Rottnest Island

 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 named is deceived from ‘Rats’s nest island’ as the Dutch colonial settlers thought the cute quokkas were a type of rat. The nicer name for it is the aboriginal name ‘Wadjemup’ meaning ‘place across the water where the spirits are’. It is not thought the island was populated prior to Europeans arriving. Between 1838 and 1931 the island was used as a prison camp for aboriginal people with horrific conditions. During both world wars it was also used as an internment camp, mainly for German / Austrian / Italian men who had settled in Australia. The prison is derelict and closed to the public (hopefully they will turn it into a museum/memorial rather than another hotel) but there is a small museum that I will make sure I visit while I’m here.

The island is car free but there are roads for bicycles and the hop-on-hop-off buses. Unfortunately I learnt today that it’s the start of the two week spring school holidays and so the island is full to capacity with lots of tourists and children. It’s not quite the peaceful retreat I imagined but I have hired a bike for tomorrow so I shall find some quieter places. A quick look online suggests that accommodation is already booked up in the mainland national parks up the coast which I had planned to visit. Still, it can’t be helped and I’ll find some nice areas to explore - there will always be somewhere to stay even if I need to be more flexible. Also the holidays should be finished by the time I get to Melbourne which will be handy. 

Many quokka photos incoming………

View from the river leaving Perth

Lighthouse on Rottnest Island

Quokka and joey

Quokka in wildflowers 
Beaches and pelicans

Happy quokka






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