Day 25 - Gansbaii

I was up at 6am after probably what was one of the the best nights sleep of my life. You don't realise how much you miss a proper bed until you've been without one for 3 weeks!

I spend the next 1.5 hours whale watching from the balcony, cuppa and camera in hand thoroughly content. The sun was out and although it was windy, it was that kind of sea salt, misty air that I absolutely love. I get the same feeling early mornings in Brighton when i'm back home (minus the whales), the kind of air that hits with you its freshness and wakes you up instantaneously. 

Went down for breakfast and was pleased to find that I was the only one silly enough to rise and shine as early as I had so had the breakfast room to myself. Ordered eggs and bacon and sat on the balcony with my feet in the swimming pool watching a mother and baby Southern Right Whale play along the shoreline. 

Within the hour I was fed, caffeinated, fully dressed (layers upon layers) and out of the door walking to the edge of the cliff literally beneath my balcony. I then spend a good 4 hours following the mother & baby whale along the coastline watching her teach the baby to fin slap the water and swim upside down with her belly out of the water. It was really so amazing to watch her do something and then almost immediately watch a much smaller carbon copy of her try the exact same thing (sometimes not quite getting it right). I managed to catch a number of shots with my 600 lens (thank god for this lens on this holiday) that i'm really quite proud of. On the very last corner before I reached a dead end on the cliff line I managed to finally catch a breach. These whales had been teasing me all morning and breaching all over the place, but only when my head (and camera) was pointing in the completely opposite direction. These creatures truly amaze me with how graceful they are in the water considering their utter size and weight. 

I headed back to the room just after lunch as the weather was closing in and continued to watch the whales until the sun set and called it a night. What a way to end a trip of a lifetime.