Every travel book I read before coming to Australia had mentioned the 'Big Things' which can be found in towns all around Australia, usually featuring something the town or area is known for but not always. They occasionally double up as something else, like a cafe and can sometimes be completely random like the Big Uluru which is in the Port Stephens area while the real Uluru is nearly 3000km away!
Anyway, I have been sorely disappointed as far as big things are concerned. I enthusiastically set up a special page on the blog just for all the Big Things I was going to see but I've been here seven months now and only seen three, The Big Peach, Big Prawn and Big Uluru, which was a bit rubbish and smaller than the real Uluru so I'm not sure it counts as a Big Thing. Hopefully we will see more now we finally have a bit of spare time to get out and about.
Another group of Big Things are heading our way now, the whale watching season has begun. Between May and November thousands of whales swim north from the Southern Ocean along the New South Wales coast and we live right by one of the best spots for seeing them.
The first sign that the season has begun is when the seals arrive at Cabbage Tree Island then the whale migration starts. There are so many that in the first week of July the whale cruises guarantee whale sightings or your money back. The whale watching crews are obviously very used to whale sightings but even they get excited if they spot Migaloo, a white whale who is spotted every few years and has been seen as far away as Hawaii.
We were going to wait until Zoe and Shaun were here to go on a whale watching trip but they can't get away until September now and we can't wait so will just have to go twice.