Humpbacks are real deal
HERVEY Bay on Queensland’s Fraser Coast is living up to its billing as the home of humpback whale encounters.
Local tour operators say they are seeing more whales every day as migration season, from July to early November, reaches the halfway mark.
Whales use the protection of Hervey Bay to rest for up to 10 days
during their migration from the Antarctic to the northern tropics.
Boat operators in the world’s first whale heritage site, 3½ hours north of Brisbane, are now relying on Queensland visitors, with borders closed to NSW and Victorian tourists.
“We’re really feeling the lack of NSW and Victorian clients,” Tasman Venture’s owner Robyn Burgess said.
“Since southeast Queensland
opened up again visitor numbers have improved.
“We’ve got one person here at the moment coming out every day for a week because it’s just such a special, rare experience where whales get so close to you.
“We have mothers and their calves coming into the bay at the moment, and the mothers are letting their calves come up to the boat. You can tell they trust us.
“We’ve been doing this for 32
years and over that time the whales have become far more relaxed around us.”
For the next four weeks, Queenslanders can snap up incredible dollar deals like whale watching tours at Hervey Bay as part of a new campaign by Tourism and Events Queensland, in partnership with News Corp’s Queensland mastheads.
The “20 Days of Holidays Like This” campaign will showcase hot
daily deals from Monday to Thursday and an incredible getaway competition each weekend over the next month.
A limited number of 100 whale watching tours at Hervey Bay for $1 will be available for purchase on Queensland.com/holidayslikethis from 9am on Monday.
Similar deals from operators around Queensland will be available over the next month and promoted by News Corp mastheads.