Land-based whale watching

It is whale watching season in east Australia. We are thinking to go to the North Stradbroke Island. But it is so expensive to transport our car to there by ferry, i.e. $135 per car and $11 per person round-trip. Then we are thinking maybe we should take those whale watching tour by boat or do land-based whale watching. It is also expensive to take the boat tour, i.e. $89-115 per person. Sigh! Maybe a land-based one?

We did go to Burleigh Head National Park and Point Danger (Coolangatta/Tweed Heads border) on July 25, 2009. It was quite windy in both places which made me headache. We saw many human-shaped seals surfing on beaches around both places. We did not see any whale but we saw dolphins swimming toward coast reef or feeding around it. It is very clean and neat places.

There is a Point Danger Lighthouse, a memorial landmark for captain Cook, in Point Danger. Hmmm, captain Cook have named so many places in Australia. There is also a sand-pumping structure in Point Danger to avoid coast erosion.


Some informations about Land based whale watching in Australia
Point Danger: Point Danger (Coolangatta/Tweed Heads border) is a pretty good spot to see the whales from land.

Byron Bay: Another good spot for land based whale watching is Byron Bay.
Byron Bay lighthouse is the most easterly point in Australia. If you walk up to the lighthouse there are posters and museum with information about the whales.

The last time I went, they were recording the whale songs and there was a local university research student who was telling us all about what was going on and what we could hear.

It was actually live whalesong being recorded from the whales that were passing. Fascinating stuff.

That day, there was a lot of whale activity and we stayed at Byron Bay just enjoying the atmosphere for hours.

South Stradbroke Island: Although you are not high up on South Stradbroke Island you can be lucky with whales coming in close to shore. The beach is pristine there, so even if you don't see whales you can enjoy the solitude of the beach. You can usually join a whale watching tour from Couran Cove Resort.

North Stradbroke Island: I haven't been there yet but I understand that there can be some good whale watching from the northern tip of North Stradbroke Island. You can self drive to Cleveland and take a ferry across to Dunwich and then drive about 32 kms to the point. North Stradbroke Island has an aptly named resort right at the point: Whale Watch Ocean Beach Resort!