PERTH (ROTTNEST ISLAND)

The view from the lighthouse looking back to Fremantle from Rottnest

Looking out to Green Island

Geordie Bay

The kids counted 52 of these little darlings!

Some relaxing time on the beach at Thompson

Up close and personal with a Quokka

Sandcastle building - they are having withdrawal symptons!

The beautiful coastline of Rottnest Island

DAY 84 – PERTH  (ROTTNEST ISLAND)                                                     Saturday, 24^th September

Up early this morning and, having no water or power to the van (and in desperate need of a wee, because we couldn’t get into the house so early!) we headed off to McDonald’s for breakfast and toilet stop.  This is my idea of hell, but the kids thought they were in heaven!!  We had to be at the B Shed terminal at Fremantle Dock at 7:15am for our trip over to Rottnest Island on the fast ferry.

I couldn’t believe how many people were there for the early morning ferry, but I suppose many would be employees of the island.  It was an absolutely perfect day for the trip – blue skies, calm waters, and a perfect 23 degrees.  The waters between Fremantle and Rottnest are treacherous and there have been many ships wrecked in that passage.  In fact, last Wednesday they had shocking weather and the ferry crossing took 2.5hrs and there were 7 metres waves!  Everyone was seasick.  Fortunately for us the weather was beautiful and it only took 30 minutes to get there.  Don’t think I could have done it last Wednesday!

David had done a great deal of research so we had an itinerary all organised and printed out!  Instead of hiring bikes we bought an all-day bus ticket (about $100 cheaper!) which you can hop on and hop off at different points along the coast road.  So we began our journey around the island taking in the sights and sounds - although not too many sounds because there are no cars permitted on the island so it is REALLY QUIET!  We saw some beautiful beaches and hopped off the bus at the Lighthouse (Wajemup Lighthouse – Wadjemup meaning ‘land across the water’.  We did some fairly serious Quokka spotting on our way up to the lighthouse and had fantastic views across Thompson Bay to Fremantle from there.

We walked to the Green Island lookout and saw some RAAF planes performing some manoeuvres overhead.

We took the bus back to Geordie Bay where there is an extraordinary amount of holiday accommodation (for which you need to go into a ballot over summer) and the only settlement other than Thompson Bay on the island.  The walk was just beautiful and it really makes you feel as though you are miles from anything.  You would not believe that you are only a 25 minutes ferry ride from Fremantle!

We went on a “Reefs, Wrecks and Daring Sailors” tour along the coast of Thompson Bay and learnt of the ferociousness of the reefs in front of us and the  many ships which have been wrecked right on Fremantle’s door, having travelled from England around the Cape of Good Hope and all across the Indian Ocean!!  In fact, only last Wednesday they had such shocking weather than the ferry crossing took 2.5 hrs with 7m waves and all the passengers were seasick!! 

We had lunch with the Quokkas who sat under out table outside the Rottnest Bakery in the mall!  We then went on a Quokka tour with a lovely lady, but she insisted on walking whilst doing the tour so we couldn’t hear a thing, but the kids were charged with being the “Quokka Spotters” as they had the best eyes!  We saw a mother with two babies, one that looked about 5 months old and a baby, still without any hair.  The kids were in heaven and told me that the TQC for the day (Total Quokka Count) was 52.