Whale season.

This morning was clear and cold. A beautiful day at the Bay. We hiked down from the house to see what we could see before the afternoon wind and rain came in. The water was incredibly blue.

I finally remembered to take a picture of the flowering showy banksia on the trail down to the beach. A few days ago all of the little red spikes were looped into the centre. I love how they unfold as the flower opens up.


Chris (scanning for seabirds - and whales - in this shot) spotted the whales a few minutes after I took this picture. We had only sat on the granite for a short time when a humpback whale and her calf came swimming by. We watched them for quite some time. The baby was quite playful. We could see their tails come out of the water, their fins, and their humps. We could also see the water come spraying out of their blowholes. This was the first time I have ever seen whales in the ocean and my heart was pounding the entire time.


Just after the whales left the bay this huge osprey flew onto the granite shore with its catch of the day. Its talons were just sunk right into the fish. Seeing it fly in with this thing was incredible.

On the hike back we went through the She Oak forest. These trees are really interesting because their leaf structure is similar to the horsetail plants I see back home. I don't know if these trees are related.


After lunch we hiked over to Sinker's Reef. This is another part of Two People's Bay Nature Reserve. I had never been over there before. I saw this Grand Banksia on the way over.


The coast at Sinker's Reef is really beautiful.


There are all sorts of tide pools along the shore.


And the waves were actually really huge. I stayed back because I didn't know how far up they would come. Some of the waves had to have been over three metres high and they crashed into the reed with incredible force.