Our Whale Of A Tale

“Heeeeeeelloooooooooooowhaaaaaaaaaaaales,” the kids and I were yelling as we stood at Captain Cook Lookout, atop the township of Copacabana. This place had been suggested to us by another guest Tracey was chatting to at the Ocean Beach Holiday Park.  This is one of the thrills of doing a big lap and homeschooling as we travel – educating the kids on this great big wonderful planet.

The sea was a bit choppy and I suspected we weren’t going to have any luck, but almost immediately a helpful couple who’d been standing there when we arrived pointed.

“A whale!” all the kids yelled.

Well, all except for one little girl who cupped my ear and asked me a question.

“What’s it called?” Miss7 wanted to know.

“A humpback whale,” I told her as we all oohed and aahed at a huge beastie breaking the surface.

I confess, I was a little surprised by the question because the car trip to get here was full of colouring-in humpback drawings and looking at information which Tracey had printed out last night, and I’d been prattling on about why I think whales are so fascinating – they remind me of Tracey. They fully evolved to be a land animals, looked around one day and collectively thought ‘I’ve changed my mind’ and then went back to the water and evolved anew to be once again perfectly at home in the oceans. Tracey’s been known to change her mind pretty epically as well.

Whales, to me, are one of evolutions great triumphs.

“I mean what’s its name?” pressed Miss7.

“Oh,” I stammered, changing mental tact. “Jerry?”

“Looks more like a Bruce,” said Tracey.

“And that one?” Miss7 asked, both of us ignoring her mother. She pointed at another whale which had come to the surface behind the first and had been eliciting a fresh round of squeals from our family. I resisted the urge to say Tracey because I’m a nicer person. And Tracey is a higher Tae Kwon Do belt.

“Sam,” I said instead.

She looked so disappointed in my answer I wondered if I’d misunderstood the question a second time. I asked what the problem was.

“Is there one called Marcella?” she asked. Marcella is one of her friends from school.

“Of course, there is,” I exclaimed, pointing at a third humongous creature a fair bit back from the other two. “That one!”

“Hi, Marcella!” Miss7 called out happily. “Now where’s Chelsea and Karamea?”

As Tracey would affirm, I’m not great at picking up on clues – I’ve evolved into something of a Homer Simpson – but I think we might be heading back towards our home town of Gympie at just the right time. I suspect someone needs to catch up with her friends.

Meanwhile, we ended up on a first name basis with lots of big, fat fish. I wasn’t counting but we probably saw a dozen or so humpback whales swim by, although I daresay we missed a lot more than that. All this for free and without the risk of sea sickness.

And that’s another very satisfying tick in a box on my big lap to-do checklist. That we got to do it for free was just a bit wonderful too.

“Thaaaaaaaankyoooooouuuuuu!” we called out as we left. “SaaaaaayheeeeellooooooootoDooooooorrrrryy!”

Recent Selfies With Members Of Our Extended Tribe

Raising a family on little more than laughs

This post is not sponsored at all. Dammit.