I started working for Rob and Katie about four years ago, shortly after I moved to Sydney from Byron Bay. I was born in Byron and then spent a few years in Alice Springs before returning to the Northern Rivers for high school. That’s where I fell in love with the ocean, surfing, sailing, all that kind of stuff. My mum also used to sail in Sydney when she was younger, so boats were always around when I was a kid.
When I moved to Sydney to study mechatronic engineering at UTS, which is essentially robotic engineering, I wanted something to do alongside university. I saw a post from Rob on Facebook looking for someone who could take photos and work on a whale-watching boat. I remember thinking, That’s amazing! Who even does that for a job?! I sent him a few messages (I was pretty keen!) and when he finally replied, he told me to come out with him on the boat, and that was that.
For the first year, it was just Rob and I, you could say I’m one of the OGs. We’d head out, I’d take photos, and yell enthusiastically to our guests from the roof all about the Whales we were spotting. We eventually realised we should probably use a microphone! Whale Tales has grown a lot since then, but it’s still got that same energy.
These days I’m juggling uni with whale watching, and honestly, it’s a pretty good balance. I’ve always liked maths and physics, but I never wanted to just sit behind a computer. Working on the water keeps things real. After I finish my degree, I’d love to go back to Europe. I recently took a big trip there, driving from Morocco to Scotland in a 1992 Corolla, and I ‘d love to end up working on research vessels or something scientific at sea.
As for my time at Whale Tales, the best part is simple – seeing good whales. It doesn’t matter what day it is or how many I’ve seen; when we get a good show, it’s awesome.
The hardest part? Probably people getting seasick – 70% of the boat on a bad day! But even then, whales have this wild way of cheering people up. You can see someone go from miserable to amazed in a few minutes.
That’s what I love most, watching people fall in love with whales the same way I did.
