Day 80: In Search of Lobsters and a bit of sightseeing

This morning we rose at 5.30 am, with a deadline to be at the commercial vessel pier at 6.15 am, to join our cruise to go out to catch lobsters. It is still dark when we arrive at the marina, and there are some other committed lobster hunters already there. Many of them Asian, who love their seafood.

Reefwalker awaits us in the dark

The participants begin to arrive and it is a mix of grey nomads and young tourist families, both Australian and International. By the time we cast off it is first light and our skipper and deckhand have gone through the safety brief.  We commence a leisurely river cruise down to the river mouth. The skipper prepares us the best he can for the passage out through the exit channel from the river, pleased that swell is back down to 2 metres, and it is a neap tide approaching high, so the trip out should be pretty straight forward.

It is a very testing channel which requires a fair bit of local knowledge, of which we had plenty on board. Waves break across the channel from the reef on the ocean side, but the depth seems OK, just plenty of power and good timing put us out into the Indian Ocean on our way to pull some lobster pots.

Th WA government has highly regulated the number of lobster fishermen over recent years. The business model for our tour operator is interesting. They have a licence for 12 lobster pots, cannot sell their catch commercially, so take tourists out to experience the pulling of the pots, great insights into the industry, information the catch and what is legal, and the participants on the day share the catch. A pretty good formula. The owner/skipper is a real character and adds a good amount of colourful commentary and good information on the industry.

About 3 nm from the river mouth we are ready to pull the first pot.

The first pot is in and the catch looks encouraging

A bit of education on what is legal follows

Also there are some great further insights into the industry, the behaviour of lobsters and when the best times are to catch them. We also learn about the hazards of losing lobster pots, which increasingly is related to the annually increasing whale population who catch the pot lines and drag them many miles.

Subsequent pots are yielding good catches, and the legal catch bin is filling. We dig get one pot that was empty and another where we got a few lobsters and a lobster head. Apparently an octopus had got into the pot and had lobster for dinner. There are also a good number that are undersized and need to be thrown back. Females carrying roe get the same reprieve.

After pulling about half the pots, the catch is looking good

After pulling 12 pots, we have 61 lobsters to be shared with those on board. But first the pots have to be re baited and dropped in a new area.

Everything done, it is time to head back through the channel into the river to get to our dock and distribute the catch. 

Everyone is told to hang on tight as we head towards the channel markers to re enter the river. It is pretty confronting to look at, a very narrow channel, breaking waves across the channel from the reef on the ocean side. It was a grit you teeth and go for it strategy. Fortunately the boat is big and has plenty of power and a very experienced skipper.

It is a wild ride through the channel but expertly executed

Safely in our dock, the catch is distributed, and we leave very happy with 6 lobsters. Guess what we are having for dinner tonight.

After such an early start we are pretty hungry and once back home, breakfast is at almost 10 am. We have to find space in the freezer for 4 lobsters, which we willingly do, without sacrificing anything. The other 2 go in the fridge for dinner. The rest of the morning is spent doing a bit of shopping and a few other mundane issues. Rain is coming, so planning our afternoon is a bit hit and miss.

In between showers we get out to see a couple of the wildflower hot spots. To try and understand the huge range of wildflowers and identify them, we buy a basic guide book to identify WA wildflowers from the visitor information centre. 

In the process of looking at the hot spots we used a brief break in the weather to see a lookout over the estuary where there is a Memorial to a Dutch East Indies Company ship, the Zuytdorp, which was wrecked of this coast in 1712 on passage to Batavia.

Located on a headland on the Southern side of the river mouth, you get a great view of the estuary, and the entrance channel to the ocean, which makes a sharp turn to the North once exiting the river and runs parallel to the shoreline to avoid a rocky reef.

The Estuary looking towards the town

The entrance channel, the reef is on the left

Walking back to the car, we spotted a large kangaroo, also enjoying the wildflowers, they must taste pretty good.

Through patches of rain we discovered a few more wildflowers out near the airport, but the weather wore us down and we retreated to the caravan by around 4 pm.

Lambs Wool

Cat's Paw

Kangaroo Paw

Our focus shifts to preparing dinner, as tonight we plan to consume 2 of the freshly caught lobsters, grilled on the BBQ basted with garlic butter. 

The lobster was sensational, and we still have 4 left. If you ever get to Kalbarri, do the lobster boat trip on the Reefwalker, it has been a real highlight.