Seasonal whale watching
Hervey Bay pier
If you are travelling north, the Oz Experience bus stop here to pick up and drop off passengers before heading up to the "Town of 1770" for the overnight stop.
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Hervey Bay [1] is a noted centre for whale watching, amongst other activities, but primarily serves as the gateway to Fraser Island and the southern Great Barrier Reef. It has fantastic weather and consequently draws 'sea-changers', backpackers and those who don't like living in houses. Its offshore protection provides beaches almost free from waves.
For a lot of people their main reasons for them going to Hervey Bay are to go to Fraser Island and to see migrating Whales.
Those are good reasons but consider all these other things you might want to do at Hervey Bay:
Hervey Bay is quickly becoming the focus of kite surfing enthusiasts in Australia. Have a try yourself with tuition and hire packages available. There's no surf at Hervey bay making it a good place to hire a jet ski and get a different view of the coast. There are dolphin watching cruises year round to see the resident populations in the Bay. If you want to take it easy go for a sunset sail on the Bay on a stable catamaran yacht and enjoy champagne and nibbles while you reflect on how hard life is as you watch the sun go down! Hervey Bay is a very rich area for sea life so there's opportunity to go fishing from the beach or on a fishing trip on a boat.
From May-October huge humpback whales make an annual journey up from Antarctica to birth and breed in tropical waters around the Whitsunday Islands each year. They can grow up to 16m long and weight 36 tonne. Females larger4 than males. To see them jump from the water or 'breach' and expel a jet of spray as they exhale is breath-taking. Due to the shape of Fraser Island, whales are deflected away from mainland coast of their northbound journey, but are funnelled through the narrow passage southbound, between months of Jul to Oct. Hervey Bay has an annual festival in August to make to celebrate and to watch the show. The humpback babies are born with little blubber, so they would die if born in freezing waters. For this reason mums and dads migrate up to the warmer waters where they give birth, teach their babies how to be good whales (do all the whale things) and then mate again before returning to Antarctic waters to feed and fatten up again after the long journey. Apparently the reasons for their migration is still not confirmed, however, this is what is generally believed.
This is an educational museum about dangerous sharks. The show features an eighteen foot six Great White Shark frozen in a large freezer, as well as numerous documentaries, articles, pictures and displays. Entry is only $15 for adults, $12 for concessions, $7 for children, five and under free. Situated at 553 The Esplanade, Hervey Bay. You can't miss the gigantic shark mouth entry. Phone: (07) 4128 9137.
