irish bar. A glass of wine and a bargain schnitelz later we are refreshed. We pick up shopping and drop it off at hostel while we go in the opposite direction in search of the beach and marina. The marina is beautiful and currently host to the replica HMB Endeavour - Captain Cook's boat. we walk along the breezy harbour to Muttonbird Island. There is only one small walk way up and over the tiny island that you must stick to as the whole island is covered in burrows the muttonbirds call home. it's a steep walk in flipflops and when you walk over the otherside it feels like you are walking straight down into the sea. A tad worried about being blown off to sea we about turn and head back.
The BBQ is tidy for $7 cant complain. Meet some really nice people and Irish couple Caroline and Adrian and Canadian bro and sis Byron and Deanne. Early night as we are up early for whale watching.

Day 45
Trot down to the harbour early doors, wait about a bit as not sure if it's too choppy to take the catamaran boat out. Given the all clear so we hop on board. We are heading out for a good 20 mins before we saw the first blowhole. We jump to the deck of the boat and cling on to the rails hoping to see more. We were not disappointed. We start to see blowholes then tails then fins, first far away but they get closer and closer - there are a few whales around our tiny boat. One circles it and appears right beside it you can see the top of it so amazing. High as kites from the excitement we retire back down to the seats only to discover that about 5 people had not taken to well to the choppy waves and we now lying with buckets next to their heads. Nice.
Back on dry land we treat ourselves (as usual) to a cheese toastie thenback to the hostel.
Its pizza and trivia night and after the food we go to pub to join in the festivies with Byron, Deanne, Caroline, Adrian, Fem and Teressa. Good laugh think we oth answer 1 question each and came joint last but what a giggle. We did somehow manage to collect free drinks vouchers. Drank on til we decided it was home time, at the point where we were still ploughing through the sav blanc and everyone else appeared to be on water!

Day 46
You guessed it..........lazy day. Hang around hostel.

Day 47
Check out early and wander to the botanical gardens. Wander around then sit and read our books. A couple of cocoabura's treat us to a close up singsong. Grab a bite to eat the jump aboard the bus to Byron Bay. It gets us there for about 10pm so we just unpack and sleep.

---

Photos

Hollie at Captain cooks ship
HSB Endevour