Geek Week 6: Coastal nerd shortage

During a recent trip to Point Lookout I was alarmed by a geek shortage that surely must be threatening scientific research. Those expecting to find people surfing, swimming, fishing, not wearing very much clothing even for a chilly day would not have been disappointed. However, those looking to find the usual cluster of nerds perched high on a windy rocky outcrop roped off from the public with ‘do not disturb’ signs, clipboards, number clickers and binoculars counting humpback whales were totally let down. And that includes me.

It is one of my favourite winter holidays to watch the official whale watchers do their stuff. It is all to do with the oh-so cute way that they square their backs and grind their teeth to all the annoying questions from lingering tourists.

Now its not like there weren't any whales going past either. Mind you, maybe they’ve relocated the whale count to the sushi train. Spare a thought for the whales though- after all, they are headed to Hervey Bay to be chased around by Mimi MacPherson while trying to give birth. That's no picnic. Some of them may well prefer the slow mercy of the harpoon. And if Aussie scientists cannot even be bothered to count them, let the Japanese scientists have a go.

So I had to console myself with collecting beach plastic and once again I was upset by the tides of change. A luddite really does not like progress. And that is what appears to have happened. I always used to find a few treasured and weathered plastic soldiers/Indians/cowboys among all the beach plastic, funeral flowers, pumice, used condoms and syringes in the flotsam at South Gorge but this time came up empty handed. Children must have changed their patterns of play since I last noticed. Did someone say they are all indoors eating cheezels and blasting away the enemy on their megastations instead of playing civilised wargames with plastic figures in the great outdoors? And those prissy-pants clean-up-Australia-do-gooders have been at it again, picking up all the plastic flotsam and moving it to their secret locations. I must say I find it all very upsetting.