Meals in the mangroves
A Netflix-famous Cooya Beach guide takes Ben Groundwater for a squelch through the mangroves in search of mud crabs.
‘If you’ve got mangroves around,’’ says Juan Walker, his bare feet squelching in the wet sand, his spear poised at his shoulder, ‘‘you’ll never go hungry.’’ He scans the knee-deep water around us, searching the vast root system of the mangroves that reach for the floor like curious tentacles, hoping to spot some lunch, while I swat away mosquitoes and try not to look like I’m too concerned about crocodiles.
I grew up around mangroves in coastal Queensland, Australia, they’re everywhere. But I’ve never thought to walk into them to look for food.
‘‘Right there,’’ Walker says, pointing the tip of his spear. Through the murky water I spot the flash of iridescence and the skittering claws of a mud crab. Walker stands still, points his spear, hovers it just above the water, then jabs.
You might recognise Walker. Sharp-eyed foodies will have seen him on the only episode of the Netflix food show Chef’s Table: BBQ to feature an Australian cook – in this case, Firedoor restaurant’s Lennox Hastie. During the episode, Hastie went up to far-northern Queensland to discover the source of his seafood-heavy cuisine, going out to spear a mud crab, then cook it over hot coals on a beach with an indigenous guide.
For viewers hoping to recreate that experience, there’s good news: this is the beach and guide.
I ask Walker about that film shoot, when Hollywood came to Cooya Beach, the small community near Port Douglas that he calls home.
He smiles. ‘‘Yeah, we speared a muddie that morning, but it wasn’t looking too good for the cameras, so while they were doing some interviews I snuck back into the mangroves and got another one. Camera ready!’’
Walker is at home in the mangroves. He’s a Kuku Yalanji man, a true local to this part of Australia, and the cultural tours he hosts are essentially recreations of the days out he had with his grandfather when he was growing up.
The pair would stalk through the mangroves together, spearing mud crabs and black bream and sometimes even shovelnose sharks. They would explore the rainforest, too, near Mossman Gorge, where Walker’s grandfather grew up on a mission, knowledge passing from elder to younger on the country around them, the natural medicines, the stories, the legends.
Even on the drive from Port Douglas to Cooya Beach, there are stories. Walker points to a large clearing by the side of the highway, and explains that this is a sacred space for the Kuku Yalanji. It’s a meeting point, a traditional area where enemies were once met, truces were agreed, marriages were arranged, and ceremonies were performed. ‘‘What is this area now?’’ I ask.
Walker raises his eyebrows. ‘‘That’s the golf course for the Sheraton.’’
The mountains behind us have stories attached to them, as does does the forest up at Mossman. So does the beach at Cooya, where we will soon take off our shoes, spray ourselves with mosquito repellent, and get ready to squelch through the mud and the sand in search of a meal. That’s what today is: part cultural immersion, forest exploration, fishing expedition, and part lunch.
Walker’s spear shoots through the water and he pulls it out a few seconds later with a big, fat mud crab attached.
Normally Walker would make a fire on the beach to cook up the catch, but we’re short of time, so we head back to his mum’s place nearby to cook it on the stove and snack on some of her fresh damper. – traveller.com.au
Juan Walker runs sightseeing and cultural tours in Kuku Yalanji country, the Port Douglas and Daintree region. Visit walkaboutadventures.com.au. The writer travelled with assistance from Tourism Tropical North Queensland.