Angels Beach

Our plan to spend a second night at Ballina so we could get a full day at the coast with the forecast good weather paid off.
After a steady start to the day, which included bacon and egg sandwiches for breakfast, we set off for a stroll along the two beaches that adjoin the camp site.

A Pied Cormorant on the rocky outcrop between the beaches

We spent some time at the lookout at Angels Beach and met a local “surfer dude” who, among other things, pointed out the dolphins that were swimming in the surf. He gave us a couple of good spots to visit on our way south, interestingly though his favourite spot in Australia is Karajini National Park so we spent some time comparing notes on the gorges there.

The pod of dolphins at Sharpes Beach

Glad to say that as well as the dolphins there were a few whales visible too, once again they were a long way out but seemed quite active. We spent a while watching them before heading down to the beach itself. Obviously, being a better day, the beach was a lot busier today and there were a fair number of surfers making the most of the waves.
An outcrop of rocks separates the two beaches so we couldn’t resist the temptation to explore the rock pools before moving onto Sharpes Beach.

One of the Humpback Whales

From the lookout next to Sharpes Beach we could see that, just beyond the surfers waiting to catch a wave, a large pod of dolphins was slowly moving back and forth along the beach. Between the whales in the distance and the dolphins closer inshore we spent the best part of the afternoon watching them. Obviously I got a few pics too although the whales were so far offshore that I was using maximum digital zoom so they’re a bit grainy.
Tomorrow we’ll move south a bit and hopefully the weather will be similar to today. The only downside of the clear skies is that, being winter here, once the sun starts to go down it gets pretty cold !