Whale Watching

Clinton heard from colleagues at work that there were humpback whales currently in our local seas.  The whales migrate from the southern ocean to the warm northern waters to breed during winter and then return south in November to the colder seas. The whales follow the continental shelf, staying close to the coast of the Indian Ocean. You can therefore see them just off the shore and we didn't want to miss this opportunity to see whales as they pass through the Pilbara coast.

 

On Saturday morning I was at a baby shower and didn't get home until 12.45pm. So as soon as I got home we prepared the boat and launched by about 2pm. We went a fair distance, passing many of the little islands that make up the Dampier Archipelago on our way. We spotted lots of pristine little beaches that we're keen to go back to and explore in the future.

 

We had been cruising for a while and both Alissa and Sienna fell asleep on me. I was starting to think we weren't going to see any whales. Then Clinton spotted a large turtle swimming along, unfortunately it dived under the water before I could catch a photo of it. Clinton was saying he might turn around and then Harrison saw our first whale! He was so excited to be the one to see it first. We steered the boat closer and discovered that there were two whales and later we noticed there was a baby with them too.

 

Excuse my hair...the boat was going pretty fast!  

Harrison spotting our first whale! He was so excited!

 It is hard to capture how massive these humpback whales really were. They were easily as wide as the boat and the boat is 2.5 metres. We only saw the top of the whales but could see how big they were under the water. I was a little afraid of getting too close but Clinton wanted to jump in the water with his go pro and film them underwater. 

Watching and filming the whales

 

My favourite photo that Clinton took of a whale blowing water out of its blowhole.

Sienna was fascinated by the whales

 

We then saw a sea snake and tried to get a quick photo for Trent before continuing to follow the whales.

 This was the smallest whale in the group and we think it was a baby.

 

As we cruised around we saw at least 6 whales - it was such an extraordinary experience getting up close to these mammoth creatures. The weather was so beautiful and the sea was so calm, it was incredible! 

 

 

 It got to about 4.30pm and we thought we better head back to the boat ramp as the tide gets very low and you can get stuck and have to wait until the tide rises to get your boat out! The light was beautiful as the sun started to go down.

 

 Harrison drove the boat for a while on the way back

Alissa and Sienna fell asleep on the way back to the boat ramp, again!

When we arrived at the boat ramp there was a line of boats waiting to use the ramp. The tide was getting very low by the time we pulled our boat out. If we had missed the tide we would have had to wait until 9.30 for the tide to rise again.

It was such a beautiful day!

 

Super Reader!

I picked up Harrison from school today (I was running a bit late after waking up both of the girls) and Harry and his teacher Mrs Tomlins were waiting for me. Harry's teacher said she had just finished a reading assessment with Harrison and couldn't believe the results! They started on the level Harrison was at last term and went through several books looking for his new level. He is now 7 levels above where he was last term and is now at level 11 - nearly level 12! Mrs Tomlins said, "you must have been doing so much work with him at home". Embarrassingly, I had to say that no, I hadn't done any extra work apart from his normal homework reader and sight words. Harrison had done this all on his own! Last term we told Harrison that if he went to bed early enough (say around 6.30) then he could read in his bed until 7pm. His cousins Mia and Charlie have been doing this for a while and Harrison was excited to be able to do it too! Sometimes Clinton and I would forget about him and go into his room at 7.15 - 7.30pm to find him still avidly reading! Harrison loves any opportunity to learn something new. He asks me millions of questions and I have now started to find him you tube videos to explain things like, "how hot is the sun?" and "how far away is it from the earth?" and "what are clouds made of" etc. Harrison's teacher gave him a mini certificate that said "For persisting at practising your reading. You have gone up 7 levels since last term! Super reader!" 

 

On the way home, I told Harrison that he should be really proud of himself. I told him to remember this lesson, that when you put effort in and try your hardest you can achieve anything. We are so proud of you Harry!  

 

 

First FeNaClNG Festival

Karratha annually holds a FeNaClNG festival in August which runs over a weekend and has a public holiday dedicated to it. The name stands for the chemical symbols of Karratha's three main production and export commodities namely; Fe (iron ore), NaCl (salt) and NG (natural gas). It is like a mini royal show with food stands, rides, a variety of stalls, stage shows, activities, show bags and fireworks on the final night.

 

Our Family went on Saturday at about 10am - thinking we could avoid the heat a bit by going in the morning but it was still very hot walking around in the sun. So because of the heat we left by about 12.30pm. The kids loved every minute of it and we are looking forward to next year (we'll make sure we wear hats)! Here are a few pictures of the kids....

 

Harry loved these little 50cc motor bikes on display - he desperately wants one but we think they are a bit unsafe for a 6 year old!

 Harrison loved driving the bumper cars with Dad!

 The kids both wanted a slushie and fairy floss....mmmm...sugar high!

 Sienna chose to go on this little ride but needed Harrison for moral support.

 Harrison went in these giant inflatable balls - being a bit claustrophobic this is my worst nightmare! Harrison however, had a great time!

 You have to push them inside and then they roll around.

 Alissa looking more than a little hot!

 Sienna on the bouncy castle

 Harrison and Clinton went to the drag races on the Friday night of FeNaCl with Bryan and his boys. Harrison loved it! Then Harry went to see the fireworks on Sunday night with the Pilkingtons - we decided it was a bit late for Sienna as she hasn't been sleeping all that well. We were able to see the fireworks from the front of our house pretty clearly. Overall, we had a great time at the festival and the kids can't wait for next years.



Clinton's Karijini Adventure

While I was in Perth with the kids recently, Clinton stayed in Karratha to work. During the time I was away, Clinton realised he had an RDO and thereby a long weekend with no family at home. So he decided to plan a trip to Karijini with his brother Trent. Clinton and I have been desperate to go to Karijini National Park and see the natural beauties that are in abundance in that area. Unfortunately, it's not really a place to take young children. If you want to get into the deep gorges you need to climb up and down steep rocks and navigate through pretty rough terrain in areas. With us being away and Trent able to fly up from Perth it was the perfect opportunity for Clinton to go. However, the camping grounds get booked up around this peek time of year. Clint tried to reserve a campsite online and it was all booked out. I called the bookings office and the man I was talking to said that very morning a booking had been cancelled for Saturday and Sunday night of Clinton's RDO weekend. What luck! I booked it straight away! Clinton picked up Trent on Friday night after work and they drove to Karijini early Saturday morning. Here are some of Clinton's amazing photos...He was sad because he accidentally left his camera's wide lens at home and he had ordered a proper tripod and it didn't arrive until he got back from Karijini! He took a tripod for our video camera and made do with his normal lens. Despite this, his photos are absolutely stunning!! 

 

 Joffre Gorge

 Trent and Clinton wouldn't have spider walked through this gorge if they hadn't seen other people ahead of them doing it first! See what I mean about it being hard for children? Everyone they met told them to keep going through the rough bits because what's on the other side is worth seeing.

 One of my favourites!

 One of the main reasons I want to visit Karijini is to see the stars at night. Clint was able to capture how amazing the sky is up there.

 Hammersley Gorge - spa pool

 Ok...this may look a bit scary but Trent is a trained snake handler. He owns about 30+ snakes at home - he breeds them. This is a python so it's not poisonous. Once Trent picked it up a whole group saw him and began to gather around.

  

Here are some amazing photos that Trent took too ( I stole them off FB hope you don't mind Trent!) - its cool seeing how Clinton had to climb and wade through water to get his photos!

I think the boys had a great time together seeing beautiful Karijini National Park. Clinton lost Trent's sunglasses - the fell off his head into a running stream and disappeared too fast for Clint to retrieve them. Trent thought he'd lost his phone - he was sure he'd left it in the glove box but after looking several times it wasn't there. They thought someone had stolen it from the car. They had one more look on returning home and Trent saw a slight glimmer of the phone in a tiny, flat hole in the glove box. Phew! What a relief! Apart from these two incidents, the rest of the trip went smoothly and they have amazing photos to remember it by.