Day 64 - Cape Leveque

On arrival we booked in for Bundy's cultural tour, where you got to make a spear. We had to be at the store near Lombardina by 8.30 am. We then followed Bundy in our car over the sand dunes to Chile creek.

 

There two of us and Bundy tried to spear a fish for lunch. Even Bundy came back empty handed, so lunch was off.

 

He then lit a fire to use for spear making while the tide came in rapidly. The spears were pre-cut, so we only had to heat them on the fire to make the wood pliable, straighten them using a fork in a tree's branches, strip off the bark and rasp away any notches. Sounds simple, but in helping Phoebe I think I created one of the crookedest spears in Bundy's memory. We learnt that mangrove wood burns very hot and can leave nasty scars.

 

Bundy took us fishing with our newly made spears, along the creek below where it meets the sea.

 

Eventually he stabbed two fish with the one thrust. As they were smaller and they weren't too injured, he was letting them go as a shark came and ate one. The second fish was looking unwell, so he let Phoebe stab it so he could feed it to his grandson's cat. We did the tour with a couple of out of control boys, aged ten and eight who impeded even Bundy's chances to catch a fish of a decent size. Both the boys were carrying their spears carelessly, and they had so many second warnings I wondered how long it would be before they stabbed their parents or themselves. I'd thought any bloodshed would be accidental, until I heard the youngest yell out "I hate you Dad". My mind jumped to the Menendez brothers in the USA. Justin was invited by Bundy to join him on a night fishing trip in the evening. He has a student exchange program running with Trinity Grammar and St. Kevin's in Melbourne, and he was taking them out that night. I have high hopes that without the boys as baggage, he might catch a fish. They are easier to catch at night as they are asleep, so my fingers are crossed. We said goodbye to Bundy, then the O' Brien family. We passed on details I case we are in Sydney, and they visit Melbourne. We drove out to the turtle hatchery at One Arm Point. It is the wrong time of year for young turtles, but there was still plenty to see.

 

The marine turtles were my favourite. Phoebe and I were asked to feed the barramundi. Even though we knew it was coming, the loud snapping noise still causes us to jump. The man who showed us around seemed very weary, perhaps because we came straight after a tour bus of teenagers.

 

We squeezed in a look at the operating lighthouse. It stopped being manned in 1987, later than I would expect for any lighthouse.

 

Justin had a short time at our camp before he had to leave for the night fishing. I got everything I could think of for dinner out of the fridge before the girls and I went down to the beach before dinner and he took the car, which contains the fridge. We had a lazy late afternoon, Phoebe was trying to catch our dinner with her new spear.

 

Our beach hut.

 

After sunset we lit a fire back at camp, and after tasty beef stroganoff we toasted marshmallows again. Justin ate the strog when he returned after fishing. We will not be having fish for dinner tomorrow night! Unsurprisingly, fish hide themselves well to sleep. Once hou find one, even though the fish is asleep, as soon as the spear breaks the surface water tension it wakes and instantly speeds off. Years of practice are required. We decided if our hut, Mindo, was free tomorrow, we would stay here another day and forgo Karanjini National Park. We are both enjoying the sea, as we can swim here, and are disinclined to venture inland again. We have gorged ourselves on gorges. We will ask first thing in the morning. We did a semi pack in the likelyhood we have to leave by 10am.

 

Below is the cheesecake almost consumed yesterday, from the Mantle Cafe at Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm.

 

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