There was great excitement a couple of nights ago. We were walking Monty on the little beach at the bottom of our road when three dolphins decided to join us! They must have been less than 12 feet from the shore and they were just bobbing along happily with Monty running beside them. People had told us it was not unusual to see dolphins here but we thought they would be far out in the marina and only seen with binoculars, not joining us on our evening walk.
The tenant moved in to our house this week so we have had a little more time to ourselves so we decided to find out whether there were any spots near us where it was possible to see the whales migrating from the beach as the area is gripped with whale watching fever at the moment. The middle of winter,so last week in June and first couple in July are the really busy times although the whales can be seen from April to November. No chance of seeing Migaloo, the white whale though as he was spotted in Byron Bay last week so has already passed us. The lady in the tourist information office suggested Anna Bay so we went to Birubi Point which is nice and high. 
We settled down with binoculars and cameras fully expecting this to be one of those occasions when you convince yourself that the little splash you saw on the horizon was really something out there, but no, there was a constant procession of whales in the distance! They could be spotted by the spouts of water coming out of their blow holes, they were a long way off but this could be seen with the naked eye. They were very difficult to photograph because wherever the camera was pointed, one would jump out of the water somewhere else but I did manage to get a snap of a bit of a tail and a back. 
Now we no longer have to work on the investment house we are turning our attention to this one. It is OK on the inside but the plan is to enclose some of the underneath area and terrace the garden so we have started the first of what will be many retaining walls. As you can see, the garden is currently like the North face of the Eiger so it is going to take a bit of work.