Whale of a Time

That's what The Nikonian sent me in a text after she arrived home today.  "I had a whale of a time" lol

Fifteen of us, including seven from the JPEG flickr group all went whale watching today, and what a great day it was!  There were heaps of whales and some fantastic shots were taken.  Lots of shutters going off at speed as the whales surfaced time and time again.

Everybody had a great day.  The weather was glorious, though a little cool for the first half of the day.

We all got some good shots in and I'm looking forward to seeing everybody's shots on flickr over the coming days.

Sadly, The Nikonian had to leave straight after the whale trip, but the others are staying another night, so we all came home to load our photos onto laptops and tablets and Ooooh and Aaaah over our triumphs.

After a few nibblies and drinks, we headed down to the river for some sunset and bird shots.  There was just enough smoke haze on the horizon to create a bit of colour right at the end of the sunset.

A few pelicans, seagulls and yachts to add a bit of interest.

Then we decided to head home and agreed to come back to the river after dinner in search of Tawny Frogmouths.

So we all lugged our tripods and camera gear in the dark along the river path in search of the elusive Tawnies.  We nominated a 'torch bearer' who searched the ground and the trees with the beam of light to no avail.

As we neared the end of the path at the second boat ramp, when we were just about to give up and take photos of the moon, the Arty Farty Crafty one said "What was that?  It just flew into the tree!"

We aimed the torch and there before us was a Tawny Frogmouth sitting on a branch, almost the perfect distance for some wonderful photos.

So we spent about twenty minutes annoying the crap out of the poor bird, torch shining in his face while we snapped away.

We decided to leave him in peace and go down to the beach for moon shots.

Half an hour later, we slowly headed back along the path, all feeling totally exhausted from one very full day.

Home made Baileys and birthday chocolate for 'JFocus' and then one by one everybody gradually made their way to bed all calling out "good night" in very happy and satisfied voices.

It has been a huge day and I am absolutely exhausted.

We will all be up early in the morning hoping to catch some photos of the Bee Eaters around the house and I think I'll take everyone across the road to the lagoon.

So, I'd best go get some sleep in preparation of another big day, because Adoring Husband and I  also have to start setting up for the exhibit on Friday.

I think I'm getting too old for all of this excitement!

It was so great to see you Nikonian.  The visit was just a little too short!

I will post photos tomorrow after I've had a chance to look at them properly.

Nite all.