The Lobster Shack in Cervantes

Our last stop before Perth was Cervantes.  We had a few nights there before heading to Perth for the holidays.  Cervantes is a small town right on the coast, a couple of hours north of Perth.  There was a lovely playground just outside the caravan park.  Once school was out for the year quite a few families started showing up which was an odd feeling for us.  Most of the families we’ve seen in WA have been travelling down the coast like we are.  Now we are surrounded by holiday makers which gives everything a different feel.

While in Cervantes we visited the Lobster Shack.  They have a self-guided factory tour.  Well, I suppose it’s not a factory but a processing plant.  We watched as they sorted the lobsters and learnt all about the process.  There was a quick video at the beginning, then they gave us the audio devices which had a kids setting.  There were several stops where you’d have to enter the number which kept them all nicely busy.  Even TurboBug had one, though he wouldn’t leave the buttons alone so I’m not sure how much he heard.

The artwork on the walls was incredible, all done by the same artist.  The lobster cages were sorted into lanes, some awaiting grading and others awaiting shipping.

This was the sorting area.  The smallest is an A grade lobster, the largest an H.  We learned that different countries prefer different sizes, so all are in demand.

The water tank contains very cold water, the lobsters are placed in here for a couple of minutes before being placed on the conveyor belt for sorting.  The cold water stuns the lobsters.  I suppose it’s so they aren’t jumping around as they are sorted, but I’d like to think it’s a little less traumatic for them too.  See the lobster on the conveyor belt?

Here’s one moving down the belt, they drop automatically into the cages below.  When the cage fills up the lobsters collect on the belt until an empty one is in place.

There was a video of the process which enabled you to get a closer look.

One of the guys brought over an H grade lobster, they can weigh up to 2.5 kilos.  That’s a lot of lobster.  :)

Once they’ve been sorted they sit in a holding area for a few days.  They aren’t fed during this time to prepare them for shipping.  They get the nutrients they need from the sea water that is pumped through the lanes.

Even the flags were gorgeously done.  There were more than just these three, but the Aussie one was the only one with its own little lobster.  I think the flags represented the countries they export to.

We finally had to get TurboBug(2) his own pair of colourful flip-flops.  (I mean thongs.  I still can’t call them that.) He kept stealing everyone else’s and even lost LadyBug’s last pair.  He had a pair of his own but they had the straps on the back so they just wouldn’t do.  He chose orange, aren’t they lovely?

The shipping area wasn’t being used the day we were there but you could see the boxes they used for transport and the audio tour gave us info on the process.

Of course we had to do the lobster pictures once we got back outside.  Lovely!

There was of course a place to buy lobster but that wasn’t in the cards for us, lobster for a family of six is a bit much!  I always loves these signs showing how far away things are.  Hobart is 3,101km.  Rome?  13,205km.  New York?  18,649km.

Really worth doing this tour if you ever find yourselves in Cervantes.  Since it was self-guided we stayed in there as long as we wanted, watching the sorting process for some time.  The walkway was elevated over the factory floor so we had a great view of everything.  We’d missed out on some lobster tours further north since the tourist season was over, so this was perfect.

Sea Urchins at Knobby Head

Geraldton was the first sizeable city we’d seen since Darwin.  While we were there we managed to get to a few things on our list, including a haircut for LadyBug and TurboBug.  Isn’t LadyBug’s hair the cutest?  She’d been asking to have it cut off for awhile but we wanted her to be sure since for more than a year she’s been saying she wanted to grow it as long as Rapunzel.  When it was TurboBug’s turn the hairdresser commented on his baby hair.  He’s definitely been the slowest of the kids to grow a full head of hair!  We also got LadyBug a new booster seat that could fit in the back and moved TurboBug to her old seat.  Which means we finally don’t have any baby car seats in our family!  The kids had been looking forward to switching around, here’s SkeeterBug in the middle and LadyBug at the back. 

After we left Geraldton we spent one night at a free camp called Knobby Head.  It had the stickiest whitest sand ever, covering our shoes and mat in white.  In the morning we wandered the beach looking for sea urchin skeletons (called tests), since Dad had found one and we were fascinated.

We found plenty, even some still covered in spines with creatures inside them.  This one I threw back in the water, I couldn’t tell if it was still alive or not.  They were all quite small most were filled with sand.

The shells are fascinating.  I’d seen pieces like these washed up on another beach further north and didn’t know what they were at the time.  The colours and patterns are beautiful, like they’ve been sewn together.

They are quite delicate, easily smashed with the squeeze of your fingers.  We’ve never seen them intact before, I was so glad we stopped here, it could be the only time we’ll see them.

We found dozens and had great fun collecting all the ones that weren’t still furry.

This was one of our favourites and was the only one we found like this.  Purple and spotted, it was gorgeous.

We spent just one night here.  It was a lovely, quiet spot.  There are many stops along this stretch of road, some suitable for 4WD only. 

It was also a very windy spot!  We had to carefully position the van against the bushes so that the gas powering our fridge wouldn’t blow out.  We’ve had that happen before and it’s always frustrating to wake up in the morning and discover the fridge has been out most of the night. 

After Knobby Head we were off to Cervantes, our last stop before Perth.

Fannie Bay Gaol in Darwin

I found this old post from Darwin that I guess I hadn't finished…

I can’t remember how we heard about the Fannie Bay Gaol while we were in Darwin, but we decided it would be good to go have a look.  Entry is by donation so it’s an affordable family attraction.  We thought it would be good for the kids to go inside the prison cells and learn a little about prison life.  This is probably one of those places that people who live in Darwin have never visited!


Isn’t the Northern Territory flag pretty?  The white flower has seven petals representing Australia’s six states plus one for the NT.


When you arrive the first building you see is the visitors’ building, where prisoners could meet with their visitors.  I wonder how old this sign is?


Then we were off to the minimum security section.  It was a series of large cells with see-through walls.  Inmates could see and hear each other.


There was an old toilet and sink in each cell.  You can just see the short privacy wall behind JitterBug (who has his prisoner face on).  The kids were very concerned about the lack of privacy.


You can see in this cell there were some old beds set up.  Some even had old mattresses filled with straw and we wondered what it would have been like to sleep on them.  Softer than the floor at least.  I caught one child laying on one as soon as my back was turned.  Just had to try it out.  I won’t say which one, but if you know them then you know who it was!


The infirmary building also held the gallows.  Two people were hung on these gallows, there were other hangings at the prison but they had all been done on temporary gallows erected for the occasion.  It was a bit spooky seeing the gallows and the trapdoor open beneath.  There was an information sign nearby that talked about what a job it had been digging out the ground for that trapdoor.  Australia has now abolished capital punishment, with the last execution taking place in 1967.


Next we found the ablution block.  Before they had this they would take the prisoners down to the sea for a wash.  The prison is very close to the coast.  Apparently someone escaped during one of these trips to the ocean, so a separate building on site was built.


Here they are having their showers!


Then we found the separate confinement building.  Not the same as solitary, there were two cells right next to each other and you could hear anything that went on outside.  It was meant for prisoners who might have been a harm to themselves or others.  It was hot the day we were there, it would have been unbearable in some of these prison cells.  LadyBug (5) enjoyed locking us in the cell, this was the view through the small window in the door.


JitterBug (8) was trying to bend down next to TurboBug (2) for a picture but TurboBug thought that meant he should bend down too.


There’s JitterBug’s prison face again.


It looks like they must have had their own outdoor yard, but the recreation area was right in front of this.  So I guess they could watch or hear what was going on but not participate.


The recreation area was just an open grassy area, but the sign says the guards used to play ball games with the prisoners.  Wouldn’t happen these days!


This was the muster area, I suppose the numbered squares were to line everyone up for a head count.


Then we were off to the maximum security building.  See the signs on the wall in the background?  Some of the cells had information about the history of the police in the Northern Territory.  The signs looked dated, it seems like they are trying to expand their exhibits.


Then we all took turns locking each other in.  Not all the cell doors closed properly, but many did.


Look how skinny these doors are!  Each cell had a solid door and a mesh door behind it.  Not really made of mesh, but wire like the picture above.


There were various displays of prisoner’s art and documents from the prison.  It was all very nicely done.


We made a quick stop in the children’s prison, they were of course kept separate from the adults.  I considered leaving some of mine behind, but in the end we let them out of their cells.  ;)


Next was the women’s prison.  The kids all wanted to know why this one had shade!  Who knows what it looked like when the prison was operational.


Us women were locked in for a short time.  It was interesting to see that the women had much more privacy for their showers.


The laundry building was blown away during Cyclone Tracy in 1974.  After hearing about some of the other damage during the cyclone, I’m amazed the prison didn’t suffer more damage.


This is right outside the gates.  See how close the ocean is? 


And that’s our history lesson for the day!