rotto

last week, elliot and amy, the macphees and john and i headed off to rottnest island - aka rotto. we left home at 8am to get to the dock in freo to catch the ferry.after buying our tickets for ourselves and our bikes, we boarded the ferry. the ferry ride takes about 30mins, so we got to the island with plenty of time to enjoy the day.

some info about rotto:

-the name rottnest came from the dutch mariners who discovered it and mistook the quokka (see below) for rats
-the quokka is a small marsupial rat-ish creature, which only lives on the island
-rotto is 11km long and 4.5 km wide
-the island was used in season 9 of the amazing race (they also visit freo and the tunnels in the prison!)
-it was the site of an internment camp during WWI and II and as an aboriginal prison in the late 1800's
-snorkelling and diving are very popular off the beaches
-fantastic beaches!
-no cars are on the island except for service vehicles and buses to shuttle tourists from point a - b
-approx 500 000 people visit rotto every year! (including us)

now that you're briefed, i'll continue. upon arrival, we hoped on our bikes and began the 22km round trip ride around the island. we all assumed it would be a piece of cake, but the island is amazingly hilly. and windy at that! plus, we added a few extra kms here and there with wrong turns and a few purposeful turn offs onto other roads.

the beaches and nature on the island are quite spectacular, with turquoise water, colourful reefs and white sandy beaches. the landscape of the middle of the island is typically australian... low lying bushes, dying trees and moderately waterless lakes.

our first major stop on the tour was at the lighthouse. it was a manned lighthouse until 1991 (i believe) before it became fully automated. it is at the top of a very steep hill (very low gear climb...) it provided us with fantastic views of the perth skyline and an opportunity to cool off a bit.

next stop was for lunch. we biked down a bit of a turnoff to cape vlamingh, which took us about 2-3 extra kms to get to. unfortunately, it wasn't a beach and we had to eat on a boardwalk type thing. it was excessively hot at this point, so you can imagine that we were a bit disappointed. we ate quickly, trying to avoid the flies (who like to explore your nose, mouth, eyes and ears) then took off on the bikes to find a bit of relaxation and beaches!

the beach we chose to stop at was called ricey beach. white sand, blue/clear water and little waves thanks to the reef 50 meters out. conditions were perfect for some in-the-water-frisbee and just plain ol' frolicking around. we unwound and sunned ourselves there for a little before we had to head back.

our last stop was to grab a cold drink at the dome (similar to starbucks). while there, we managed to see some quokkas (they know where the good stuff is!) they do look a lot like giant rats. but because they are marsupials, i think that they are much cuter.

after a long day, we ferried back home and made some food, as we were heading out to listen to the carols by candlelight. i mentioned before that this is an aussie christmas tradition. we packed up a picnic basket, grabbed some wine/rum and made our way to the park. the whole idea of this event is quite nice, but i still can't get used to the idea of singing "dashing through the snow" and "i'm dreaming of a white christmas" when it's 40 degrees outside (and it was!). but it was nice to get a bit of christmas spirit before the big day. after such a long busy day, we decided to head home and get some sleep. christmas was getting close...

xo