Australia’s wildlife is very unique and bit different from the rest of the world. Everyone knows about kangaroos and koalas, but not so many people know that in Sydney you can also see whales in the wild. During Australian winter – from May to November, Sydney waters are full of migrating whales, mostly humpbacks and if you are lucky enough you can spot them having fun in the ocean.

One of my all times favorite experiences in Australia is from a whale watching cruise. Sydney is known as one of the best places to go whale watching. I am from a small inland country without sea anywhere close not mentioning the ocean, so seeing these amazing creatures free in the ocean was kind of a big deal for me.

When we finally decided to go for a whale watching cruise, I kept telling myself that it is okay if we do not see them, they are wild animals and they do not do what we want and when we want. It is still a blessing to have the opportunity to go. On the day D we had to wake up early in the morning to catch the earliest boat that took us the open ocean. The boat was very small and shaky, the wind was strong and it was very cold. You could taste the saltiness of the ocean in the air. Our captain reminded us several times, that we are going to watch wild animals in their natural habitat and they do not “jump as we want to”. Suddenly the boat stopped and we received little iron screws from the crew to make some noise against the boat’s rails because, as we were told, humpbacks are very curious whales and when they hear something they usually pop their heads out from the water.

As we were waiting, several other boats appeared. That is a good sign, the whales must be close! And then it happened. First we saw only their backs, then a little of their tails. I was so happy I wanted to cry. J Our captain informed us that it is a mother with her offspring. It was beautiful. However, too many boats around confused them and they started to head inside the Sydney Harbor. This is very dangerous for whales of any kind because the harbor is always busy with ferries and other ships so the whales can get injured, if not killed.

All the boats started moving towards Sydney to cut off the way of this little family. It was really strong moment to see how nice people of Australia are trying to protect wild animals, rather than make money. Fortunately we were successful and the whales turned around and left. We stayed for a bit waiting till they come back but the ocean was quiet.

Our good intention did not stay unrewarded and right when we were about to turn back to the harbor, three whales appeared – two males and a female and the real show began! Males were trying to catch lady’s attention and they were jumping around us in an amazing performance. I think I actually dropped a tear. Nature is amazing!

Cruises are definitely the best option if you want to get close to these amazing creatures. But as I mentioned before, they are wild animals so you have to forgive them if they are not in the mood to jump out of the water right in front of you. Patience is the key.

Our second experience with whales came a bit unexpected. On a day off we decided to take an easy hike in Royal National Park. It was Monday and everywhere was quiet, we met only very few people during our way to the coast.

Royal National Park is the first national park of Australia and it is very conveniently located only few kilometers south of Sydney. There are plenty of hikes and tracks to choose from, from easy ones to few days long tracks.

That particular day we decided to do a coastal walk from little town Bundeena to the Marley Beach. As we were approaching the coast, we saw some excited fellow travelers literally running towards us saying that there are whales in the ocean very close to the shore. My excitement jumped to the level of Mt. Kosciuzsko!

We threw our backpacks on the ground and enjoyed the view. We could see few whales not so far from each other swimming around in the waters of Pacific Ocean. What a great start of the day!

As we were hiking further along the cost we “met” more humpbacks than people. We decided to try our luck and fly our drone above the ocean so maybe we can get some great shots from aerial view. For a winter day it was very warm and Sun was shining bright so at first we had troubles to see anything on the small monitor. Lucky us, something appeared there! A tiny whale swimming calmly somewhere very close to the shore. Maybe too calmly, but we take it… Happy with this discovery we continued our hike, whales being our fellow companions along the way and as we were walking further we got another great drone shot of two humpback mates slapping their tails and spitting water. What a day! We could not wait to see the footage on the computer screen.

We got home tired but happy. Now here is the moment of truth if our drone shoot them successfully. We were staring on the computer screen, comparing the two videos we made, we became speechless… What the…?

The first video was definitely not a whale. It was great white shark calmly swimming in the ocean. Since we came to Australia we wanted to see shark in the wild, obviously not when we are in the water, but the experience to see wild animal “in the wild” rather than in an aquarium or zoo is definitely not the same. Our secret wish came true in a way that we did not expect. And I still cannot believe it sometimes.