A Whale of A Tale

A fluke up dive (left) and pec wave (right) of two humpback whales

This morning I sat my second to last exam (and may or may not have used some Harry Potter spells to label parts of a mollusc that I didn't know...) and then after a quick lunch, mom and I went into the city for her first views of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge!  After weeks of rainy, grey, and in the words of Winnie the Pooh "blustery" days, we have had a few perfect, cloudless days in a row and today was no exception.  We took a whale watching cruise from the harbour that took us out into the ocean to have some close encounters with the migrating humpback whales.  The migration itself, from Antarctica to the North-east coast of Australia, is a long journey taken by the whales mostly in June and July away from cold waters to breed where their baby calfs won't freeze to death.  Alongside the boat we saw one whale fully breach and lots of tail flukes, pec fin waves, and blowhole spouts followed by the arched-back dives that are signature of humpback whales as we followed a few pods up the coast.  We learned that each humpback whale has a white "fingerprint" on the underside of its tail that is completely unique, which I thought was pretty incredible.  Our pictures weren't the greatest, but we had an amazing time together.  We were both awed by the size and sheer muscle of these beautiful marine creatures of the deep and I was definitely able to appreciate how majestic they are, in both their movements and ability to entertain.

Kangaroo pizza and "Taste of Australia" beer paddle
at the Australian Heritage Hotel in The Rocks

When we returned from the cruise, the sun was beginning to set so we found a spot along the side of the Opera House and watched the sun go down behind the bridge.  With still no clouds to be seen, it took a while to get dark and the sky was a perfect fade from orange to blue while the bridge became just a silhouette.  As the lights of the city started to come alive, we walked around to Campbell's Cove and into The Rocks and sat down at the Australian Heritage Hotel to have kangaroo pizza (mom's first experience with roo meat!) and we both loved it!  We even paired it with a "Taste of Australia" paddle with five different classic Australian beer brews.  The Australian is the oldest continuously licensed pub in Sydney since it was opened in 1834. Though the original building was destroyed in an attempt to stop the spread of the plague in the 1900s, it transferred its license to its current building and has been serving delicious gourmet pizzas and microbrews ever since!