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.

Streeter’s Jetty, Broome

One very hot day in Broome we made a quick visit to Streeter’s Jetty.  It’s not in use any more but it’s an important part of the history of Broome’s pearling industry.

You really had to watch your step going out there, especially with kids around.  It wouldn’t have been that far to fall but it would have been a really muddy landing!

The jetty used to go much further out, I think it was the longest.  See all the mangrove trees?  We were there at a good time of day, able to see the water near the end of the jetty and the mud up closer to shore.

As we stared at the mud we saw some mud skippers, then suddenly noticed these gorgeous crabs!  They were so adorable, if crabs can be adorable.  Look at that huge claw!  Those are the males.  These fiddler crabs live all up the northern west coast through WA to the NT.  We hadn’t seen these before and their colour was so striking against the mud.

We were all fascinated and watched them for awhile.  I was glad we visited when we did or we might have missed them. 

On the way out I was taking a picture of the gorgeous rocks they used to line the path.  JitterBug (8) climbed up for a picture and TurboBug (2) had to climb up with him.  JitterBug squatted to be more TurboBug’s height.  But of course little brother then had to squat like big brother.  Mama moment, it makes me smile to see how the youngest imitates his siblings all the time.

Then he wouldn’t leave until I’d snapped a picture of him by himself.  Toddlers.  :)

One of the signs had a picture of the staircase to the moon which we were hoping to see while we were here in Broome.  It happens when a vary low tide coincides with a full moon, the reflection in the  mud flats creates the illusion of a staircase.

Did I mention it was hot?  Scorching.  After this quick trip we ran for the air conditioning in the car!

The Turtle Hospital at the Reef HQ Aquarium

In recent headlines a new study has revealed that over half of all sea turtles have ingested plastic.  Before we went to the turtle hospital they gave a talk about sea turtles.  They said that the turtles (and other marine life) have been able to eat anything they find in the oceans for thousands of centuries.  The sea turtles, of course, don’t realise anything has changed and so when they see some brightly coloured object floating in the water they don’t realise it is something that could harm them.  That, together with the other recent news of the decline of all marine life over the last several decades makes for a very sad state of our ocean life. 

The turtle hospital at the Reef HQ Aquarium does their part by educating people and rehabilitating sea turtles.  All of the sea turtles found in the Great Barrier Reef are threatened species.  We were lucky to have a chance to visit the hospital while we were in Townsville.

They had half a dozen or so large tanks set up with rescued turtles in them.  Many of them had what’s known as ‘floating syndrome’ which prevents them from diving.  That means they can’t eat and are at the mercy of ocean currents.

See the chunk missing out of this one’s shell?  It won’t grow back, but the edge will heal a bit.  I think this turtle was just about ready to go the main tank in the aquarium.  They put the turtles in the tank to be sure they will adapt to having predators nearby before releasing them into the ocean.

Did you know sea turtles can’t retract their heads and limbs into their shells the way land turtles can?

The hospital cared for turtles from the very young to those decades old.

We were fascinated and among the last to leave.

I could have happily spent the rest of the day there, watching the sea turtles and learning more about them. 

If I remember correctly they said sea turtles could hold their breath for an hour.  We were delighted when several of them kept surfacing as we watched.  They were adorable.  That doesn’t seem like the right word, but that’s what they were.  Adorable.

The tanks contain some less saltwater than in the ocean.  They mix in extra freshwater to help the turtles recover more quickly.

There was a small area with a bit more information on the different kinds of sea turtles.

The x-rays were fascinating.  

There was even an old shell you could pick up and look at.

The turtle hospital was probably my favourite part of our visit to the aquarium.  They only open the hospital to visitors a couple of times a day, so if you are visiting make sure to check the schedule. 

See the other parts of our visit to the aquarium here and here.