TripRoundUnder

Making our way up the WA coast, it was getting closer and closer to our trip to Rottnest Island, an adventure that we had been looking forward to for a very long time and definitely had played a part in us doing this trip in the first place! We arrived in Fremantle and spent some time exploring the area, doing all the things you are supposed to do in Fremantle, coffee, fish and chips and sitting by the docks. We had a lovely little Airbnb booked near the old heritage listed convict prison and can’t recommend it higher to anyone visiting Fremantle, perfect after a long stretch of camping. Our French host even left a picnic basket of breakfast pastries and freshly squeezed orange juice each morning and we were seriously thinking of settling down in this town! We should also add that we visited the Manuka Woodfire restaurant and their woodfire bread and dips almost deserves it’s own blog post, holy moly it was good.

Now, it is time that we’ve all been waiting for… Rottnest Island!

Up bright and early for the 8:30am ferry, we were blessed with a beautifully calm and sunny day, something Lauren’s stomach was very pleased to see. The crossing was very calm and before you know it, we were disembarking and collecting our pushbikes for the day. Although Lauren had been here before, it several years ago, so we were both super excited to explore and most importantly see a quokka!

We decided to make our way clockwise around the outskirts of the island and after a short ride admiring the turquoise blue water, we gave in and decided to go for a snorkel at Little Salmon Bay. This was a great choice as the water was crystal clear and the sea life surrounding the coral reef was so beautiful. We even had a dolphin sighting, quite alarming for a second as when you are in the water, you generally don’t want to see a fin poking out! Much to Steve’s frustration, we even spotted some crayfish hanging out under the reef, almost taunting him as if they knew that catching one of them by hand was on his bucket list.

Continuing on from here, every turn in the road seemed to be the beginning of another spectacular bay and we were realising that one day’s adventure would not be enough to properly see the whole thing. We will be back! Continuing to the Western most edge of the island, we stopped again to admire its more rugged side and check out where the world surfing competition is held. This also happened to be close to the home of a sealion colony, who seemed to be very relaxed, either sleeping on the rocks or lazily swimming in the water. Doesn’t seem like a bad life!

It also was starting to dawn on us that a decent sized boat was going to be a must for us in the future, there were boats everywhere, from magnificent yachts to smaller run abouts from the mainland. Steve was even thinking about how feasible it would be to get his boat license, hire a boat and then pilot it back for a marine based visit!

We continued on our cycle and as we were heading around a bend in the road, we saw what we had desperately been looking for, a group of quokkas on the roadside. The bikes had barely stopped moving as we rushed over to say hello to these friendly little creatures. You couldn’t get the smile off our faces (or theirs) as we sat down amongst them (without crowding too much) and marveled at how cute and friendly they were. Our mascot Quokka who had come along for the ride in Steve’s backpack was very excited to meet his cousins as well. These little creatures certainly lived up to the hype surrounding them and we just wish that it was possible to have one at home!

Leaving the quokkas to their snacks, we made our way further around the island, starting to feel a little more worn out after a decent cycle. We decided that it was time to find a good beach to relax on and a much needed cooling swim. We decided on advice from Lauren’s brother that Pinky Beach was our destination and it certainly fit the bill. It was so nice to cool down in the water and relax our tired legs on the beach, still smiling from our meeting with the quokka friends.

Sadly, our time on Rottnest was coming to an end and we made our way back to the ferry terminal and dragged our tired bodies onto the boat, smiles on our faces and happy memories in our heads. Until next time Rottnest!