Hey have any of you regular beach goers ever found any ambergris? And if you have, what did you do with it. It's worth heaps, but illegal to trade in Australia. Which is frustrating as I think I found some tooday.

I wish I had 1kg, more like 150g. But have been researching on the net and value depends on quality - from what I can make out the stuff I found is really good - probably worth more like $40 / gram. That'd buy some nice new gear .
You're right about the trade in illegal goods - if people buy and sell drugs and guns then a bit of whale vomit should be easy

nebbian said...

Geez you did well to recognise it, most people (myself included) would have just passed it up as another piece of smelly flotsam.

I learnt something new this day, thanks

Yeah the funny thing is I'd never heard of it until the other day, on the radio was a story about someone finding a lump worth $100,000. I thought I'd google it to check it out. So went down to the coast the other day to look for some - didn't find any (but found a nice post). Went to a different spot today and right at the end of the last beach I was going to check found it. Mind you I'm meant to be working, but there wasn't much to do.

Sailing at Gnarloo Bay over the last couple of years I've seen tonnes of whale flotsam, from humpback whales, not sperm whales unfortunately ...
also probably more unfortunately
although its from a whale and its smelly, its POO, not amberbris

are you sure it's ambergris??? Try tasting it . It should have a slightly minty flavour.