Fri 17 Aug 2007 - 'Rotto!'

Had to get up early this morning to make sure I was in the city for shortly after 8am to give enough time to get to the Barrack St jetty for the ferry over to Rottnest island. Rottnest is closest to Fremantle and the ferry from Perth winds its way down the Swan River out to the coast and after stopping in Fremantle , takes you across the Indian Ocean to Rottnest.

The island gets its name from the Dutcfh word for rat's nest, when Willem de Vlamingh, a dutch explorer mistook the Quokka's, a marsupial that is native to the island for large rats when he 'discovered' the island. I only had a couple of hours to enjoy the island, as I had to be back in time to pickup the hire care, so I decided to join a walking tour which brought a small group of us to a lookout point on a hill which takes its name from de Vlamingh. The island is really beautiful with a number of inland lakes that were used in days gone by for harvesting salt, thanks to high salt levels. There is very little traffic on Rottnest, with most people making their way around on foot or by bike. After our tour finished, I went for a bit of a wander down a dirt track which skirted the edge of the salt lakes. I was looking for a clearing in the trees to take a few photos. I wasn't quite prepared for what happened next! There were two sea birds down at the waters edge and I though I might get a good photo if I moved closer to them. I could hear the chirping of another bird coming from the other side of the track I was walking on, but didn't really think anything of it. The two birds that I had been maneouvering my way down to started to fly towards me before I got close enough to take my photo. I thought I might get a photo of the birds flying. What I didn't realise was that they were flying straight for me! The chirping I'd heard was obviously their baby, and I was getting a little too close for their comfort. They dived at me a few times, getting closer and closer each time. Needless to say, I got the message, the first time they did this and was making a hasty retreat from the area!

On my way back to the main settlement I stopped at a spot where you can see some of the Quokka's. You can see how they were mistaken for rats, their tales in particular have a very rat like appearance. They're mainly nocturnal, so they weren't really up to much but I did get to see one of the younger ones getting into its mothers' pouch.

When I got back to the main settlement for some lunch I came across one of the Quokkas who had obviously decided that the day time is a more profitable time to try and get your hands on some of the food being gobbled by the tourists. This fella was much more active than the ones I saw earlier. He wasn't the only animal with that idea, a large number of ravens, sea gulls, and even a couple of peacocks were congregating near the restaurants in the hopes of scavenging some left overs. I saw a couple of sea gulls rather stealthily grab a few chips literally right out of the hands of some unsuspecting tourists. This would result in all the other birds going after the one with the chip!

When I was killing some time before the return ferry trip I went for a walk along the beach and one of the jettys. I got some photos of a stork that was hanging out at the edge of the water which was pretty cool. Both to Fremantle, train to Perth and then picked up the hire car. Nice to have a set of wheels again, even if it is an automatic.

Kelly was out with her work colleagues, so myself and Steve grabbed a few beers and a fantastic Thai takeaway.