Hyams Beach

We decided to go on a dolphin watching tour that included, for the stupid, a boom netting experience. My take on boom netting is being water boarded while being given an enema, not my (nor Bun’s) idea of fun.

We set off with about 30 people in a boat designed for 150 and headed north. The captain did the safety announcements and then said that spotting dolphins was a group activity and don’t simply rely upon the crew. After about 20 minutes we saw a pod of maybe 10 dolphins about 200m away between us and a rocky headland. The boat slowed and we drifted along watching them surface and dive. With the dolphins moving and the boat pitching, it wasn’t easy to take photos or videos. Not the most entertaining experience but the boat isn’t allowed to get close to the dolphins and they were more interested in doing whatever dolphins do. None decide to come and surf our bow wave or leap out of the water in front of us. Never mind.

The boom netting experience took place for the dozen people who did it. They appeared to enjoy it apart from one older gentleman who looked to be drowning.

The 90+ minutes were very enjoyable. We returned to the port, had a coffee and then went back to Bertha via a couple of shops.

We drove to Hyams Beach, the beach in Jervis Bay that has “the whitest sand in all Australia”. Sorry, we were told that Whitehaven Beach on the Whitsunday Islands, oh and also Lake McKenzie on Fraser Island have the whitest sand!

When we arrived at Hyams Beach we were told that there was no swimming because of Blue Bottle jellyfish in the water. We went down and looked at the “whitest sand” and found it to be a lot less white than either Whitehaven or L. McKenzie, but that could be because of the ash and pieces of burnt wood mixed in with it. The jellyfish lay all along the edge of the water, we didn’t even paddle.. Time to leave Jervis Bay and head south.

We weren’t sure where to drive on to. We reached Milton and decided to carry on to Kiola. Just outside Kiola we stopped to visit the information centre that tuned out to be a notice board outside a newsagents. While the board wasn’t helpful, the locals in the newsagents were full of information “it’s all burnt down here”. They suggested a campsite on Merry Beach so we drove down to it, checked in to find that there is no phone signal at all so we can’t plan for tomorrow - never mind, all part of the adventure. There are, however, a huge number of wallabies and kangaroos on the site, plus loads of ducks and rabbits. Bun is fretting that a joey has lost his mother, but I think they are just having some time apart and the joey is learning that trying to jump into the pouch of every wallaby you come across, male or female, will only get you a quick biff around the ears. I’m sure mum will find him when she’s had enough time on her own.Read more