Wednesday 23rd April

Today has made up for all the c**p of the last few days - despite having to get up at some ungodly hour (6.00am)! We had to be outside the Witch’s Hat, a few doors down from here at 5 past 7 to catch the bus that would take us to the ferry terminal where we would catch the ferry to Rottnest Island. (The Witch’s Hat is a backpackers hostel but looks much more salubrious than that). It was a lovely morning after another night of heavy rain – no wonder Perth looks so green – and was even quite mild, although I was still wearing my fleece! Our driver was a short tempered, uncommunicative sort who drove on accelerator and brakes all through the various pick-ups – NOT a pleasant way to start the day. It also started to rain heavily before we reached the terminal – all fingers and toes were crossed for it to improve! However, we arrived with plenty of time to spare for the ferry and dodged the raindrops looking at the city from the riverside from under the overhangs – it’s not quite as impressive a skyline as Sydney, but not bad!

We embarked on our trip at 8.25am with a more than half empty boat and enjoyed the calm waters of the Swan River down to Fremantle. It’s not so much like a river as a large lake in this stretch. We had a commentary on the way, passing some very grand riverside properties – one especially owned by a personality called ? Clough (NOT Brian) which is like a holiday complex, it’s so big, and valued at over $32 million when it was bought several years ago.

When we reached Fremantle, the boat filled up, then we started on the sea* crossing. This was the bit Tom was not looking forward to, but although it as rough, it was bumpy, like airplane turbulence, rather than the long slow pitching motion which does nasty things to his insides!

(*Tom has just corrected me. This is the Indian Ocean we’re talking about, not some piddling little sea. If we were to miss Rottnest, next stop would be South Africa!!)

Anyway, the crossing is only 30 mins and by the time we got there, the sun was shining and it was hot, so off came the fleece. We’d taken both the rucksacks to carry the waterproofs – just in case – but didn’t need them at all. First stop was something to eat as having breakfast so early meant we were starving. There are certainly plenty of places to eat at the port, and, as we found out later, the island is a prime holiday destination. No cars are permitted, the only motorised public transport are the buses and there are official service vehicles – so the only way to get around apart from on foot is by bicycle and there are hundreds of them!

Tom booked us a tour bus trip at 1.30pm, so we had a couple of hours to wander round and enjoy the peace (apart from the kids on bikes – some of whom were hilarious to watch) – I’m not surprised it’s such a popular destination. One of the attractions of the island is the rare quokka, a very small version of the kangaroo family, about the size of a small domestic cat. There are only 2 other places in Australia where they are found and only in very small numbers – this island has by far the biggest population of the 3, but still only 7,000-10,000. They live in communities, mate for life, and are “guarded” by a dominant male who protects his community from marauders. 2 embryos are born, 27 days after mating and only one gestates while the other remains “dormant”. If the first one dies, the other embryo then starts to grow – another example of the miracle of Mother Nature and the survival of the species.

When we joined the tour bus, Howard our driver turned out to be a mine of information and a funny man too – some of his jokes were on a par with Tom’s – need I say more?! Although the island is only 11km long by 4km wide, the roads are very winding and you feel as if you’re travelling further. We went from one end to the other in a figure of eight and Howard didn’t stop talking virtually all the way. We learnt all about the shipwrecks and the geology and the birdlife and the quokkas and the holiday accommodation and so on……It was the best tour we’ve done and the time just seemed to fly by. He said he had 100% success in finding quokkas although they are mainly nocturnal animals (this was only 3.00pm) and, sure enough, just as we were about to arrive back at the bus stop, someone spotted a quokka in a garden. We backed up a little but it was to far away to get decent photos so he drove round the corner and we disembarked and walked back. This one was very shy and kept close to the house wall, but I caught sight of another one in the next garden and he/she was really tame. It came right up to the fence and nosed around only 8-10” away. Howard had also told us that there was an area near one of the lakes where the quokkas liked to gather. That was only a short distance, so we went there and there were loads of them! First a baby, sleeping upright, as they do, then lots just started to appear and come really close – they weren’t at all afraid and were obviously used to being peered at and photographed. It was wonderful – another high spot for me.

We then had about 40 mins till the boat returned so had another wander before joining it. The return crossing was not so bumpy but still quite rough in places, it makes you marvel at these intrepid sailors who choose to brave the seas to prove themselves and face waves the size of houses. I fell asleep, only for a few moments, with all the fresh air and exercise we’d had and we got back to the terminal at 6.00pm where the bus then brought us back here, dropping off the other day trippers on the way. After a refreshing cuppa, we walked into Northbridge, the local centre where you have the choice of just about every kind of food within a square mile radius – mostly Chinese or Vietnamese. We ended up in a food court where we both had noodles, mine with roast duck and Tom with bbq pork and chicken – really good value and very tasty. The whole area was heaving with people – obviously THE place to be.

Then it was a slow walk back and time to watch Die Another Day before falling into bed – another day over.