Epic Round The World Trip Adventures! Stunning Photos & Articles - A fascinating gap year travel journal covering every stop of their journey.

Rottnest Island - West Australia
Round The World Trip Journal

(12th March) Perth - Rottnest Island
When the Dutch discovered Rottnest Island (a half hour boat trip from Fremantle, Perth) they found some little animals that they assumed were rats and so named the island "Rat's Nest" Island, hence "Rottnest". These rats are in fact quokkas - a small marsupial. The island is about 10km long by 5km wide and no cars are allowed so the only way to get around is either by bus, by foot or by bike. This place swarms with tourists and in peak summer holiday months it is fully booked out months in advance. We even heard that because it is so oversubscribed they hold an annual draw to pick names out for the restricted number of places and the results are advertised in the newspaper. We were glad we were off season but the island was still heaving and you have to queue to hire bikes, snorkelling gear and buy food! Once you have everything sorted off you go round the island. We headed south to the snorkelling beaches of Little Salmon Bay and Parker Point. It wasn't a patch on other snokelling we had done up North, Mike suspects that there is probably much better bays on the island to snorkel, a bit of local knowledge is required me thinks, but it was a lovely way to cool off since it was a sweltering hot day again. Can't remember the last time we rode bikes!!! There are lots of pretty little bays dotted around the island and its quite a rugged rocky coastline with white sand beaches and turquoise water - very scenic. We rode up to the lighthouse for a panoramic view of the island and then headed up to the north of the island. It was here that we came across a group of quokkas by the side of the road. As we put down our bags they came bustling around, sniffing and licking them. One even found a zip slightly undone and tried to pull stuff out! They are really cute and extremely tame, one sniffed and licked Mike's hand and as you can see from the photos they weren't scared of us at all and we were able to stroke them. Back onto our bikes and past the Pink Lakes (not much water in them so not so pink really!). On the northern coast we went to Parrakeet Bay and Geordie Bay. We decided this is the place we'd like to stay if we came again. A very pretty little cove with apartments looking out over the sea. This is the bay behind Mike in the photo where he is sitting on his bike. From the cliff top looking down we spotted a 6ft manta ray cruising along the beach. Back at the port we returned our bikes and retreated to the Quokka Arms for a nice cold beer and to rest our aching limbs. Jo had Elvis legs as a result of not having done much physical exercise in ages and her butt bones were sore for days afterwards!