Day out on the river

We are so very fortunate that I have distant cousins living in Mandurah who are such kind thoughtful people.  Lynley and Frank and Clarene and Ian have always made us and our family welcome when they have organised an Aussie Day Out for us on previous visits, they always plan where we might like to go and check out the area prior to the day.

Today we were lucky enough to go on Ian and Clarene’s boat to try and catch some blue crabs.  They were going to take us on the Estuary but as it was a bit rough it was decided to take us in the Serpentine River instead as it was much calmer, much to my relief.  We met them at their home then followed them to the boat ramp where Ian launched his boat with a little help from Gavin and Richard.  Clarene stayed in the park area and looked after all our picnic stuff while we were on the water.

Ian has been around boats most of his life so we were in safe hands.  Gavin was tasked with putting out the crab nets and we went up river quite a way, it was so peaceful and relaxing.  We saw a few nice properties which face the River and Ian said they all had about five acres of land around them, most had private landing stages.

Gavin and Ian very busy

Eagle in the tree

Pelican

View of Clarene from the boat

We saw pelicans, an eagle, galaahs, ducks, magpies who just wanted our food and green parrots and they are called 28’s as their song sounds like they are saying 28!  There was just so much to take in and it was very exciting for us Brits.  On the way back Gavin and Ian hauled in the crab nets but we only caught one crab and threw that back as it was too small to keep as legally there is a minimum size you can keep and also a limit on those you do keep if you are fortunate enough to catch them. The rest of the nets were empty so Ian landed the boat and tied it up to the jetty while we had lunch.  Sausages and onions cooked on the municipal spotlessly clean barbecue and had a really pleasant lunch chatting under the shade of the trees, watched very closely by the magpies.  We saw some galaahs making a nest high in the hollow of a tree.

Galaahs nesting

We went out on the river after lunch to check the crab nets.  We went up river again and Ian was very brave and let Richard take the helm on the way up and Gavin on the way back and they both agreed it wasn’t as simple as Ian made it look but both enjoyed it.  This time we caught three crabs but all were too small to keep, one decided to grip on to Ian’s finger and give quite a nip!  I had a go at catching the crab net lines with a boat hook and didn’t do too badly, but Gavin and I went to take the float and I ‘stabbed’ his thumb with the sharp end of the hook, ouch poor Gavin.  It bled a lot but he applied pressure and cleaned it up and he is fine.  He carried on bringing in the nets and he and Richard tipped the crabs back into the river.  We were surprised at how blue the crabs claws were so pretty.  When Ian docked the boat for the second time Gavin got a line on one end and Ian was impressed I managed to throw another line my end of the boat around the cleat!

Crab and bait returned to river

Ian measuring the crab

 While the men of the family got the boat out of the water, I chatted to Clarene and we were ‘serenaded’ by a magpie.

We went back to Ian and Clarene’s for a cup of tea and got back to Fremantle just before 6pm and we’re all quite tired from all the fresh air.  We decided to get fish and chips instead of cooking ourselves and after dinner Gavin went home as we have another busy day tomorrow.