We had heard how popular Rottnest Island is with the locals, especially during school holidays. so we waited until the day after school went back to take a day trip. The earliest ferry left ‘B’ Wharf, Fremantle Harbour at 8:30am, so we were up at 5:30am and out the door by 6am. Luckily, I guess, there’s no daylight saving here, so we didn’t have the added insult of trudging to the railway station in the dark. We were sporting backpacks with snorkeling gear, towels and assorted essential day-tripper accessories. We were both yawning like Sydney Heads on the train, but perked up with the arrival of our ferry and coffee. It only took 30 minutes to Rottnest Island and, as you can see, the Perth skyline is still visible.
There were all kinds of packages available, but we decided just to pay for the ferry and work it out when we got there. Now, straight up, we’ve been to oversold tourist destinations before, but Rottnest Island is everything they say. This is not a small island. The ‘all you can ride’ island buses take the best part of an hour to circumnavigate and there are plenty of jump off places to beaches and points of interest. There’s a very laid back shopping precinct with a Bali feel. The island is steeped in history and the drivers gave us a running commentary as we went along. Aboriginal occupation goes back to the last ice age and it has been an internment camp, army base and more recently a covid quarantine facility. The island is diabolical for boaties as its surrounded by shallow reefs and outcrops.
Rottnest is touted as the southernmost coral reef in the world and while there was some coral and some tropical fish, Ningaloo Reef is a hard act to follow. Still, it’s a lot easier to get to and there were no shortage of locals and internationals snorkeling furiously in the shallows around the beaches.
The island is famous for a seal colony, but when we arrived, just one could be seen. The way it was swaying around, I suspect it had been glued to the rocks to avoid adverse social media.
Still, the scenery was great, with every bus stop a gateway to something different. Two highlights were Fay’s Beach and Little Armstrong Bay, little pearls of ‘could be anywhere’, where we lolled around in the sand and sea.
We got back to the settlement at Thomson Bay with an hour to spare, enough time for a drink at Frankie’s on Rotto The famous local quokkas meandered around our feet, seemingly oblivious to the human attention and more focused on whatever crumbs “accidentally” fell their way. We spotted our ride back from miles away and ambled down to the wharf in plenty of time.
The swell was somewhat more ambitious this time. Those that know Tamika well, will know how steely-eyed she would have gazed at the horizon and laughed into the paper bag.
It was a great day all-round, finally getting back to the van well after dark.