4. Walking Forwards…and Sideways

Sunrise on Moreton Bay

It’s funny all the things there are to discover in the world, even at 87. And one of the best ways I know to keep on learning is through walking and talking. Let me take you with me on a walk I did recently, where I discovered that not everyone…or thing…walks in the same direction.

My daily exercise almost always begins with walking in the direction of the Shorncliffe Pier. That’s where I’m likely to meet most of the “regulars,” those I chat to each day.

Some might argue walking the same way each day is unexciting. But I beg to differ. It allows me to really take in my area in detail, rather than just rushing through as so many do in this busy world.

I’ve always found routines very reassuring. They help to ground me. When I ran my own business in Sydney, I used to walk swiftly every lunchtime through the Sydney Botanic Gardens, shedding my stress as I moved. I loved taking in the majesty of the sparkling ocean, seeing (and smelling) the fauna and flora, pausing to ogle up at the bats hanging precariously overhead in the trees. I returned to the office fresher, ready to face the next task.

Evidently, I am not the only one to find comfort in routine. There is something very reassuring about meeting many of the same people, day in, day out. We all like to come to the Shorncliffe Pier in the morning and to reconnect and experience what is familiar to us. There is always something to talk about and I find that I enjoy listening to the many stories and the different points of view.

Despite being on the northern edge of Brisbane, this small community often feels like a gathering of the United Nations. Among my twenty or so fellow walkers and fishermen there are some born in Australia and others who have come from New Zealand, England, Scotland, Sri Lanka, India, China and possibly other countries. It certainly doesn’t inhibit us in finding something to talk about, as you will soon see….

The first person I saw at the Pier this morning was John, a veteran and an accomplished fisherman, who told me that it had been “dead quiet” and that he had not had a bite for 2 hours, except for some nibbles from crabs. He said that after all the rain there would be plenty of crabs about as they would have been flushed out of nearby creeks.

A bit further along Jules and Logan were lowering their crab pots into the water. They had been at the Pier since very early in the morning and had already caught a few. The large male sand crabs were big enough to keep, but all the others had to be thrown back into the water. Logan is always careful to adhere strictly to the rules. He told me that one of the sand crabs he had caught this morning was the biggest he had ever seen.

Sand crabs are also known as Blue Swimmers. I had heard that name before but until this morning I hadn’t really thought much about it. I learned that the area in Queensland where most sand crabs are caught is actually right here in Moreton Bay.

Logan holding a Blue Swimmer

While sand crabs are good, it’s the mud crabs you really want as they are usually bigger and have heavier claws. Logan prefers to catch them because there’s more meat on them, but some people don’t like them because they have a stronger flavour.

Molly, another of my walker friends, loves mud crabs but thinks that they are “over-the-top” expensive in Brisbane’s restaurants.

Altogether, Logan and Jules caught as many as 9 sand crabs. Jules showed me a photo of them and told me that she didn’t mind the cleaning and the removing of the meat and that she was just happy that she and Logan had been able to keep so many. This was because they were going to their son’s for a meal and they would be able to make prawn and crab cocktails for them before dinner.

What a wonderful idea! Maybe I should try this myself sometime.

During the week I visited the Sandgate Museum. I read that the First Nation people who lived here in Sandgate, the Turrbal people, had caught mud crabs in the creeks here for centuries before European settlement.

Crabs have definitely been a topic of conversation around here for a long time!

Even though I was in the Merchant navy in my twenties, I find there is still so much to learn about the mysteries of the sea. For instance, did you know that crabs have 10 legs? Well, I didn’t. I never thought of counting them. The two front legs are strong and have claws with pincers, the other 8 legs are for walking. Crabs are able to move forward slowly but they prefer to walk sideways, which is easier for them and allows them to scuttle around much more quickly because of the particular shape of their bodies.

I think this is wonderful, and there is a lesson for us all in it. It doesn’t matter how you walk, or talk, or what you look like as you do, so long as you can find a way to keep doing it.

So…let’s just keep talking and walking, but ………preferably not sideways!

Next week we’ll visit Dowse Lagoon.

O.P.