This all began when I was a young boy around 10 when I would stay with my Grandfather Jim Riley a professional net fisherman in Urangan Hervey Bay.
He would go out along Fraser/K’gari Island overnight or for a few nights at a time net fishing and would come back saying that there were whales around the boat.
I wasn’t allowed to go out as he felt I was too young and the ocean was too unpredictable. I remember hearing his stories and thinking ‘is he telling a fishing story? or the truth!?’
I remember at the time I didn’t disbelieve him nor did I fully believe him. I was quite neutral. The only whale I knew of was Moby Dick though, so this was a huge ask to believe him outright.
Many years later when I was 21 I bought my first boat and thought ~ ‘Okay Grandpa - I’m going to find out if you were telling the truth!
So I went out in August 1979 along K’gari past moon Point, near Arch Cliffs where I sat about 1m offshore looking out to sea. I saw nothing for quite sometime, then I thought I saw a ‘blow’, then a few minutes passed and there it was — not just one but three blows!
…Grandad was speaking the truth!
No sooner did I see those Whales, then they started to head straight toward me. It was a strange feeling seeing them, and then to realise they were coming straight toward me!
About 10minutes passed and there they were… Only about 80m away. My heart was pounding through my chest. I didn’t know what was going to happen. …Why are they coming straight toward me?
…I don’t mind admitting it but I was scarred, also I didn’t want to cause the Whales harm with my motor running so I backed out of the way around 10m and turned the motor off. To my surprise they came right up where the boat originally was. One, then two, then three of them!
They were huge and the blows where blown by the breeze right across me it felt like some kind of blessing.
I immediately was aware of my Grandfather and felt I was having some kind of ancestral connection with the whales and my Granddad.
I didn’t know what to make of it but felt I was being calibrated to the whales through my grandfathers connection , a strange occurrence but one I’ve come to know as normal and magically profound.
For years, since a teen I’ve been going out with the Humpback Whales having extraordinary experiences. Over the last 15 years, my partner Alora and I have had the privilege of making an annual pilgrimage to the Sacred K’Gari waters, sharing incredible moments together as well as with family & friends - with these amazing awe-inspiring creatures.
These cards and prints are just a drop in the magical ocean of the wonderful connection I’ve had with these soulful Sentient Beings!
Special moments of communion with these amazing creatures…
