Whale watching in Byron Bay

Posted on Thursday, 25 September 2025, 21:20 by Alexandra

I can’t believe this day. It was too good! I’m really glad mom got to experience this during her limited time in Australia. We will probably have another good whale watching one day, but it definitely will be hard to top getting mugged by seven whales and seeing countless of breaches. While the sun was out the full time, without scorching us. One of the best days ever I would dare say.

As we had such an amazing time exactly a year ago, there was no question about it, we wanted to go with Blue Bay Whale Watching Byron Bay again. Small boat with only 10 passengers at a time, nice crew, whale spotters from high ground telling where the action is, very mindful of the whales, and they seem to attract good passengers. Highly recommend!

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Coolangatta

Posted on Friday, 22 August 2025, 20:31 by Alexandra

While Mikael was busy doing business, mom and I decided to venture down south. The weather was beautiful in Broadbeach, we put on swimmers and went down to Coolangatta, just to get off the bus an hour later where storming winds were raging!

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Whales in Burleigh Heads

Posted on Friday, 15 August 2025, 21:20 by Alexandra

Before mom’s first weekend in Australia was over, she had already ticked off so many animals on her list. The biggest one, and definitely the most anticipated, didn’t come until Sunday afternoon when we went for a walk in beautiful Burleigh Heads National Park.

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QBVT #3 Elliott Heads

Posted on Thursday, 26 September 2024, 9:40 by Alexandra

This weekend was the premiere for me in the premier division of the Queensland Beach Volleyball Tour and I got the honors of playing it with Rose.

According to Google Maps, Elliott Heads (Bundaberg) is 5,5h away from Gold Coast. Google Maps lies here in Australia. You kinda always have to add 20% to the trip, even if it should take traffic into consideration. On Friday arvo, we left at 4:30pm and didn’t arrive until 11:30pm. We were driving up with Karissa and Anna and had a really great car ride up. It is hard to drive in the dark though. It gets so dark here! And the roads are narrow, and speed limits are high, oncoming traffic has strong lights compared to the pitch-blackness all around. Mikael and I switched several times though.

Karissa and Anna were staying at the camping ground and Mikael and I were staying in the backyard of a small cottage behind the camping grounds. Very close to the beach and it was so quiet over there.

We popped the tent up and went straight to sleep after trying to figure out how to get into the house and use the bathroom.

It rained during the night and it was windy, so the straps from the tent hit the tent walls all night which made it hard to sleep, but I still felt rejuvenated when I woke up at 6am. It was still cloudy and we weren’t expecting much of the venue after the organiser, Vball in Paradise the day before had posted that nature had had its toll on the nature reserve where the courts were gonna be put up. But once we got there, we were surprised to find that he really did a great set up! 9 courts out of 10 planned, the sand was definitely rocky and had lots of shells still left in it, but so much had been raked to the sides.

Rose and I played really well together. We did some mistakes, but we always went all in for the points. My defense game was on point and the wind was on our side in every game. We lost our first game in the pool, but still got really good scores. The second game we won, so we ended up 2nd in our pool. Here in Premier division, you don’t go straight to quarter finals unless you win the pool. So the 2nd and 3rd meet in playoffs and the winner goes to QF. As 2nd in our pool, we thought we would be in advantage, but we got a team in the playoffs that should have won their pool, but instead lost. We thought we would win as well, but we didn’t. So that sucked. But that meant that we could leave early on Sunday.

Anna and Karissa made it to the final, but got a ride from their opponents in that game, so Mikael and I could drive home early. Still took 7h, even if Maps said 5.

On Saturday night, we all went to Elliott Heads Bowls Club, which was the place to be in this tiny town on a Saturday night. We had dinner, didn’t stay too long. People voted for Mikael to start playing and there was a limbo competition. On Sunday morning, we went to the beach a quickie and saw whales pretty close to shore. Soon, they will be gone again. What is the point of looking out over the water then?! It was so great driving in the light so we could actually se the environment around us. That made us unfortunately see things we didn’t want to see. We saw a dead roo, echidna and snake. So sad…

Great weekend, long drives, but fun to see something else than Brisbane, Gold Coast and Byron Bay,

Birthday celebrations of a friend

Posted on Saturday, 24 August 2024, 23:49 by Alexandra

Last weekend, we were invited to a full day of birthday celebrations of a friend that I met through beach volleyball. I think all of our friends so far are through beach volley. It’s such a friendly community and very easy to meet new people.

Saturday was such a beautiful day, around 25C, no clouds, slight breeze. Just perfect conditions! First, a bunch of us met up down in Coolangatta to hang out by the beach and of course play beach volleyball. I only used sunscreen twice in the morning, and actually got a little bit red on my shoulders, but that was gone by Sunday. The sun is very strong. The UV index has been around 3-4 these past three months, but now it has increased to 7. I have started to wear a hat! I usually hate hats. But I will definitely be a full-blown straw hat person by the time summer arrives. Of course, we also went into the water which was incredible! The ocean was so calm today and the boogie board was of no use. Although people wanted to swim out to the whales with it, but never did.

The morning was perfect in itself. Sun, warmth, ocean, beach volley. But what made it truly magical was the extreme amount of whales swimming so close to shore. I started seeing them as soon as we arrived at 8:30am and they just didn’t go away. At one point, there were a couple who were so active that one of the guys brought out his drone and filmed them from above. And that was just so cool! I have posted the video he sent us on my Instagram highlights (down under) and also added a few screenshots from it at the bottom of this post.

We had lunch at 4 Pines and then drove to Pickleball up in Miami. I’ve never played pickleball and the reason it became popular during covid was that there were specific rules about very specific sports you couldn’t play. And pickleball wasn’t a part of them, even if the court is smaller than tennis and you are two people playing together. Funny how rule works. Anyway, it is like tennis, but you play with rackets that look like they came from the beach game and you also hit a floorball, plastic one with holes in it. My still twisted ankle (after 2,5 months!) didn’t like it. But it was kinda fun. Very specific rules, but I think I got a hang of it eventually.

Last stop of the day, was a BBQ at Daisy and Arthur’s (one of two birthday boys). Our very first Australian BBQ. Super nice!

Really fun day with fun people 😊☀️

These are screenshots from the drone video Jack shot. MAGICAL!

Byron Bay 4/4; Whale Watching

Posted on Saturday, 10 August 2024, 21:08 by Alexandra

One night of planned camping spontaneously turned into two nights because we were too spontaneous and didn’t look up availability for the whale watching we wanted to do. All good though, we got a really good weekend out of it down in Byron Bay. It can be divided into four parts and there will be an equal amount of posts because one will be way too long:

The highlight of this weekend was for sure the whale watching.

We went with Blue Bay Divers and were so happy that we did. They start from Brunswick Harbour, have a small but dry boat and the guys going with us were both friendly and informative. $119 for a 3 hour tour.

It was a very calm day out on the water and we actually only saw a few breaching whales. They all seemed to be on a mission to go somewhere. They had a whale spotter on shore up high and they called the boat every now and then when they saw activity. The first couple of whales we saw were close to shore, hoping for a mother and calf, but they were both adult.

Next, they had spotted a group of active whales way out, so we rode straight out for about 10 minutes where we found a large pod of whales and more kept adding to it. They were going straight north with us along its side for a good 45 min. The guys estimated them to be 12 at most. They did nothing more spectacular than just being the huge beings they are but that is more than enough. It is so incredible how big and gentle this giants are. And these were only humpback whales, not even the biggest type of whale there is. A blue whale is twice as big and up to four times as heavy!

Our boat always kept a good distance to the pods which felt really good.

I was the dedicated photographer on this trip. Mikael filmed. His plan is to make a video of it all and post it on your new Youtube-channel within short. It was a cloudy day, but it was perfect for whale watching. Not as much reflections on the ocean. This one was flapping its flipper on the surface for so long. I wonder why.

Then we found a smaller pod of 4 whales who were super curious about our boat and swam around and under it several times. It is hard to believe how big they truly are! And it is amazing that we live on this planet alongside them and all other living animals. And devastating how we are destroying it…

I am so glad I got this smaller breach on camera. WOW! This one was so close!

And lastly, some of the photos from the guys of Blue Bay Divers. He looked so casual but still managed to get the one big breach we saw. I guess when you do this every day for the whole winter season, you get good at it. Such a wonderful day!

Byron Bay 3/4; Byron Community Market

Posted on Thursday, 8 August 2024, 21:31 by Alexandra

Brunswick Heads Market
Killen Falls
BYRON COMMUNITY MARKET
Whale Watching

After sleeping like babies for almost 10 hours, because while camping in the middle of winter, there is nothing to do after the sun sets and it gets dark, so you go to bed, we woke up and were ready for the new day!

We headed straight to our next camping spot after check out and hoped they had early check in. They did. Which meant we had somewhere to park our car in central Byron Bay on the first Sunday of the month for the Byron Community Market. We went straight out to the market, which was even bigger then the one in Brunswick. But very similar, many stalls were at both markets, there were lots of food stalls and live music. We bought a few things, like dragon coasters, a natural loofah, and some keychains to our car key and Mikael’s home key.

But I think the best part of the market was Mikael’s celebrity spotting. None other than Jeff Ling from Parkway Drive. He was so starstruck but managed to humbly ask for a picture and tell him how much he influenced him personally to start playing the guitar but also how much of an inspiration Parkway Drive was to his own band Reborn as Phoenix. He was such a down to earth guy, super kind and seemed to appreciate Mikael’s praise. We were told that the concert in Brisbane will be special, so we have something to look forward to on 18 September.

After the market, we walked along the beach to Cape Byron Lighthouse for a rematch with the sunset. We caught it along with so many whales and dolphins. It was a magical evening.

Out there between the boats was a whale earlier in the evening splashing with his flippers. Like a lot! Just above the trees to the left is a small small dot. That’s a dolphin.

Byron Bay

Posted on Sunday, 30 June 2024, 22:44 by Alexandra

We left Queensland today, and not just for a short while on foot, but actually going down south for a bit with an Uber. 45 minutes south of here lies Byron Bay, home to Australia mainland’s most eastern point. And also hometown to Parkway Drive.

We got up at sunrise, took an uber with an amazing driver all the way down to Byron Bay. First thing we notice, the wind. Holy schmoly! I think it was windy back in Kirra as well, but I doubt it was as windy. This was ridiculous! And with the clear skies and lots of sun, I just knew we would be dead by the time we came home. Which was true.

We started by walking around in central Byron Bay, just to get the feel of it. Had breakfast at The Hum, close to the beach. We then started walking toward the lighthouse. Our initial plan was to watch the sunset from up there, but we got too tired and were on our way home when the sun set.

On our way up there, we stopped all the time, looking at the beautiful nature. There were signs telling us there were wild Koalas in the roadside trees. But we never saw any… We stopped at The Pass, a pretty cool rock formation and Fisherman’s Lookout where I saw some whales through my new binoculars, but due to the wind, they were shaking so much it was hard to see. Tons of kitesurfers! Some jumped extremely high. Lunch/fika at The Pass Cafe where they had saffron buns and really good smoothies.

When we neared the Cape Bay Lighthouse, we noticed a lot of people standing by the rails overlooking the ocean. Of course, the ocean is beautiful. But we quickly learned that there were so many whales out there! Like countless of them. Breaching and breathing everywhere. There were two swimming so close to the shore that we could see their shadows under the surface and follow them exactly where they went. It was magical! I saw it all through my binoculars and could count the humps on their backs. MAGICAL! Mikael managed to film them.

We had a second fika up at the cafe by the lighthouse to gather some strength before trying to get back home. Which turned out to be harder than we thought. No Uber wanted to drive all the way up to Coolangatta, across the border. So we had to get a normal taxi, for three times as much. Not fun. But oh well. We came home and had the sweetest taxi driver and his son drive us back to Kirra.

All in all, Byron Bay was small, cosy, but windy. And the best part were all the whales! Don’t really see what all the hype is about though if I’m being completely honest.

Sunrise in Kirra. Downtown Byron was tiny. Reminded me a lot of SLO, CA (San Luis Obispo) which was nice. Julian Rocks, a pretty cool diving spot that I wish to dive soon. On our way to the lighthouse. Lunch/fika at The Pass Cafe. They had saffron buns! The Pass. So many kitesurfers. I actually managed to get a picture of a whale. Our second kookaburra.

Shopping and whales

Posted on Friday, 28 June 2024, 18:36 by Alexandra

Today was all about whales and dolphins and shopping. Super spontaneous. I started the day with my morning coffee on the balcony with the short Brandon Sanderson novella The Emperor’s Soul. The sun was out, clear blue sky after a night of rain. I can definitely live with that.

We took a spontaneous stroll, had lunch at Coolangatta Hotel and walked further south to Rainbow Bay Lookout again. We were not disappointed. First, we saw a huge lizard! Then we saw beautiful beaches, followed by several whales breaching which inspired us to instantly google where the closest shop was where we could buy binoculars. On our way there, before we even left Rainbow Bay Lookout, we saw a big pod of dolphins swimming right behind the surfers and I instantly felt sad that we’ve been here more than a month, and I haven’t gone surfing yet! Another big lizard, some sleeping brush turkeys and we were back to the esplanade, taking a quick stop at Ripcurl. Which turned out to not be such a quick stop. I bought a bikini, a hooded beach towel, and a normal towel. I am ready to fully go in the sea now! Mikael bought a t-shirt, a flannel shirt, a pair of pants, socks, a hat, a wallet, a backpack, and a water bottle. Big time shopping! And that was not the end of our spree. Our last stop was Wade’s World, a photography shop where we bought two pairs of binoculars.

At the pier right below Kirra Hill, we saw two whales breaching, just minutes after we arrived. And they did it twice, before waiving their tails and just showing off their backs and eventually going back under. How unreal wasn’t that? So worth getting those Nikon binoculars. We also talked a bit with an American lady who walked past and asked us if we had seen anything. She said that later in the season, the whales come really close to shore. That will be exciting!