Rottnest Island
Well we finally made it to Rottnest Island yesterday (Weds). We were collected from the campsite at 6.30am and had a scenic tour of caravan parks and hotels in the Perth area before being dropped off at the jetty in time for the 8am ferry. It took about 45mins to get to the island which was named by Dutch explorers who thought that the quokkas who live on the island were large rats. An easy mistake to make we thought after we had seen some. On arrival we hired some bikes and set off round the island which is only about 11km long by (I think) about 4 wide. So you can easily cycle round it in a day. There are loads of beautiful beaches to choose from but the ones along the north coast often have jellyfish so we just looked at those. On the way over in the boat we had seen some more humpback whales. Katie is rather blase about this now. “Oh are there” she said as everyone else in the boat jumped up and down to get a good view!
We saw some other wildlife including the said quokkas and lots of lizards and Katie saw a huge snake crossing the road. But the highlight of the day was the snorkelling. We had bought a snorkelling guide to the island so we knew the good places to go. The water was quite cold (again!) but it was crystal clear and we could see beautiful corals almost immediately after getting in to the water. Our favourites are the ones that look like brains, except that they are purple. There were also masses of fish. It is difficult to find out what they are called because once on land you tend to forget exactly what they are like so that when you look them up you think “It could have been this one or it could have been that one”. But it was great fun anyway. Thankfully it was a hot day without too much wind so we could lie on the beach and dry out after our first snorkel before cycling on a little way for another one. There was a dolphin cruising round in the bay but it ignored us. But there was again lots of lovely pink coral and Katie who went out further than me (I got rather cold!) reported some huge fish. Back at the small collection of shops and cafes that they call “The Settlement” we had tea and cakes and Katie bought a pair of shorts that were half price.
This morning we have been sorting out all our stuff prior to our departure for Melbourne tomorrow. There were 4 weeks worth of dead flies encrusted on the front of the car so we gave it a hose down and vacuumed it out – so you can’t escape these mundane jobs even when travelling!
We have very much enjoyed our time in Western Australia. There are so many places to go and a huge variety of things to see and do that I can strongly recommend it as a holiday destination. I am only rather sorry that I didn’t discover Australia earlier: and we have only seen such a small part of it. Even in Western Australia we didn’t really get into the Kimberley or the Bungle Bungles – but there is always next time! The only downside are the flies: really irritating. They get all over you and in your ears and up your nose – ugh! But I have been wearing my Scottish midgy net a lot of the time to thwart them.
kt_m_white
October 26th, 2007 at 9:57 pm
enjoy your travels.