2025 Adventures

I hired a bike for two days and had a lovely time cycling all round Rottnest. I even went snorkelling when the sun was out. The underwater ‘interpretive signs’ have long since disappeared under coral, seaweed etc (unless they clean them off for summer) but there was lots of coral and fishes. Inland Rottnest has another lighthouse and salt water lakes which are important for bird life. The beaches on the far west of the island were beautiful and very quiet. At Cape Vlamingh, the most westerly point, live a colony of fur seals who were obligingly frolicking, jumping and ‘flipper-sailing’ near the coast when I saw them. Still a bit far to get a good photo on my phone but you can hopefully see the flippers in the air. They do this whilst swimming to regulate their body temperature. I also saw a humpback whale very clearly through the telescope set up at the cape. As well as the all important quokkas, who get everywhere, I have seen parakeets and many other birds, a dolphin swimming by the ...

 Hello from Rottnest Island! This morning I took a ferry down the Swan River from Perth to Fremantle and then changed onto one for Rottnest Island about 30mins offshore from Fremantle.  There is some great snorkelling on Rottnest Island but it became clear that both the sea and air temperatures are still too cool for this to be likely (for me anyway!). It was a cloudy day with some showers. Still, the beaches and sea still look lovely and I’m not here for the sun or swimming but to see the quokkas!! Quokkas are in the macropod family, same as kangaroos and wallabies but they are about the size of a large cat. They are only found in Western Australia and are extremely cute. When they stand up on their haunches they look like they are smiling at you, however they don’t do this too often and they move about very quickly so it’s hard to get a good photo. If you don’t want to see lots of fairly poor quokka photos I suggest you skip the next few days of this blog. Rottnest Island’s ...

Flew to Perth yesterday evening. Its my first time in Australia and I expected to be met by bouncing kangaroos in all directions but sadly this is not the case........ I'm staying in the Central Business District as its easy walking distance to the train and ferries. Its a grid system and could be anywhere in the US except people actually walk here so its very pedestrian friendly.  The Quay and riverfront is very attractive with lots of benches, parks, statues and bars/cafes. I hired a bike and cycled a 16km loop of the Swan river on dedicated cycle paths. You can see some of the nice statues below and there were great views all round.  21 degrees and sunny - perfect.  Elizabeth Quay My trusty steed This statue represents the first Europeans travelling up the Swan river - to the aboriginal people their white sails made them look like large birds. Perth Railway Station - very nice

Today I headed to the Mandai Wildlife Reserve in the north of Singapore. There are several different parks to visit and though you could get combined tickets there was no time for them all!  I chose to go to the River Wonders park as I like rivers and they have the giant pandas :) There were fish and animals from different rivers of the world. Plus pandas, naturally.  I also took a walk along the reservoir which has been set up with boardwalks. It reminded me of being in the amazon in Ecuador. I suppose it is a jungle really.  Headed to Marina Bay for the evening. This is for the rich and elite! Sadly I don't have room for any Dior or Louis Vuitton in my luggage so I bypassed the shops and also resisted taking a boat down the mall (!?) Headed to the art and science museum but there wasn't much there if you didn't fancy paying for an expensive exhibition. Its a nice building though, shaped like a flower.  So instead I found the food court for some grub before the ligh...