So much has happened these recent weeks I hardly know where to begin. I have been disappointed, inspired, challenged, delighted, sometimes all in the same hour. But today what is on my mind are crabs.

Apparently they are adaptable survivors. So much so, that other unrelated species have evolved to resemble crabs. My crabby thoughts started when we were on a recent trip to the far northwest of Australia. But first some context…

We booked the trip four years ago. Normally, I don’t even like to book trips six months in advance, though we sometimes have to. But four years is a long time, and understandably I was in a totally different head space when we finally left on this trip the 1st of August. The delay was caused by the Pandemic. The trip was cancelled twice and then finally we had to book it or risk losing our money. The cruise only happens between May and September, but we felt it safer to book in June to August when the weather was likely to be settled and more comfortable.  Since we had a previous booking for a trip back to the USA in June/July, August was the remaining choice. Subsequently, we had to cancel the trip to the US at the last minute due to my foot surgery recovery, and also in the same week, news that Don had prostate cancer.

Diligence with medical issues saw me recovering and slowly revealed what treatment we needed to get for Don. He started the hormone treatments in June/July, both androgen reduction injections. He has felt a bit ‘manopausal’ at times with aches and soreness and headaches etc. but slowly things settled enough that we went on the trip. 

As you know I have been decluttering/downsizing/resizing our belongings. I was not in a head space to take time away from that, and as expected it has broken my momentum. But there is little we can do about that at the moment. At the end of August we head to Adelaide (again) for Don’s surgery and we will be there at least two weeks. After that once he has recovered he will have some radiotherapy in Darwin and perhaps chemo after that. We are not panicked, but recognise this will take some attention and energy away from our normal life for most of the remainder of this year or more.

So what have crabs got to do with this?

It took a good week to get my head into the trip, the first few days of which were spent with a spectacular full moon in Broome. However, while I enjoyed parts of it, I knew I was just not as present as I would like to have been. This sounds petty and ungrateful of me, I know. But it is the truth. And then a few days into the cruise, after a wet zodiac landing, we were drying our feet and changing shoes. I looked down and there was a tiny hermit crab about the size of my thumbnail, dragging his house along with him. As often happens for me, the minutia of life brings me our of my head and into the present. This little creature was a survivor.

We had numerous Zodiac excursions, sometimes two a day in fact. They are physically challenging for me. We have to monitor liquid intake because there were no toilet facilities on all except one excursion. The sun was fierce so lots of sunscreen and a shirt and hat to cover up as well, and then there is the bouncing of the zodiacs when the seas are a bit choppy, challenging for the back and hips. One woman declared “I have Zodiac ass!” And most of us quietly chuckled in agreement. My still recovering feet needed to walk over some rocky and uneven ground and in one case I had to stay on board, the walk was too risky for me. After 2-2.5 hours on a Zodiac you know you’ve done something…and so does your bladder. Let’s just say I’m eternally grateful for the repair work Professor Lam did on me 15 years ago, and I was reminded of why I do my 15 minutes of stretches and exercises every morning.

One Zodiac ride to find crocodiles yielded more crabs. These were bright red, Flame Backed Fiddler Crabs. We could see them from the boats but not close enough for my iPhone, so  you will have to take my word those red spots were scuttling about the sand doing crabby things. They were very red in surrounds that were mostly blue, green and brown and they too made an impression as the naturalist explained they have occupied this land and water for millions and millions of years.

The wildlife was the thing that really pulled me along to the Kimberley and away from our current reality. We saw many Brown Boobies, the flying kind not the human anatomical ones. We saw many Green Sea Turtles—so cute and so shy. One group was lucky enough to see a turtle come ashore and begin digging a nest to lay eggs! We were lucky enough to see a pod of snub nose dolphins, and whales too numerous to count. The area is a huge national park and a breeding ground for many marine animals, and of course it is Spring here in this hemisphere so the right season for beginnings.

A few days after our return home I accidentally happened upon this podcast about an ordinary woman who started loving crabs and discovered some very interesting things, plus one major discovery that had eluded scientists forever. Trust me, it is interesting and entertaining and you will enjoy it!

Many of the most impressive parts of this trip were not things I could photograph. Isn’t that often the way with life? I’ll finish with these attempts to capture the world’s largest inshore reef system as it empties during low tide. Picture a coral reef that covers between 300-400 square kilometres that experiences tides from a few metres to 12 metres (8ft to 35ft+) during the full moon, which was when we visited. During high tide the reef is covered by 4-6 metres of water, enough for a cruise ship to move over. During low tide all that water empties away in the form of small turbulent rivers and waterfalls until the reef is exposed by 3-4 metres above the water line. We rode in the Zodiacs up close and felt the strength of the water rushing away from the top of the reef, even as low tide was ending and the levels had begun to rise again. There were turtles and fish all around, and birds atop the reef to feed during low tide. But it wasn’t until later that day the naturalist showed us an aerial view of Montgomery Reef in its vastness that I could fully appreciate it.

It seems the whole of life is revealing itself from the smallest crappy and crabby bits, to the grandness of its interwoven systems. It just comes down to how we relate to what we feel and see and are able to process into our lives. Crabs show us how being flexible through the millennia has paid off for them…and I think it’s pretty Crabtastic!

**Most of our onshore excursions were to see Indigenous rock drawings/art and ceremonial sites. However, we were asked not to show the photos on social media, so I’m sorry to not be able to share them with you.

(If you have read this far, you have just finished reading my 400th published blog piece. That doesn’t seem like much considering I’ve been at this about 12 years, and you may think my writing should have improved a bit more, but given I don’t have to do it at all, it seems just fine to me. Thanks for reading)