Rottnest Island

Ok, I've been a total slacker! I haven't had much time in the last week and honestly I just didn't feel like writing. So, I guess this is where I pick up the slack. On Sunday April 18 I paid a visit to Rottnest Island, or as the locals call it "Rotty". Rottnest is the weekend get away or vacation destination for a lot of the people in Perth. So, I walked down to Barrack Street Jetty and hopped onto a ferry. The houses on the river are amazing. There were a strip of them that were simply unbelievable. One of them was worth $85 million and was supposedly the most expensive house in Australia. There are photos on myspace. (link below) The ferry took about 30 to 45 minutes to travel down the Swan River and then we made a stop at Freemantle. Freemantle is like a suburb of Perth and is right on the ocean. There's a bunch of loading docks for ocean freighters and a lot of markets and other things to explore. I am definitely going to have to dedicate some time to Freemantle on one of my other trips. We picked up some more passengers at Freemantle and then headed out to sea. I think the whole trip took almost 2 hours as travel was pretty slow. If I remember right, the ferry left at 8:30am or something and we got to Rottnest at about 11:30. Here's the link to the ferry service I took http://rottnestexpress.com.au/ Oh! As we were left the Barrack St Jetty and went down the river, I could not believe the jelly fish! There were a TON of them in the river. I could see two different kinds, but once we got to sea, they all disappeared. http://www2.sese.uwa.edu.au/swan4kids/mpallaboutjellyfish.html On with the story... so I get off of the ferry and I have rented a bike and a snorkel. It was like a mad house trying to get a bike. Pretty much everyone on the ferry bum rushed the bikes and I got a crappy one... a really crappy one. (You can't drive a car on Rottnest, but there's a bus service and they have service vehicles on the island. But, most everyone rides a bike, and when in Rome...) So off I go with my crappy bike, a crumbling bike helmet, and a snorkel kit. I hit the shops first, just to get a layout of where everything is. You know me and shops right... All I bought though was a hat, sunscreen, and 2 bottles of water. There would be more time for shopping after my beach adventure. Off I go on my POS bike. I'm cruising along and I guess its been awhile since I've rode a bike because it really hurt my ass. (When I get home I'm buying a bike though.)
**Side note: everyone in Perth "cycles"... and I mean everyone! They love riding bikes.
I'm thinking I'm doing pretty good and the ride is a total of 4.4 kilometers to Little Salmon Bay and the snorkel trail. Then comes the hills. ha ha They weren't even big hills, but I couldn't switch gears on my bike because the chain would fall off. I did my best, but ended up walking up a couple hills. The island itself seems kind of harsh. There are some really cool trees, but besides that, there was a lot of terrain that reminded me of South Texas. A lot of brush and shrubs and it looked very thorny and full of snakes. It was really beautiful though! (I didn't actually see any snakes. I did, however, see a big lizard that got ran over by the bus. He was in two pieces.) It looked very hot and dry. So after the second most miserable bike ride in my life (the first being at Georgetown late with Cory Benjamin) I finally arrive at Little Salmon Bay. I can't really express how beautiful this is. You're just going to have to see the pictures. I put them on my myspace page http://www.myspace.com/mitzid I park the POS bike and headed down to the beach. I dumped all my stuff in a good spot on the sand. There were a lot of boats anchored in the bay and a lot of people just lounging around on their boats. I don't know how much those boats were worth, but they were really nice. Now its time for snorkling. My snorkeling experience is limited to Flathead Lake Montana. So, in short.. I have pretty much zero to none. I know how to put the mask on and the concept and I'm going to give it my best shot. The water was cool, but it felt great and it was absolutely crystal clear. I get my gear on and here I go. It really wasn't too bad. Initially I felt a little like hyperventilating, but I got over that... for the moment. There is a snorkel trail that you can follow that winds through the coral. You are defiantly not supposed to stand on the coral because it can damage it. To get to the beginning of the snorkel train you have to swim over some coral and some plants on the sea bed. As soon as I went over the plants, I freaked out a little. I wasn't ready for snorkeling where I couldn't see sandy bottom and I couldn't stop to stand up. I will give it another go next time though. So, the only fish I saw were just some little silver minnow looking things. I spent about another hour in the beautiful water. Mom, you never would have gotten out. Then I curled up on the white sandy beach. I slept for about an hour on the beach. I wanted to stay there all day, but I had to catch the ferry back at 4pm. The bike ride to the beach was kind of bad. The ride back was pure hell. It was really hot and I was tired! I also looked like I was mentally handicapped. I really didn't want to get sunburnt so I wrapped my green turtle sarong around my shoulders to keep the sun off. So, picture this: Me, ridding a bike, flying down a hill trying to get as much speed as possible so I can make it up the next one, with a crumbling bike helmet, a red face, ratted beach hair, a green cape flapping in the breeze. I'm sure I gave the locals a laugh... stupid American tourists. I was almost back to town, but I really needed to stop for a drink of water. I was kind of disappointed because I hadn't seen a Quokka yet. That was one of my main objectives and I'd been looking all over for one while I was riding. The Quokka is a marsupial and is pretty much only found on Rottnest Island. They have been killed off on the main land by foxes and cats that were introduced by the Brits. It is really really cute too! It looks like a little stuffed fluffy but with a big rat tail. I pulled over at this little hut on the side of the road, and what do you know... there's a freaking Quokka sitting right in the middle of the hut. I was freaking out... OMG... LOOK AT THIS THING.. OMG ITS SO CLOSE. It was just sitting there looking at me with the cutest face I've ever seen. So, I said "hi buddy". And he goes "hop hop" a little bit closer to me. He was looking at me like "oh please kind American tourist... give me a treat". How can you resist that? I didn't have any treats, but I was sucking the water down and the bottle just happened to have a little cap on it. I filled the cap with water and he came right over and started drinking. He wasn't afraid of me at all. I could sit there and pet him and he didn't care. He was REALLY thirsty though. Pretty soon I look over and there's a bunch more in the bush just sitting there with that same look. "Please give us some treats" After about 20 minutes and some good conversation with him I had to leave to make my ferry. I really wanted to take him home. I loved him. So, I get back to the shops and turn my bike in. I don't know what came over me, but I was starting to feel sick... really sick. I got on the ferry and the whole way back, it took everything I had not to puke all over. At Barrack St Jetty I wanted to get a taxi home soooo bad and just my luck, I couldn't find one. I ended up walking home and when I got there, I puked my guts out. I laid in bed all night sicker than a dog. I don't know why? I don't know if I ate something bad or what... it wasn't pleasant though. Not a good ending to one of the greatest days I've had in awhile.