Australia: the Sequel: The start of Spring Holidays - The Glass House Mtns. and Hervey Bay

After relaxing for a day or two in Cleveland and letting Susie ( hopefully ) try to get over the jet lag after a long, but largely uneventful flight trans pacific flight from Canada, we drove northward to Hervery Bay after rising early. We stopped at the Glasshouse Mountains and had a short walk to a lookout where there were beautiful views across to Mt. Beerburum and other mountains. The Glass House Mtns. are essentionaly the remaining volcanic cores of ancient volcanoes. We stopped outside Gympie for a picnic lunch by the roadside and arrived in Hervey Bay mid afternoon. Our hotel apartment here was very nice. We went down to the marina to book our whale watching cruise and the tour of Fraser Island, then down to the esplanade for a walk out on the VERY long pier. There were juvenile ospreys that had just been kicked out of the nest sitting on the lampposts and squawking to each other and a huge pelican balanced on top of one of the posts waiting for the fishermen to throw him some fish! Then a bit of grocery shopping, a rest, then dinner at a seafood place on the esplanade.
After a light breakfast the following morning, we headed down to the marina to catch our whale-watching tour aboard the Spirit. We saw many whales - mother and calf duos and small groups mostly. They were on their way south after giving birth and they move slowly and stay in the Hervey Bay area for a while as it is shallow and fairly safe. The whales were fairly active with the young ones jumping and splashing and turning over. There was also a dolphin that played around us, jumping and leaping about. Unfortunately, the seas were quite rough and MANY people were seasick! We all had naps in the late afternoon, then Nancy and I went for a run along the esplanade down to the long pier. Fish and chips at Maddigans for dinner was very delicious. Hundreds of lorikeets came in to roost in the trees across the road while we waited for our order and boy, were they loud!