April 3rd: Crabbing in Mandurah with the Professor

I think we will refer to Stephen Satchell, our friend and Perth guide extraordinaire, as "The Professor". All the Perth and Australian experiences we have enjoyed with him so far have been fantastic - referring to him as the "wine professor" just doesn't do justice to the scope of his knowledge of all things West Australian (and beyond). Well, Saturday, he took us down to Mandurah which is a town about 45 minutes south of Perth - a place where people come to partake in a quintessential Australian activity...crabbing - namely, Blue Swimmer or Blue Manna crabs.
Stephen picked us up at 8:30 a.m. and we caravanned down to Mandurah. When we arrived, we changed into
            old          clothes, rubber boots, grabbed our crab nets and waded into the water. Tom volunteered to tie the "crab tub" (baby bath) around his waist. This is what you drag around behind you to chuck the crabs into as you catch them. It wasn't long before I caught our first one. After that it was slow going. The kids stuck close to me and trudged around along the shore - no further luck - while Tom and Stephen headed into deeper waters. Silka soon got tired of the whole exercise and I headed back with her so she could change and go play on the playground. Rein joined us soon after and changed as well.

When Stephen and Tom headed back to shore, we peered into the tub to discover 6 crabs. One was too small so he was let go - lucky fellow. After a short break, Tom, Stephen and I went back in. I caught another two - one was too small and the other moved so fast that I was running as fast as I could to catch up to him. This was not easy in thigh deep water....

All toll, we caught 8 crabs. We headed back home to enjoy a crab feast. Stephen showed up shortly after we did with another half dozen crabs to supplement our catch. After a crab cooking lesson, we sat down at the table on the back patio and tucked in - actually it was more like crab shells and crab meat up to our elbows as we sucked out and slurped up the delicate flesh. It wasn't pretty but it was delicious! We enjoyed them with some crusty bread, salad and a Castle Rock Riesling (from South Western Australia). Yum!