We drove for a good 2.5 hours to Hervey Bay, a surprisingly big city to the north of the Sunshine Coast. The place is nowhere near as nice as Noosa - in fact Noosa locals are currently opposing amalgamation of their council with neighbouring towns (yes, 2.5 hour distance still means neighbouring in enormous Queensland) like Hervey Bay, precisely because they think they'll be contaminated by the inferior beauty of these outlet mall and shopping strip towns.
Anyhow, what Hervey Bay has to offer beyond all the others is the opportunity to visit some of the thousands of whales who migrate to the area for mating during the coldest times in Antarctica. Touring out in a boat, these curious gargantuan animals shyly approach the boat and then spend all the time they have trying to impress you. The whales we met, humpback whales, are the gentle giants of the sea. Though bigger than their predators, there are visible marks on their bodies from where they were attacked by sharks and killer whales. Their only defence is their body mass, and at 6 - 16 m long, these lads have some defence.
