Rottnest Island

April 22nd, 2014

This morning started early. The ferry left at 8:30 to go to the island. We power-walked to the ferry station and made our way to the outside upper deck.  Leaving from Perth we had to travel through the Swan River. One of the ferry crew talked about the different places along the river as we passed. It was a great surprise tour. We had to stop in Freemantle to load more people on before heading to the island. Once we landed it was chaos. Eventually, Alix and I were able to make our way through to retrieve our bikes. 

We picked up our maps and we were off... our first stop was to see the Quakkas. We weren't sure where to find them but we quickly learned they are everywhere (hence why the Dutch named it rats nest island). The Quakkas are way too cute to be called rats though!

We sat and watched them for awhile and took hundreds of photos... then we decided we should be on our way since we only had 4 hours on the island. We biked up to the Lighthouse. Alix nicknamed the ride "leg murder." There was a lot of up hill but we got to see some salt flats and great views of the vegetation of the island. The cute quakkas made the ride better too.

 Leg murder

Salt flats

One we arrived at the lighthouse we were relieved and amazed by the view. It was gorgeous! We wanted to go in it but it cost money and time and neither one we wanted to spend. So we just admired it from the outside.

"Leg murder"

We found our way back down and around to find our spot for lunch and snorkelling. There were so many places to snorkel but we only had time for one. It was incredible! It was the first coral reef I had ever been in. It is not like the Great Barrier reef because it is mostly made up of hard reef building corals. There were seagrass beds surrounding it too. 

Same species of fish from the day before (this one was half the size of me!)

Coral growth plots

 West Australian Nudibranch

I had to put two pictures of this nuchibranch! It is my favourite one! Alix found it as we were swimming back to shore. I was so excited I watched it for 10 minutes as it moved from one rock to the other. It is only about the size of my pinky! I had been looking for it at penguin island too. 

Once I got back into shore we had to head to the ferry. The path we took back gave us a beautiful view of the island and perth at a distance. 

I could have spent a whole week exploring the island. Unfortunately, we had to say goodbye and with one final pose on our bikes we were off.  

In the morning some people had seen a dolphin. Alix had never seen a wild dolphin before and didn't see the one in the morning. So eventually we moved our way to seats in the back to search the water for dolphins. Then one surfaced and I jumped out of my seat pointing to it. Alix was so excited. It followed the boat for a short distance then jumped out of the water (after I turned my camera off of course). Alix spotted another pair awhile later. It was a perfect way to end our trip to Rottnest. When we got back to the hostel we had the task of getting all of our gear cleaned. By the time everything was clean we were keen for food. One of our roommates told us there were more food options and pubs across the bridge. Alix and I didn't really find either... we must have missed the street she was talking about. We got dressed up planning to go out but we settled for a nice dinner and a drink at the Brisband. The waiter we had was hilarious and the atmosphere was fun. 

Both of us were too tired and didn't feel like going out, so we made our way to McDonalds for ice cream and internet! I was so excited because I was able to Facetime Eric and tell him about my adventures. We laughed and talked until he had to go to class and I needed to go to sleep. Alix and I headed back to base camp and fell asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillow.