Sleeping in to 7am was a welcome relief this morning. After an hour spent at camp, we set off to the local Scout Hall to set up for a community engagement event. Here the scientists we have been staying with showed off their exciting discoveries to the public. Throughout the event I was tasked with building Pooters (a form of insect catcher) for budding young scientists. Over 200 people showed up to the small hall making it an event to remember.

After the event we grabbed some lunch in town before I joined Dr Jeremy Dean Wilson to return a captured Assassin spider (Zephyrarchaea sp.). This protected species of spider is unique to arachnologists as it eats other spiders. This particular spider was a rare find that required sifting through the leaf litter behind Thistle Cove for over three hours. The only place it has been found so far is in the depression after the first dune at the beach with old unburnt banksia and a thick moist leaf litter layer which is a tough find at this time of year in Esperance. As such, we returned to the original site that it had been found to set it loose. This meant climbing through dense bushland covered in thick leaf litter. The Assassin spider couldn’t wait to break free of its plastic prison quickly hiding itself in the heavy layer of leaves covering the ocean floor.

Returning back to Koolark for a roast dinner we sat and listened to a yarn from Noongar Wudjari man Doc. He spoke about what it was like to grow up in Esperance and the state of the culture in the area for Noongar Wudjari people.