You know you live in paradise when....

...you don't have to pay for a whale watch tour when you can see this from the local beach!!!

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I wish I'd had my phone or camera with me to take some photos, so I've searched for some on the internet to give you an idea of what we saw.

We were just sitting on the beach reading and enjoying the sun. Apart from the sound of the waves you could also hear a 'thump', quite regularly.

When we looked out past the breakers, there was 2 humpbacks tail slapping! This was the noise you could hear. The sound carried with the wind and you could hear the delayed 'thump' after we'd seen it happen. They were frolicking around and every now and then you'd see them 'blow'. We didn't see any breaching though.

They tail slapped for about 10 minutes, then moved on down a bit further, had a bit more of a play, then...no more. They were gone, on their way home down south, no doubt. We had a free 30 minute display in total. but it was hard to tell if it was mother and calf. They stayed in one area for quite a while, then disappeared and came up a little bit further down. Both tails were quite big, so it could have been 2 adults. And they were only tail slapping, so I'm not sure what this meant.

This is not the first time we've seen whales. We visited Seal Rocks when one of my sons was visiting a few years back, and saw them from the lighthouse lookout. Another time was at Crescent Head.

Here's a link to the Google map of Elizabeth Beach. They were out in line with the furthest point on the right hand side of the beach.

Dolphins are a regular sight also in the area, surfing through the breakers. I haven't seen any for a while, and it is usually at my beach combing place, Seven Mile Beach that I've seen them surfing, like this.

{Google image}

I'm definitely going to make sure I have my camera with me next time I'm at the beach. It's around this time of the year we see a few whales on their way home. I will go armed and ready from now on...so hopefully next time I can show you the real thing and not Google images to help describe such an amazing sight.

Gotta love it!!!

A thought for you...

My 'Saturday Thought' has been missing for the last 2 weeks as I have been traveling for work. I made the long trek from Sydney to Brisbane two weeks ago, stayed for one night then headed to Toowoomba for the next 5 days.

It's hard to imagine the devastation they had in Toowoomba all those months ago, because you certainly can't tell. The town looks back to normal! We are a resilient lot, we Aussies! 

I had a great time with 11 wonderful participants in a basic lending program. We all had a bit of fun, in amongst the 5 days work. There was a few technological glitches, which often happens when you teach in office spaces other than your own. I'm normally in a training environment in North Sydney.

At the end of the week, I drove back to Brisbane, then headed home to Sydney on the Saturday. Stopped in to see my Dad on the way home as I had some news to tell him! (Stay tuned...)

So I left this week's 'Saturday Thought' until today, Easter Sunday, to celebrate the significance of Easter, or if you are more inclined, to just enjoy a day of rest!

Easter tells us that life is to be interpreted 
not simply in terms of things but in terms of ideals.

Charles M. Crowe - US Clergyman

June 14, 1941- July 7, 2008 

I'm not a church going person, and I'm not a believer, but I understand why people believe. We have an older family member visiting this weekend, so out of respect for her, we all attended the Easter Service in the Green Cathedral at Pacific Palms on the NSW mid-north coast (near Forster). It was a very good service and included everyone, regular congregation members and those from other denominations. It's not what our visitor is used to, but she enjoyed it all the same.

For those of you who do believe, I understand there may be some feeling towards me for attending a service that I wouldn't normally attend. I have great respect for people who do believe and it was because of this respect, I attended the service with the family, sang the hymns, listened to the prayers and thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere. I respect other people's beliefs, having married (now divorced) into a fairly religious family. In return they also respect my position.

For those of you who haven't seen the Green Cathedral, and I was one of them until this morning, it is an open air ministry, with logs as pews, facing the beautiful Wallis Lake. In fact it's right ON the lake's edge, with the surrounding vegetation of palms and gums and other species of plants. The morning was perfect after a touch of rain last night. The relieving pastor and her helpers (all women), were on hand to pass out rubbish bin liners to sit on as the logs were still a bit wet from the overnight rain. All very casual and comfortable for someone like me. A bit of a laugh too, to be greeted by someone handing out rubbish bin liners!!

Here are a couple of photos of the Green Cathedral ministry...

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Have a wonderful Easter break everyone and be safe on the roads...