Rottnest Island

(Thompson Bay, Rottnest Island. The picture does not do it justice)

Today we went to Rottnest Island. It was discovered by a Dutch man who proclaimed the island infested with rats (hence the name- Rats nest) however he had mistaken the Quokkas for rats. They look like giant hamsters with tails, crossed with kangaroos. Quokkas are timid peacful creatures whose worst enemy is man. Or seventeen year old men! A few weeks ago some stupid nasty piece of work 'posted' a quokka in the island post box. The poor thing was there from Friday til Monday morning when a postie found him dead. I have no idea how anyone could be nasty to these animals because they are so lovely, docile and above all, cute.


(A Quokka)

Rottnest is a small island 18 kms off the coast of Western Australia. Such a small distance but such a dramatic change.

When I told you before about the turquoise water of Leighton Beach, don't listen to my crap. This place made the water of Perth look like a cheap plastic imitation of Turquoise.

Today I saw the water in its semi precious jewel state.

Clear turquoise water, white sand, little fishes swimming around. It felt like paradise. We hired bikes and went for a cycle around the island.

However I didn't allow for the fact that the breeze would be a hot 38 degrees. The air was blowing around like the air coming out of a furnace. The small pockets of coolish air were my only relief. Pretty soon we had to stop and throw ourselves into the water.

We found a deserted beach (totally living up to my desert island fantasy) and peeled off our sweaty tshirts. I was submerged within thirty seconds which isn't bad for flippers, snorkel and mask having to be applied first.

I have an announcement to make.....

I actually snorkelled over seaweed!!

A huge acheivement I think you'll find?! I think I've mentioned my phobia about seaweed before. It didn't help matters when I heard that sharks had been circling Rottnest for the last couple of weeks since a dead whale had washed up on one of the beaches. Everytime I submerged myself in the waters I would freak myself out by imagining a shark stalking me in a Stephen Spielberg way. In fact when I would throw my head out of the water like a frightened heroine I was slightly disapointed to find that there was no black fin circling me alongside the 'Du Duh, Du Duh' soundtrack in my head!


(Our desert island hideaway)

Anyway I saw lots of fish swimming. At one point a massive fish was swimming away from me so fast that he swam into the 'big black' without me noticing. After a few seconds I was thrashing around like I'd been caught in that awful film 'Open Water'.

The 'big black' still scares the shit out of me! You can't see the sand at the bottom. I think I'm ok when I can see the sand at the bottom even if its a fine line between seaweed clumps. Anyway I managed to snorkel back to the clear sandy bottomed water within a few seconds. I even managed to procure a few massive shells from the bottom of the sea on the way.

The only thing to do at the end of the day was to reside at the Quokka Arms and have a few beers whilst sitting on the wall overlooking the clear waters.