Veterans savourinaugural Townsville RSL Whale Watching Tour
Perfect conditions saw an enthusiastic contingent of veterans and their families enjoy Mother Nature at her best on the inaugural Townsville RSL Whale Watching Tour on Saturday.
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Perfect conditions saw an enthusiastic contingent of veterans and their families enjoy Mother Nature at her best on the inaugural Townsville RSL Whale Watching Tour on Saturday.
Run in partnership with SeaLink Ferries the 150 veterans from Nashos and Vietnam Vets through to current serving members weren’t disappointed on the free tour getting the chance to see several groups of whales breaching or feeding in the calm waters around Magnetic Island and Cape Cleveland.
Townsville RSL Veterans services co-ordinator Adam West said it was an amazing day and they had been blessed by the weather and it was good to see a cross sections of veterans and their families taking advantage of the tour.
“We’re really glad to see some of our current serving veterans too,” he said.
“We are RSL that doesn’t want to just look after the old and bold, we certainly want to be looking after our younger veterans also.”
He said they have plans to make the whale watching tour and annual event but it would not be possible without SeaLink Ferries.
“We’ll make sure that we stay linked in with SeaLink and try and get some opportunities for this in the future - I certainly see this as an ongoing event.”
RSL Board committee member Kylie Hasse was on board with her family and said it had been a fantastic trip.
I think that we’ve been able to really enjoy all of what towns had to offer, not only their beautiful weather, the amazing island like off the coast of the island, and then have the opportunity to see the whales.
She said the tour had given Veterans the opportunity to make connections with others.
“I think there’s definitely families here that probably have never met before,” she said.
“I’ve been able to talk to one of our Vietnam veterans upstairs, which has also been good, and it’s always good for our current serving members to connect with those that have served us.”
SeaLink North Queensland General Manager Darren Spearman said his company was really excited to partner with the RSL and do something special for Veterans and their families.
“The defence forces give so much to the region, and we call upon them in times of need, cyclones and all those things so we’re very honoured to give them something back.
He said they had an incredible whale watching season so far.
“We have had a cracking start to the whale watching season so far, we’ve had six whale tours and a 100% strike - it’s been magnificent.”
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Originally published as Veterans savourinaugural Townsville RSL Whale Watching Tour
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