Dolphin Hunting in Port Stephens

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Russell - In our attempt to see some of New South Wales before we have to move on we decided it was time to do a touristy thing and get on a tour up the coast. The most appealing thing seemed to us to be wine tasting in the Hunter Valley but we came across a tour which combined this with dolphin spotting as well as other activities in Nelson Bay so we paid the bit extra for the combined tour.

It was an early start for a Sunday, but the bus picked up outside our appartment so it wasn't far to walk. We were sharing the day with a Japanese couple and a boisterous group of 14 Indonesian students. Everyone was in good spirits and John, our driver, started his commentary. The drive up to Nelson Bay was a couple of hours and I was really thinking John was going to commentate the whole way and though he did take a couple of breaks we were given loads of information about Sydney, its suburbs, its residents, politics... just about everything!

The first treat of the day came quickly with our first drive across the harbour bridge. It is just great having those huge iron spans zooming above you as you drive past the harbour and its magnificient opera house. Sydneysiders can be really proud they created something special here. We headed out up through North Sydney (with John lamenting the weak protection for trees that were being cut down by big developers, despite it being illegal) and beyond to our first stop in Nelson Bay.

We arrived at a beach which stretched on as far the eye could see. John reliably informed us that it stretched as far as Newcastle - a city we had passed in the bus a hour ago! Down on the sand we were taken to a couple of guys in bushman's hats standing by the dunes. "How many for Sand Boarding mate?" one asked John. "18" he replied. "Well I can only get 16 in a car so two of yer will have to wait for the next car and go with them lot." He gestured to a rather bostirous group of 6-10 year-olds with a couple of responsible adults. Being the polite types we voluteered to wait and let the Japanese couple go ahead. Unfortunately I don't think we made our intentions clear as when the car arrived (when I say car I do of course mean 4WD minibus!) the Indonesians got on and the bushman signalled the car to go without the Japanese couple. "Hang on!" I cried "That was 14, not 16!" "What are you a bloody accountant or something" came the curt reply "No I am not" I replied rather hurt "No worries mate, you 4 will just have to get this car and the kids can wait" and our ride pulled up for the four of us to move on.

All I can say is the driver of the 4WD minibus was a genius driver. He effortlessly drove us up sand dunes down valleys and basically made the whole process throughly enjoyable. When we got out a the other end, if you stood with your back to the ocean you could really believe you were in the Sahara or something. There was just miles of sand dunes as far as you could see. The only thing that spoilt the wilderness fantasy was the group of people propelling themselves down the dunes on tea trays. I guess this was the sand-boarding our Bushman was refering to.

Another bushman (Lins - or should that be Sandman?) threw down some boards for us to choose from. "The wooden ones go faster mate" bushman number two told me so I selected a couple of likely boards for Lins and I to try out. After a short lesson in how to sand board ("If you try standing on the board you will fall off and you will break an arm if you are lucky or a pelvis if you're not. We find the best thing to do is not stand up") we were ready to go. Always the gentleman I let Lins go first and got ready with the camera. Since no one had stayed on the board yet I was wishing I had a video camera to claim the inevitable 250 quid from 'You've Been Framed'. Lins shot down like a bullet and managed to stay on. Until the last minute that is. Next it was my turn and I sat on the board and look down the slope. It was steeper from this angle for some reason and I pushed off. And went nowhere. So I pushed a bit harder - still very little, and I came to a stand still. I found that unlike everyone else around me I had to push myself down all the way or just stop. It is a myth that the bigger you are the more help you have from gravity - in this case the increased friction seemed to have the edge. I trudged to the top feeling more than a little disappointed. "Here mate - I've got some Beeswax - want me to wax yer board?" said Bushman Two as he grabbed my board and put two pathetic circles of wax on it - as if that will make a difference. Still Lins was keen to get a photo of me on the board so I sat down for another go. This time I gave it a really big push. I swear the squealling was coming from the 10 year-old girl next to me. The board moved like it was on ice and I realised a little too late that at this speed there was no way of gracefully stopping so ended up using the clearly popular arse-over-tip dismount that I had seen others using. This was more like it! We stayed for another couple of rides but then all too soon realised that the walk back up the slope was just too much effort so decided to move on.

After a bit more 4WD-ing we were on the beach and were told that it was time for some Pippis hunting. As far as I can tell Pippis are a rare type of shellfish that are relatively common in the area - if that makes sense. Shoes and socks came off and we started to paddle in the shoreline looking for the described shellfish. I think we can safely say we are the worst Pippis hunters in history. We found a piece of shell but not Pippis shell! All too soon we were boarding the bus again to move up to Nelson's Bay for the dolphin watching.

We arrived in the bay and boarded our vessel which would take us out to catch up with the dolphins. As we pulled out of the harbour we were given our food that we had ordered on the bus driving up. I had gamely chosen the Aussie Burger - more to see what one was more than anything. It turns out it is a cheese burger, with salad.... and and fried egg. And of course beetroot - this is Australia and it seems you can't buy anything without beetroot in it here. Still it was very welcome and more than filled a hole. Unfortunately I don't think the boat company had really thought through the whole feeding us concept. You see the food was bought by our bus company and given to the boat company to distribute. No problems there. The problem was we weren't the only people on the boat. In fact there was about 100 people on the boat and the moment they caught a whiff of our chips everyone wanted some. The poor cabin staff had to deal with a constant stream of people demanding chips and flatly turning their nose up at the bag of crisps they were offered. The best moment was when a litlle boy came up to the counter Oliver Twist-style and asked for some hot chips - it would make your heart melt - if it wasn't for all the hot chips I had to eat.

One of the parts of the trip we were looking forward to was the possibility of swimming out in the bay in a boom net next to the boat, and the possibility that the dolphins would come join us. The problem was that though you couldn't describe it as a cold day, it wasn't quite warm either, and despite having our swimming things we were in two minds. The captain came on the tannoy and announced that the net was being lowered. "For those of you considering a swim I can tell you that the water temperature today is 19 degrees or as I like to call it - bloody freezing. Still the option is there for you." A bunch of kids happily ran along the deck and dived in. 5 minutes later I decided to check on their status and discovered they were all visably shivering, though were still determined to have a good time. We decided to decline the option.

It wasn't long before we came across a pod of dolphins ("Yeah that's right, a pod not a school - they aren't fish you know." Our captain pointed out. But then they aren't peas either.) They kept a respectable distance from the boat and played with each other rather oblivious to yet another tourist boat. The captain's commentary told us that the dolphins were some of the very few dolphins in the world that didn't migrate and were in the bay their whole life. Their play became more an more boistrous and the captain told us that dolphins have basically three desires in life "Fishing, sleeping and mating. They're proper Aussies! And since this group ain't fishin and they ain't asleep, that only leaves one thing they are doing" Somehow it seemed wrong to carry on watching.

After a lovely couple of hours in the bay we were back on the bus and it was time to head off to do the wine tasting we had set out to do in the first place. The Hunter Valley lay about an hour inland, and I would like to tell you about the journey but I seem to have slept through it.

I awoke passing a sign saying welcome to the Hunter Valley wine growing region. Now we are talking! The tour promised us a vist to three wineries as well as a cheese shop and a chocolate factory. Considering it was getting for 3pm I thought this sounded a bit ambitious. Until we arrived at our first stop - the McGuires Winery. John led us off the bus and pointed out the Brokenwood Winery across the field and another one across the road. "You can visit all three or just one if you like. The cheese shop is over there and the chocolate shop around the corner. We need to be heading back to Sydney by 4:30 so back here in an hour and a half" I was not impressed but we decided to make the most of it. The chocloate shop was part of a village retail area selling all sorts of crafts. We picked up a few chocies and sampled the chocolate fountain and moved on to the winery. Brokenwood definitely looked the best as John had explained it was a small winery that sold most of its product at the cellar door. Of course you buy Brokenwood anywhere but not all their varieties. When we went in we were warmly greeted and given some large tasting glasses. I was kind of expecting some wine buff to tell me how I should appriciate the bouquet and how to spit the wine out. "Nah, everyone likes wine in a different way - just go for it - whatever yer like is fine." our host assured us. Well lets get tasting then. "No no, I don't like reds - well yes, maybe I should check if my pallet has changed - ohh that's ferry nice - what about a Pino Noir?"

So we came out with four bottles of wine - no, they weren't cheap (especially considering we were buying wholesale not retail) but they were very nice. We had some time left and headed for McGuires. We needn't have bothered to be frank but we did get to try a sparkling red - it's just wrong. We even stepped into the cheese shop and aquired a wheel of cheese - a variety of which I still don't know the name of. It was very nice though.

All too soon it was 5pm and we still hadn't gathered up the Indonesian students - Students, free wine, need I say more. Eventually we managed to get them all together and got a group photo (thanks to XXXX for e-mailing it too us!).

We headed back to the big city - tired, happy and a little drunk.

One piece of advice to anyone considering this tour - don't try and do it in one day. The Hunter Valley deserves a day to itself and as John told us on a full day tour you get much more time to vist places in different parts of the valley and get more a tour around. The combined day sounds good but its just a bit too much.

Still really enjoyed it though.

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Photos

Surf's Up
The waves get much bigger by the way!

Surfer Dude
So where's the ocean?

Sander Surfer
This is a doddle!

Dismount
Perfect landing

Dolphins at Play
What game are they playing?

Lins in her Vineyard
So how many bottles can we get out of this lot?

Hunter Group
Our group - 14 Indonesian Students, 2 Japanese, 1 John the driver and us