Had a whale of a day trip today

**Phil633** · 10th December 2007, 12:39 AM

Went for a beach run today from Whitehills to Preston Beach, which is approx a 20km run. As it was my mate's turn to drive we took his Disco, and another friend with a hilux

tagged along as he doesn't have any recovery gear yet as this his first 4X4 and he wanted to experience driving along a beach.

After a few km's of uneventful driving we spied this whale in the shallows

We couldn't believe how close inshore it was, it was just swimming around in circles. After a short time we noticed it was not alone but had a calf. I don't know if it had just given birth but that was our assumption.

Whale with Calf

After watching the whale for a while we carried on down the beach, and after a short distance came across this wreck marker that had washed ashore. If this is for the wreck of HMAS Swan, then it is a long way from home as The Swan was sunk off the coast at Dunsbrough, that has to be at lease 150km to the South.

As most of us are aware, sometimes when driving on the beach you come across a tricky situation like a steeply banked beach and you need to stay on a narrow strip at the back of the beach. I don't know anyone that enjoys that feeling of sliding sideways toward that bank when you need to keep moving forward. Well we gave my new 4wding mate some instruction on what to do when and if the situation arose. Unfortunately the situation presented itself not long after, and he came so close to rolling the Hilux when it slid sideways
down the bank. It was a lesson learnt and fortunately at no cost in vehicle or injuries. I remember doing the same sort of thing when I started driving offroad too

Everybody has to start somewhere. Obviously That is why it is a good reason for people to undertake some form of training, be it with a club or professional trainers.

The photo doesn't do the angle it was on justice. If I get a photo of us recovering it, I will post later.

All in all it was a great day, especially getting to see the whales up close

**duncanw** · 10th December 2007, 09:53 AM

I was down there too on Sunday, I was in a white Disco and my old mans red Defener, I didn't catch your plates but I saw a blue Disco along the way so I don't know if that was your mates car ?

I took the dog so I was going slow and stopping every few k's but she got about 1 km from the end and decided to redecorate my car and threw up

Couldn't belive how close that whale was, looked like it was beached for a while but like you said it was swimming around with its baby. I took some photos but they look like a couple of rocks, if I find a decent one I'll post it later today.

**Cap** · 10th December 2007, 10:21 AM

Wow, thats fantastic! My daughter would of loved to have seen that more so. Now thats what 4x4 is about! Thanks for the pics

**Phil633** · 10th December 2007, 01:17 PM

Originally Posted by duncanw

I was down there too on Sunday, I was in a white Disco and my old mans red Defener, I didn't catch your plates but I saw a blue Disco along the way so I don't know if that was your mates car ?

I took the dog so I was going slow and stopping every few k's but she got about 1 km from the end and decided to redecorate my car and threw up

Couldn't belive how close that whale was, looked like it was beached for a while but like you said it was swimming around with its baby. I took some photos but they look like a couple of rocks, if I find a decent one I'll post it later today.

No I didn't see you Duncan, the only LR I saw was a D2 same colour as mine, and he was attached to a tag-a-long tour with the Global Gypsies.

We stopped plenty of times too for swims etc. We entered the beach at Whitehills about 10am and stopped for lunch at Preston Beach at about 1pm

Ooh that decorating can't be good.

**LandyAndy** · 10th December 2007, 06:42 PM

Great pics Phil
Have fond memories of that beach.
Back in my days of non 4wd ownership half a dozen of us would go shares in a landcruiser wagon from south perth 4wd rentals,wack a trailer on it throw 2 old fridges on the trailer fill em up with ice and beer and fish for a long weekend.
Was always a good trip and always caught plenty of fish.
Andrew

**Phil633** · 11th December 2007, 10:25 PM

A couple more photos from the day.

Whale head on

You can see the tracks from the slide.

Does anybody know what kind of whale this is? Southern Wright (spelling) maybe?

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