All the way to WA - The rats of Rottnest

July 31, 2023

Day 8 July 31, 2023

I have proven the age-old adage that ‘familiarity breeds contempt.’

It was Rottnest Island day at last. All I had wanted to do was to see Quokkas, since someone, in the early planning stages of our trip, had suggested we might travel to Rottnest while in Perth. I was excited. Quokkas had always seemed so impossibly cute, and I was going to meet some in the wild at long last.

We had carefully planned our route and plotted the transport options, pre-booking ferry tickets and synchronising our watches for an early start. We were all up and ready at the appointed time and everything went smoothly.

We caught the local bus (just!) and made it to the ferry terminal at Elizabeth Quay with plenty of time to spare for coffee before boarding. It was a bright sunny day, and we enjoyed the leisurely cruise down the river with informative commentary, as far as Freemantle. Then began the must faster open ocean leg to Rottnest Island. Some of us enjoyed the ocean component of the journey more than others, but we all got there in one piece.

On the island we headed off in various directions to pursue our own adventures and interests. Wallsy, the Rice’s and I opted for the 90-minute bus tour of the island, in order to gain a complete overview of the island from end to end. The Quokkas, we were told, were still sleeping and would be out and about after lunch, so we sat back and enjoyed views of vivid blue-green bays, lighthouses, brackish lakes, windblown trees and historical sites across this unique outcrop of land, some 33 kilometres from Perth.

As we arrived back in the settlement and went in search of lunch, it was evident that the Quokkas were indeed awake. There were people taking selfies with Quokkas everywhere we looked, while the Quokkas went about the business of having their own lunch and getting on with their day.

There was a mother Quokka with a baby in her pouch; another with her baby beside her, trying hard to get back into the pouch, but mumma was having none of it. Snap, snap, snap went the cameras, mine included. Yes, they were adorable … until they weren’t and suddenly, I decided, Quokkas were overrated. I sympathised with the early Dutch explorer who believed he had stumbled across an island inhabited solely by ‘rats as big as cats.’

You see, there was a line, and the Quokkas crossed it. When a Quokka jumped up on the table where we were trying to eat our salad rolls, my love affair with Quokkas was immediately over. I most definitely draw the line at having a Quokka parade around on my lunch table, trying to get a nibble at my lunch.

Following our rather fraught lunch, Wallsy and I strolled back to the Rottnest Island cemetery, a sad testament to the many young children whose lives were lost on the island in the early days of settlement. We then took the path up the hill to the lookout, where we read some more history and enjoyed the spectacular views across the island and out to sea.

Wallsy went down to check out the museum and I decided to walk along the bay, eventually finding myself at the island’s second lighthouse, known as Bathurst Lighthouse, installed after 11 lives were lost in a shipping tragedy, which proved that the one lighthouse on the island was not adequate. I eventually meandered back, enjoying the sparkling waters of the Indian Ocean and was soon reunited with Wallsy.

From here we explored the old settlement and walked a little further along the beach in the other direction as we watched a number of skydivers glide gracefully down to land on the beach. Finally, it was time to board our return ferry and we were reunited with the others who told of segway adventures and low-flying airforce planes on training flights, breaking the sound barrier, and shattering the peace and quiet of the island, not once, but twice!

The trip back seemed much more subdued than the morning trip and we disembarked at Freemantle in search of a nice place for dinner. Nicki stumbled across a rooftop bar in the National Hotel, so we all climbed the many stairs to reach the rooftop, with the promise of a tasty drink while we watched the setting sun, propelling us ever upward. We moved downstairs for dinner, where we enjoyed live music and a wonderful meal.

We chose the train option to get back to Perth and then a bus to return us to our suburb, all of which took a little more than an hour. The last-minute washing and packing is now being completed in readiness for our travels towards the south of the state which begin tomorrow.