People were shouting in the night, yelling at each other to be quiet. It largely seemed to be an Australian backpacker being chastised by the owner of the hostel. It's cold in the room, the blanket smells, and when I wake up at 6.15am I have no desire to sleep any further in this hostel. I sympathise with Iain's need to sleep until 7am, then get him up. We leave at 7.30am and Iain drives. We're trying to get to Hervey Bay, to hopefully see some humpback whales. We're not sure whether any boats go out in the afternoon, or whether we'll get time when we arrive, but we'll see what happens. The Italian ladies on our sailing trip to the Whitsundays were planning on driving to Hervey Bay yesterday - we decided it would be hell to drive 900km in one day at 100kmph average.

[1770]

More of the same, in terms of road. We pass a town called 1770, after Cook's landing there. We stop in Bundaberg for breakfast in a bakery, and the best croissant I've had outside France. The next town is Childers, sadly famous for the hostel fire which killed over a dozen backpackers when my brother was in Australia three years ago. It's a rude awakening to think how easily this could happen - though most owners are making an effort, some hostels we've been to have not had decent alarms or fire exits.

We see signs warning of roadworks ahead. I like Australian roadworks; so far all we've seen on this trip are warning signs, starting signs, roadwork end signs, and nothing inbetween; we've driven straight through. This time, however, we're in for a surprise. We stop behind the line of traffic waiting patiently. After ten minutes we're less patient. After twenty-five minutes we think this is some sort of candid camera set-up and we'll be here all day. Eventually the bored worker turns his sign to "slow" and we crawl through the couple of kilometres of resurfacing. There's a serious amount of heavy plants and work going on. Another interesting feature is that when work is in progress, a sign usually informs you of the expected dates, the intention, cost, sponsor, project manager, operator, and contact details.

We get to Hervey Bay at 11am. The journey the Italians planned to do in one day has taken us eleven hours of driving. The tourist office has a list of whale watching boats leaving after lunch, so we get a town map and head for the YHA, in the hope that they won't be full.

Hervey Bay attracts backpackers as the route to Fraser Island, the largest sand island in the world. It's miles of stunning sandy beaches and forests. According to the Rough Guide it gets very busy and noisy at times. We're opting for a trip to (hopefully) quieter Moreton Island, off Brisbane, to see dolphins and perhaps dugongs (sea cows/manatee).

[A dolphin. How disappointing]

[Jumping]

[Not to be outdone]

The hostel is wonderful. It's called the Wilderness Lodge, and whilst it's on a main road, and near the harbour, it's quiet enough to believe you were in the wilderness. We have a faux log cabin, ensuite with a balcony for $50. There's a huge pool, spa, good cheap restaurant etc on site, and we make use of the TV room to cull a few photos and make space for whales. As we arrive, we book a boat trip from reception.

[Incoming...]

[Whale]

[Another]

A bus picks us up at 12.40pm, and the boat leaves at 1pm. It's a pretty small motor boat - the tourist office said this would get us closer to the whales than a big boat. There are around twenty passengers, and two crew. We cruise past Fraser Island, which is beautiful, and a dolphin leaps out near us - Iain captures a fabulous photo. There's an idiotic English guy on the boat, with a loud mouth. When the captain tells us about whaling potentially restarting in Japan, he announces to all that "The Japanese are a filthy race, anyway". People walk away in stunned silence. I wish I'd had the courage to say something, but am ashamed to say that I just walked off too.

[The back end]

[going forward]

[Whale]

After twenty five minutes of motoring, we see our first pod (family group) of whales. Humpback whales are the commonest in Hervey Bay, though recently a Southern Right whale appeared for the first time. The population has steadily increased since whaling was banned in the 1960s, and is approaching pre-whaling numbers. Whales come into the bay between July-October to rest on their journey south to Antarctica. There are up to 200 whales in the bay at any one time, and whales stay for around three days on average, just having fun and playing.

[Whale]

[Blowing]

[Breach]

[Breached]

[Whale]

[Underwater]

[Just a fluke]

[Looking around]

It's amazing, awesome and beyond words. This is one of my main ambitions in life, to see whales this close. They're huge, but so gentle. Regulations mean that no boat can go closer than 150m to a whale, but the whales approach the boats with curiosity, and hang around until they're bored. There's an audible murmur of excitement from those on board, including the crew, who see this daily, as the whales come closer. We see yearlings at first, then leave them in peace and move on to another pod. All the tour boats are in radio communication with one another and direct each other to pods. It's not unusual to see another couple of boats, but everyone gives the whales space, and no-one crowds in.

[Pectoral fins]

[Breach]

[Double breach]

They're majestic, and beautiful, so close you could reach in an touch them, but it's not allowed; these are wild animals. Just as the captain is saying we probably won't see a whale breaching, one jumps spectacularly out of the water; all but one of us missed seeing it! The whales change their behaviour randomly; sometimes they ignore the boat, sometimes they circle it or swim under it, sometimes they just float nearby, and if you're lucky, they occasionally put on a show of surfacing and breaching. We see the first double breach of the season - two whales jumping in unison. An unforgettable moment, but sadly missed by the camera.

We have a couple of hours with the whales, but it's over too soon. On the way back we have afternoon tea - a difficult feat in a small boat in rough sea. Drinking coffee is an achievement, to everyone's amusement. I talk to an Australian woman on the way back. She's from Melbourne, and has cycled from Land's End to John O'Groats in the UK.

[Fraser Island]

[Not a whale]

When we get back to shore, we head for a chemist (my throat is agonising now) for medication, then to dinner. Iain eats roo again. We see a car with a huge plastic shark tied on the back, randomly. There are supposed to be echidnas, if you look closely between the Esplanade and the beach, but we forget, annoyingly, until too late.

Back at the hostel, we see Elizabeth, the German girl from our sailing trip. She's going to Fraser Island tomorrow, and saw whales this morning, with the same company as us, Seaspray. They didn't do any breaching, so we were lucky with what we saw. She tells us that the Italians drove to Hervey Bay in 9 hours, with one stop. They drove for four hours each, before swapping - I don't want to think about how fast they must have been driving. We head for bed at 8.30pm, to read.