Last week it was Stephen's birthday. All the kids and Ray and Ailsa (Steve's parents) came over and we went out to lunch in Scarborough and home for coffee and cake.
As usual I had trouble trying to work out what to get him as he just buys whatever he needs whenever he needs it. But, after going out with my dear friend Lesley for the best hot chocolate ever from San Churro at Hillarys, she gave me the idea for going to Rottnest Island. So I decided it would be Kerry's Magical Mystery Tour.
As usual I had trouble trying to work out what to get him as he just buys whatever he needs whenever he needs it. But, after going out with my dear friend Lesley for the best hot chocolate ever from San Churro at Hillarys, she gave me the idea for going to Rottnest Island. So I decided it would be Kerry's Magical Mystery Tour.
Steve had no idea where we were going until we arrived at Hillarys Boat Harbour. Neither of us had been to Rottnest since we were about 18 and that was a long long time ago.
On the way over on the 'Rottnest Fast Ferries' we were treated to quite a few whales springing out of the water. So beautiful!!
After buying bus tickets to take a trip around the island it was a short walk to the HotelRottnest. Which used to be called The Quokka Arms last time we were there. Very nice hotel with all white bed linen, I love white linen!
The hotel was built between 1859 and 1864 and was the governor's summer house. The island was for the governor and his family and government dignitaries, anyone else needed a permit to land on the island. From 1838 to 1931 the island was also used as a prison for around 3,700 Aboriginal men and boys.
While we had fish and chips for lunch at Aristos's we planned our afternoon caching. These were found fairly easily and without too much hiking. Then we hoped on the bus and did a lap of the island. We had a running commentary from the bus driver which made it very interesting. The island is a lot bigger than we had thought.
We saw this mother and baby Quokka on our way back from lunch and on our walk to find caches we saw many more. Apparently there are around 10,000 quokka's living on Rottnest and more living in the south west.
By the time we got back from the bus trip it was time for a drink and a bit of a rest. The island was very quiet as it wasn't a weekend, there were no schoolies and it wasn't school holidays. Also, at 4:30pm most of the workers leave and return to the mainland, so it was even quieter .
During dinner at the hotel quite a few quokka's came in looking for scraps that people had dropped. So cute with their joey's in their pouches.
(We had some better footage but my mac won't recognise the format from my phone. So we used the only one we had on Steve's new iphone!!)
After dinner we went for a stroll along the pier and met some of the 'locals'
The next day we had breakfast at Dome with the seagulls, it was very nice. It started to rain so we had to change our plans and only did one cache, but with a bit of history involved. Rottnest had been used in both the first and second world wars and the abandoned buildings and battery's made it very interesting.
View from a battery looking out towards Perth.
A very old cemetery. There's a cache in there!!
The view from the pub as we waited for the ferry to take us back to the mainland.
We would recommend a trip to Rottnest Island even if only for a day trip but would avoid the holiday season if possible.
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