Cape Arid National Park
5&6 December
It was definitely worth traveling the extra 100km on to Cape Arid, given our predilection for empty campsites. At the Thomas River campground, we opted for closest to the beach and furthest from the only other camper, rather than some of the panoramic views and proximity to nice new camp kitchens.
As I prepared the calamari for dinner, Fabian and Asher's trumpet playing wafted up on the sea breeze from the beach. Imagine my surprise when they turned up for dinner carrying a rabbit!
Apparently Fabian had shied a stone at it in the dark and got lucky. After a short discussion, we decided to kill it and eat it. After all, they do damage the national park, and it fitted in with our boys own adventure. So Fabian did the deed with a tomahawk. With a bunny hanging up, our camp looked quite rustic.
Next day after an unsuccessful morning fish for tailor, Fabian set about cleaning and skinning the rabbit - we really could have used the Dangerous Book for Boys for guidance but in its absence made it up.
Once he finished we had a body surf, then packed a lunch and took twiggy for a drive along the beach to the Mt Arid walking track. After the 30km drive to the start of the walk, it was slightly disappointing to find a sign informing us the track was closed to prevent the spread of die-back (a root disease which kills plants). Still, it was a nice drive.
Back at camp, Fabian stretched out the rabbit skin to dry - even more rustic.
That afternoon we tried again for tailor then switched to herring. Herring feed on maggots (which hatch in the weed washed up on beaches). We had been told a small piece of drinking straw on a hook looked enough like a maggot to fool most herring so we gave it a try. Sure enough, almost every cast of the drinking-straw-on-a-hook rig caught a fish. I quickly made up a couple more rigs and the boys spent the rest of daylight hours catching herring.
Good fun. They paid for it that night though, filleting fish until 10.30pm.
Overall, the stay was quite a hunting gathering experience.
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