Anny Chih

I wasn’t feeling very well last night and when I woke up this morning, so I decided I’d spend the day doing as little as possible. I went to Stocklands to do some grocery shopping, and run a few errands. I thought Stocklands was supposed to be a big mall, but it’s really very small.

Anyways, I didn’t want to leave you blogless for a day so here’s a blog that I’ve been meaning to write for weeks but never got around to until now.

Mudcrabbing in the Redlands

Catching the First Mud Crab!

A few weeks ago when I was still in Brisbane, Matt from the office invited me to take a trip out in the Redlands on his boat with his six year old daughter India (who by the way, is cute as a button and sharp as a whip). The plan was supposed to be to motor around the mangroves around the Redlands area (about an hour south of Brisbane) and have lunch on one of the islands. Since it was August (technically still “winter” in Australia), we didn’t think we’d catch any mud crabs. But, for the sake of my entertainment since I’d never put out a crab pot before, we put out four pots anyways. By the way, why are they called “pots”? They’re not pot-like at all; they look like netted cages.

It was lots of fun zooming around the mangroves in Matt’s tin boat and attempting to fish. LOL We didn’t catch any fish, but I did manage to catch India on my first cast. After that, Matt made sure that she always had her goggles on when I was attempting to fish.

When I pulled up the first crab pot, at first I only saw a little fish caught in it. Then India exclaimed that there was a crab! When I saw it I yelled out too because it was MASSIVE! This thing was bloody huge for a mud crab. It was missing it’s larger claw, but it’s smaller one was the size of my hand!

Matt turned the pot over so that the crab would land in the bucket, but he missed so it fell into the boat instead. This gave India a little scare as the crab reared it’s claw and was in full attack mode. Matt covered the crab with a sack and then tossed him in there where he sat until it was time to be cooked.

From the Beach at Peel Island

After that, we went to Peel Island for lunch. Matt cooked up some sausages while India and I went scavaging for little clams and seashells. The sand on Peel Island is very rough and probably good for pedicures so I rubbed my feet in the sand quite a bit. I suspect this is when the midgies got me! I came back with over 30 bites all over my legs!!!

We thought we were really lucky to have caught the one mud crab, but when we pulled out the next three pots, we found we caught two more! The last pot would’ve had a crab in it too, but someone had stolen it. Bastards. We knew it had been stolen because the pot was opened and there was a small crab leg attached to the netting. It’s common for a crab to lose a leg in the process of tossing them out of the pot.

After the day of crabbing was done, I caught the train from Cleveland back to Brisbane and fell asleep along the way (it’s an hour long ride). When I woke up, I thought “oi.. what’s that smell??” It was ME!!! Man alive did I ever stink. LOL

Matt cooked up the crabs at home and brought them into the office for everyone to try. They were delicious! If you bought this much mud crab in a store, it’d cost you over $100.

Thanks for a great day out on the water Matt!

[View with PicLens]

Tips for Travellers to The Redlands

1. If you go out on one of the islands, cover yourself in insect repellant! Midgies are tiny and mean little buggers that’ll bite you before you even realize they’re there. The bites itch like crazy.
2. If you get a chance to go out on a tinny boat, do it. Zooming around the mangroves and across the water is lots of fun. Most people in the Redlands own a little boat for these kinds of weekend trips.
3. The only washroom out on the water IS the water, so go before you leave.
4. Be prepared to get dirty if someone invites you out on a fishing or mudcrabbing trip. By the way, the word “salmonella” doesn’t seem to mean anything out on the water.
5. You are only allowed to put out four pots per person when mudcrabbing and can only take back male crabs that are of a certain size. You can buy cheap pots for $10, or fancy pots (like the one in the picture) for $70. There are some mudcrabbing tours you can go on in Cairns, but I don’t know of any in the Redlands. Matt was thinking of providing tours for backpackers and tourists in the area though, so if you’re interested let me know and I’ll forward your info to him.