On Saturday we woke up early which appears now to have become a thing! Today was one we’d be looking forward to and we were very glad to still be able to make the trip. We were off to Rottnest Island to see the Quokkas and this time, in the wild.
Originally, we had been due to catch the ferry from Freemantle and then hire bikes to get around the island as there are no cars. Luckily, in the circumstances, we’d been able to change our booking and were now leaving by ferry from Barrack Street Jetty, Perth and ditching the bikes in favour of the ‘Rottnest Bayseeker’ bus tour. This turned out to be a right result.
Firstly, the ferry up the Swan River to Freemantle was great. We had seats up on the sun deck (in the shade) and the captain gave an interesting commentary as we went along. The views changed as we left the city skyline behind then went past the houses of the rich and famous on the beautiful, lush banks of the river. When we got to Freemantle we were quite surprised to see the huge cranes and container ships…maybe it was a blessing that we’d had to cancel our stay here!
It was lovely and warm up in the sun deck but once we got out into the open see it became a little more rocky and breezy. I kept my eyes on the horizon as the lovely crew served us Icepops to keep us cool. After an hour and a half since setting off we were arriving into the pretty harbour of Rottnest Island. As we approached we had an Indigenous welcome as the island ‘Wadjemup’ is sacred in the Aboriginal history. All of a sudden it became incredibly peaceful and calm and it felt like this was a place we were going to love.
This reminds me of something I’ve been meaning to talk about. Although we haven’t really been on an Aboriginal ‘heritage’ tour or directly learned about ‘Dreamtime’ stories, we have seen hints along the way. One thing that is very noticeable is part of the ‘Reconciliation’ with the past. For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island peoples, Australia’s colonial history is characterised by devastating land dispossession, violence and racism. The most obvious part of this reconciliation process that we’ve seen is known as an ‘Acknowledgement of Country’. This manifests itself in statues in the various cities and towns, signs at Airports, in verbal greetings to trips and events and on all the different websites. The podcast I’ve been listening to on the History of Australia begins every episode with an Acknowledgment of Country.
For example on arriving in Rottnest the greeting might go like this
“As we arrive here today, we’d like to acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the Wadjemup land on which we tread. We would like to pay our respects to the Elders past, present and future of the Whadjuk Noongar people.”
It’s important because for so long the Aboriginal and Torres Island peoples have experienced a long history of exclusion from Australian history books, the Australian flag, the Australian anthem and for many years, Australian democracy.
It’s an interesting approach and I noticed that when our tour with Shelita in Broken Hill began with such an acknowledgement, a lot of the older Aussie’s in the group raised their eyebrows and tutted loudly. Hm.
Certainly Rottnest Island played its part in this terrible history and we visited the little museum which tries to educate about this. Today the island is a place for happy visitors but in the past it was used to imprison and mistreat Aboriginal peoples who were put to forced hard labour in quarrying limestone and building some of the settlement that remains today.
Anyway…enough of the bleak history. Today Rottnest Island is more famous for two things 1) Its beautiful beaches and stunning waters and 2) The 1,300 Quokkas who call Rottnest their home and who are an Instagram sensation.
Quokkas are everywhere on Rottnest Island and in fact it’s how it got its name. Although these smiling little cuties are marsupials of the wallaby family but smaller, the Dutch guy who discovered the island way back in 1696 thought it was infested with rats ….hence he called it “Rottnest Island”!
Jane was v keen to capture the iconic photo of a Quokka standing up smiling, and we tried to tempt them with tasty looking leaves. They weren’t really playing and perhaps preferred the dropped chocolate ice cream outside the bakery.
The settlement area is very busy with people trying to get to grips with their bikes or stocking up on food and water for the day. But it is also very shady so great to keep cool and we enjoyed lunch of a sausage roll and a slice of Raspberry Lamington from the Bakery and cold ice peach tea.
After this we decided we had time to go for a short walk to Pinky Beach which should only take 20 mins through the accommodation huts (v basic) and trees. However, although the beach was very lovely with white sand and sea of every possible shade of blue and green, it was ridiculously hot. I felt incredibly frazzled and Jane got her sandals wet when a wave came in further than expected. This place wasn’t for us and I could get away quick enough to find a sheltered spot. What on earth had we been thinking when we thought we could ride around here on bikes? To be fair the 40degree heat is exceptional for Perth at this time of year but still….thank goodness for Jason and his VIP bus trip!
There were only about 10 of us on the 1:45 trip and the bus was lovely and air conditioned as we drove around the whole island which is bigger than I’d thought and quite hilly in places. We learned more about the history and the flora and fauna as we drove along the quiet lanes exploring all of the gorgeous beaches and swimming spots. Unlike Hamilton Island, Rottnest is a A grade reserve and totally government owned so there is very little development allowed and the Quokkas come first.
The tour round took about an hour and a half with just two short stops but the views through the windows were great and we took 100s of photos. Once back at the harbour it was more of less time to catch the ferry back to Perth. We again sat in the sundeck and enjoyed the cruise back in the fading sunshine.
Jane found us a nice place to eat in St George’s Terrace and we had a lovely meal at Sentinel. We felt a little under-dressed in our sweaty gear from the day out whereas other diners were all dressed up and off to the theatre! But who cares….those beers tasted really good. What a fabulous day and we happily found our way home once more via Uber.
Where shall we go to next? 