Sally Hinton Wildlife Photography

Amazing humpbacks again this year! The highlight so far was a morning (02-08-25) when two huge whales did many (20+) double breaches - a once in lifetime experience!
Thank you to Steve, Linda, Gordon and Dylan for giving me this opportunity!
https://coolytweedcruises.com.au/

The Scenic Rim Clydesdale Spectacular 2025 was held at Beaudesert Showground on the 14th an 15th June. It was amazing to see all these wonderful horses - gentle giants!
https://clydesdalespectacular.com.au/

In May 2025 I had quite an adventure heading across Australia from Sydney to Perth on the Indian Pacific. My aim was to visit two very special people: my niece Mia and my oldest friend Juliann. It was a brilliant trip!
https://www.discoveraustralia.com.au/

A brilliant whale season with Steve, Linda, Gordon and Dylan. The whales have been amazing this year!
www.coolytweedcruises.com.au/

Another wonderful visit to Hervey Bay with Vicki and the crew on Tasman Venture. Amazing whales again! Best day was when a mother and calf were playing in glassy water - pure magic!

On Sunday with Cooly Tweed Cruises we were mugged by two beautiful curious humpbacks - check out the GoPro clip to feel the excitement!






www.https://coolytweedcruises.com.au

On Tasman Venture with Lloyd, Vicki and the entire crew. Amazing few days. It is not often you see eye to eye with a humpback whale - life changing experience!




www.https://tasmanventure.com.au

Coolangatta Whale Watch is now Cooly Tweed Cruises. We had an amazing day on 15th July with a pod of 3 beautiful humpbacks playing and interacting with us. There was at least 20 breaches and lots of pectal fin slapping in lovely glassy water giving beautiful reflections!
www.coolytweedcruises.com.au/

June 2023 and the whales are back - heading north on their epic 10,000 km annual migration. We have already had some wonderful experiences on Coolangatta Whale Watch with lots of active whale breaching and tail slapping. Love winter on the Tweed Coast!
https://www.coolangattawhalewatch.com.au/

The whales are back and so is the whale watching adventures. Two amazing days out from Tweed Heads with the Coolangatta Whale Watch crew. We were surrounded by large males as they headed north probably on a heat run pursing their lady! There was a lot of breaching, barging, blowing of bubbles and serious peduncle and pectal thrashes! We even had a Mother teaching her youngster how to breach! Life is good!
https://www.coolangattawhalewatch.com.au/

Covid hit in 2020 and 2021. My sanity has been saved by the beautiful humpback whales as they migrate past us here on the Tweed Coast. The Coolangatta Whale Watch boat is the perfect way to get up close and personal with these very special giants. Great Boat, great crew and great whales!


https://www.coolangattawhalewatch.com.au/

I have been entering this competition (ANZANG - Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica and New Guinea biodiversity regions) for a few years now and it was very exciting that my image "Gull Attack" was a finalist in the "Animal Behaviour" category this year (2019). All the finalist images were hung and made up the exhibition which is held at the Adelaide Museum and concurrently at the Sydney Powerhouse Museum from 16th August until 10th November 2019.
There was a presentation evening which was rather swish with drinks and nibbles on 15th August and the Exhibition was declared open. It was all rather exciting!

I love wildlife and an opportunity to swim with humpback whales in Hervey Bay was on top of my wish list. The day trip with Hervey Bay Dive Centre to swim with the whales was beyond all my expectations! Understanding the natural world and its unpredictability I chose to go out 4 days in a row so to ensure a good experience. I need not have worried - the "Arcadia" with small passenger numbers and a professional and friendly crew made each day memorable. When you are floating in the water looking down at a beautiful humpback as it swims upside down beneath you the squeals of delight coming out of the snorkels is the same in any language - as is the smiles as we climb back up the ladder onto the boat. The most important part of this trip for me was the respect and safety of the whales that was paramount and that the crew had so much knowledge and understanding of these beautiful creatures which they passed onto each and every passenger. I will be going back next year and sincerely recommend this experience!

2018 I undertook an adventure with a difference. I headed to the Shetland Islands during the English summer with the sole purpose of seeing and photographing the gorgious little Atlantic Puffin. After a humungous series of flights I arrived in Sumburgh on the Shetland Mainland - a few hours sleep then in a tiny plane to Fair Isle. Fair Isle is a magical little Island situated slightly south of the mainland. It is a migratory stopover for many bird species and there is the famous "Bird Observatory" where most visitors stayed including myself. It was featured in the BBC series "Shetland".
Fair Isle was a magical place - I spent almost a week sitting on the cliff tops amongsth the puffin colony. They were very busy feeding their youngsters and constantly zoomimg in with beak fulls of sand eels. Their antics on the ground were fascinating - peering into each others burrows and beaking with their partner each time they returned to the cliffs. The lovely pink sea thrift was just finishing while I was there and it was brilliant to see a little puffin head pop up in a sea of pink thrift!

Returning to the Shetland Mainland I joined a small group of wildlife photographers and headed north to Unst and spent many hours on Hermaness, a National Nature Reserve on the most northern extremity of the British isles with the world famous Muckle Flugga Light house as a backdrop. As well as alot more puffins we also experienced the buzz and excitement of a super northern gannet colony. The round the clock hustle and bustle roaring throughout these ‘seabird cities’ along with the raucous noise and the pungent smell of guano is truly breath taking.These gannet cities spread for nearly a mile along the cliffs facing the Atalntic Ocean. The Shetland Islands are idllically situated where the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea meet and fish stocks abound - perfect for raising feathered families!

Heading back south quite close to the capital of Lerwick; I spent a beautiful day on the cliff tops of Noss. Noss is another National Nature Reserve dominated by towering sea cliffs facing onto the North Sea - again more puffins and another massive sea bird city of gannets. One of the highlights of this trip was to photograph the gannets from a boat at the bottom of these cliffs and capture them underwater - they can hit the water at 100 kph - the images are amazing. Many thanks to Richard Shucksmith who helped us set-up and capture these very special images! His work is featured in a new BBC 1 Scotland episode called "Wild Scotland".

At Easter 2017 I returned to Mashatu to attend a 5 day photographic workshop with C4-Images. The tutors were Isak Pretorius and Janet Kleyn. They were excellent instructors helping us improve our photography but at the same time enjoy the wildlife.

The elephant hide was brilliant - we had sightings on two mornings with a constant flow of elephants past the water hole. It was brilliant watching the babies interacting with each other and their older family members - sliding in the mud and trying to workout how to use their little trunks!

The vehicle safaris were awesome as well - particularly the cheetah experience. There were four young female cheetahs not long set free from their Mother. We found them late one afternoon as they lay in the grass under a couple of acacia trees. Suddenly they started playing and frolicking like a litter of kittens. Running, chasing and pouncing on each other and then wrestling free and zooming off around the trees and back again. Playing chasey with 4 cheetahs is a fast moving game!

We also had some excellent Leopard sightings - they are usually fairly elusive but we found a young male one morning and followed him for a bit and then late one afternoon we spotted a female as she chased some guinea fowl. As we were heading for the little airfield at the end of the workshop we were lucky to spot another female as she lay under a bush. She had just killed an impala at the river and had dragged it up across the dry river bed to the edge of the bush and was resting quietly when we found her. It was a brilliant workshop and I can't wait to go back!

www.mashatu.com

On top of my Bucket List was to see the beautiful Northern Lights! Home being semi-tropical Australia my understanding of "cold weather" was as limited as my wardrobe for freezing temperatures! So with borrowed kit I headed "North to Alaska" where I joined a small group of fellow adventurers in search of the ever elusive Aurora!

Our adventure started in Fairbanks, a large town situated under the Aurora Belt. Heading out of town to avoid light pollution we experienced two nights of the most amazing Aurora displays. The temperatures were extremely cold - down to -35 degrees centigrade.
The lights started with a green band across the northern horizon - gradually this band started to lift up in the sky and then divided into fingers of glorious green light. Some of these fingers then expanded into curtains and started to dance and shimmer across the sky - this was pure magic! It felt like these amazing particles were dancing all around us! At polar midnight the Aurora seemed to have a final burst of light and colour and lit up the entire landscape! Then the magic was gone and we stood in utter silence left in awe by one of nature's amazing spectacles!

We were lucky to also see the start of the Iditarod - the famous Dog Sled race. Eighty-five Mushers each with 16 dog-teams were racing from Fairbanks to Nome 1700km away. We watched as the first few teams came down the frozen river, the dogs were exuberant with tongues lolling and grins on their faces as the frost and snow settled on their coats - their paws were protected by little leather booties! Dee Dee Jonrawe was a popular Musher in her hot pink outfit. Dee Dee is a breast cancer survivor and competes each year to raise awareness for this dreadful disease.

Our adventure continued as we followed the trans-Alaskan Pipeline and headed further north along the treacherous Dalton Highway into the Brookes Ranges. We crossed the Arctic Circle, and continued a further 120 km to Wiseman. We took a day drive further up the Dalton Highway to the infamous "Atigun Pass" which is prone to white-outs and avalanche. It is steep and slippery and contributes to the Dalton Highway being one of the World's most dangerous roads! We survived the Pass and came out to see the end of the Brookes Range and the start of the Tundra - it was freezing cold here -33 degrees centigrade at midday!

Wiseman is a small mining community founded in 1908 by Gold Miners. The Aurora performed for us again in Wiseman - we just walked outside our little log cabin and looked up and there it was dancing across the skies! - it snowed on our last day and as I had never seen snow falling before I was mesmerized by this winter wonderland!

As the snow continued to fall we left Wiseman and headed back down the notorious Dalton Highway in white-out conditions with zero visibility. It most certainly was an adventure and I count myself so lucky to have seen those elusive amazing dancing lights of the north - a once-in-a-lifetime experience!

Link to "Northern Lights Workshop" at First Light Tours with Andy Long:
www.firstlighttours.com

As well as having stunning panoramic views, Cabarita Headland is listed as an "Endangered Ecological Community". It is classified as a "Themeda Grassland" and is rare and fragile. This fragile environment is home to a tiny bird - the gorgeous little Red-backed Fairy Wren. It is the smallest of the fairy-wrens weighing only 8 gms. They are endemic to Australia and spend much of their days foraging for insects. The male is very colourful with his bright red plumage which he uses to attract females. The females, though only brown in colour are very cute and when not foraging they all cuddle up together in the branches under thick cover!

Cabarita Headland is renown for its panoramic scenery and is a favourite place for raptors to ride the thermals. The beautiful Brahminy Kites, also called the Red-backed Sea-eagles, with their white bodies and brilliant copper coloured feathers ride the thermals overhead. They often eat crabs picked off the rocks at low tide and manage to fly perfectly well as they slowly eat their prey. The juvenile Brahminy Kites look so different from their parents, however, they were just as agile in the air and reminded me of the old adage: "No need to teach an eagle how to fly!"

Another frequenter of the headland thermals is the Eastern Osprey, also known as the Fish Eagle or Sea Hawk. Their diet is 99% fish and they have specialized vision for detecting fish under water from the air. They are brilliant to watch in action and make me wish that I too could "Soar like an eagle!"

Each year the Humpback whales migrate from the Antarctic up the east coast of Australia to the warmer northern Queensland waters. They travel up from about June to give birth and mate before turning around and heading back south in September/October. We call it their winter migration and the waters off the Tweed Coast become "Humpback Highway" especially in the latter months as the Mum's travel south slowly with tiny calves in tow. Cabarita Headland (Bogangar or Norries Headland) is a perfect spot to watch these beautiful giants of the ocean. It is a stunning spot to watch the waves crashing in often with Dolphins and seabirds aplenty! I spend many winter hours up on the headland and have come to know much of the other wildlife that lives in the vicinity such as the Brahminy Kits, Eastern Osprey's and the tiny little Red-backed Fairy Wrens.

In May (late Spring)my Cousin Wendy Biggs and I embarked on my SMH "Big Picture" prize winning holiday to Japan.
Tokyo: Unfortunately our three days in Tokyo were dampened by rain but we still thoroughly enjoyed the Park Hyatt Hotel and a day trip to Nikko. Nikko in the rain was atmospheric as the trees were heavy with moisture and the green mosses were glowing with life. The majesty of the beautiful cedar trees disappearing up into the mist was inspiring! Our visit to Lake Chezenjii in the rain showed us how cloud and fog can envelop an entire lake. We did manage to see a tiny edge of the lake but the highlight here was a couple of tiny Cherry blossoms still attached to their tree! Kegon Falls was hidden from view but we trusted our dedicated guide, Amy, who assured us that the roar of water we could hear was actually the waterfall! We also did a day trip to Hakone especially to see Mt Fuji and sadly the rain increased to torrential and the wind howled around us. The Gondola ride and lake cruise were cancelled due to two foot waves on the lake! On our final morning in Tokyo the sun emerged and from our Hotel window we had a magnificent view of a sparkling clean city, bright blue sky and Mt Fuji in all her glory smiling back at us!

Now the sun had reappeared we packed our bags, conquered the Shinkansen and travelled south to Kyoto!
Kyoto: Kyoto was a fascinating old world city full of ancient wooden houses and narrow soft lit streets. Stunning vermilion coloured temples and Tori Gates drawing in the ancient atmosphere and traditions of days gone by. Beautiful Geisha (Geiko) and Maiko and young girls dressed up in their formal kimonos also added an old world charm and hint at an era long past. The maple trees were alive with new growth and the sunlight sifting through the iconically shaped leaves was just stunning!

Kyoto was full of history, colour and ancient structures. Each had a fascination of their own. The Golden Pavilion (Kenkak-ji) and the Silver Pavilion (Ginkaku-ji) were gorgeous but I think the "Nightingale Floor" at Nijo Castle was the most amazing - it squeaked loudly as you walked on the aged floor boards - specially designed centuries ago to prevent enemies sneaking up on the Shogun! The Fushimi Inari Shrine which sits at the base of the Inari Mountain consists of vermilion coloured Inari Tori Gates trailing up the mountain for about 4 kms with many sub-shrines leading off from the main track - we ran out of time to do this justice!
The famous Bamboo Grove at Arashiyama was intriguing as was the Tenryu-ji Temple and ancient Sogen Pond and Zen Garden. Again we ran out of time to see and appreciate it fully. A gentle stroll down the Philosopher's Walk was quite relaxing. It is a pedestrian path that follows a cherry-tree lined canal with little cafes and shrines sprinkled along the way. One of the highlights of Kyoto was our very own audience with a Maiko. Ichy Koma San was a young first year trainee Geiko and simply gorgeous!

Takyama: Takyama is located in the heart of the Japanese Alps and is renown for expertise in carpentry and wood carving. The "Old Town" has very narrow streets which are lined with wooden merchants' houses dating back centuries. Tucked away in the centre of town is a small Shinto Shrine with a 1200 year old Ginko Tree as its centre piece. It was a magnificent tree and we found it hard to believe it was so ancient - if only it could talk! We visited Shirakawa which is a mountain village on the Sho River at Mount Haku. As a consequence of frequent heavy snow in the winter months, chacteristically thick thatch roofed houses are a cultural heritage of this village - called "Gasso-zukuri" which translates as sloping roofs like hands in prayer.

Hiroshima: Today Hiroshima is a bright bustling colourful city which defies its tragic history. We all leant about the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima at school, however, I was not prepared for the emotion that gripped me when I visited the Peace Park. The Atomic Dome is the ruin of the only building left standing as it was directly beneath the bombs epi-centre. It is a symbol of Hiroshima, conveying to the world the horror of nuclear weapons. The Cenotaph is a saddle shaped monument holding all the names of the people killed. The saddle shape represents a shelter for the souls of the victims.
The Children's Peace Monument commemorates Sadako Sasaki and the thousands of innocent child victims of the bombing. Sadako died 10 years after the bombing of radiation sickness and is immortalized at the top of the statue, where she holds a wire crane above her head. An ancient Japanese legend says that if you fold 1000 paper cranes you will be granted a wish by the Gods. Sadako didn't finish making her cranes before she died and her classmates finished them for her. Beneath the statue is a bell that is rung for remembrance and adds to the haunting atmosphere of the park. Millions of paper cranes from Japanese children and from children from all over the world are offered at the monument, many with messages for world peace and love written in children's handwriting. As I was watching, a group of school children arrived and presented their cranes to the monument. It was very poignant as they prayed, hung their cranes and then rang the bell for Sadako.

Miyajima: Mirajima in Japanese means Shrine island and is often referred to as "An Island of Gods". It is known for its floating Tori gate - the "O-Torii Gate". It is a large vermilion tori gate that appears to float on water at high tide. Because the island is seen as sacred, trees may not be cut for lumber and the deer and monkeys roam free. The deer were a bit cheeky when we visited sticking their noses in our pockets looking for treats! It was a stunningly beautiful island and we were lucky to have perfect weather for our visit!