Queensland Whale Watching

Whale watching in Queensland has become a favourite holiday pastime. Every year the annual migration of humpback whales follows the east coast of Australia and their route takes them so close to the coastline that they can often be observed from coastal headlands and beaches. An industry has grown up around this migration to fulfil people’s wishes to get close to these magnificent animals that were hunted so close to extinction. In Hervey Bay whale watching trips first started in around 1987 when local charter fishermen first started to notice that a resurgent population of whales was coming into the bay as part of their annual migration. They started to do whale watching trips and the action was so spectacular that tourists flocked to the area as word of mouth spread. The Hervey Bay area was declared a marine park and the whale watch operators were licensed and a whale watching code of ethics was developed to help protect the whales.

Since that time whale watching operations have begun from the Gold Coast, Brisbane, the Sunshine Coast and the Whitsundays. These operations all take their passengers onto the open sea and they view migrating whales which usually spend more time under the water than on the surface. Hervey Bay has the advantage that the whales cluster together in the calm warm waters of the bay and at this stage of their migration they are interacting with other whales, mating, giving birth and feeding their young. This makes for a far better whale watching experience for the whale watcher.