Rottnest Island

Yesterday was the highlight of our Perth stay: we visited Rottnest Island! The island where the quokkas live and their selfies on the internet are pretty famous, very cute and especially funny. And now we have been there too. And it was just as great as we thought and even more awesome because the island itself is super beautiful, surrounded by picturesque coasts and clear water. Additionally, we (once again) got lucky with the weather and it was often sunny and only rained briefly.

At the beginning, we actually wanted to book our ferry ticket the day before to make sure everything is secure. But unfortunately, that didn't work out because the website always had some other problems and, for example, showed that no bikes are available anymore. We wanted to book the "Experience Package," which includes the round trip ferry, the entrance fee for the island, and the rental fee for a whole day of biking. After a lot of back and forth, we decided to just book everything directly at the harbor from the provider. And that was clearly the best decision because when we arrived at the Fremantle harbor at 8:30 am the next day after a short train ride, the employee behind the sales counter told us that today there is a 50% discount on adult prices. So instead of paying 99 AUD per person, we only paid 59 AUD per person for everything. Even with the student price, we wouldn't have gotten that low! And the internet didn't show us this offer. Pretty cool, right? At 9:45 am, our ferry departed and before that, we took a look around the harbor. The ride on the ship was quite rocky and a little boy next to us got sick and needed his vomit bag... But fortunately, not us and we were able to enjoy the ride, which lasted about 30 minutes. At the dock, we immediately got our bikes and helmets, and so we could start right away. So that we could also park the bikes, we rented a lock from another bike rental facility on the island.

First, we rode along the south side of the island. We chose the green bike tour, which was suggested on the island map. The island itself is quite hilly and sometimes you really had to make an effort to get up these hills. But over time, you get the hang of it and you get used to the 3-speed bike. The path itself was really beautiful and behind every hill, a new view opened up, offering water in various shades of blue, fine sand, or steep cliffs. At certain places, you could park your bike and walk down to the beach. That's what we did and enjoyed the view. As soon as the sun came out, it was also very warm and the water sparkled beautifully. At Little Salmon Bay, we had our picnic on a cliff while watching the waves and seagulls.

The rest of the way led us to a lighthouse, more viewpoints, various vegetation, and the salt lakes in the middle of the island. They are much saltier than the ocean and were used by the ladies for beauty purposes in the past. But they also made the settlement of the island much more difficult because you couldn't drink the water or irrigate fields with it.

On our way, we also saw the first quokkas. The little animals are a type of kangaroo and are used to humans because of the many tourists on the island. They even wanted to crawl into our backpacks, which shows that many people also feed them with all sorts of things. But we only fed them with plants that grew around them. And it's the trust that makes the selfies possible, which we immediately tried as well. There were a few funny snapshots :D

After we arrived back at Thomson Bay, where all the ships dock and where there are some shops and the visitor center, we parked our bikes and joined another free guided tour. The tour was called "Quokka Walk" and the lady took us to some places where you can see the animals well and told us something about their history and behavior. For example, we were lucky to be in Perth in winter because in summer, you sometimes don't see any quokkas. They are also nocturnal, so during the day only a few of them are on the move and they move quite slowly. At night, however, there are apparently thousands of them, so you should be careful if you still want to drive around. But you can also rent a bungalow or a room on the island for one or more nights and see the little kangaroos at night.

Overall, there are 10,000-13,000 quokkas on the island. And they only live there, on the mainland they are practically extinct and the ones that still exist are genetically completely different from the Rottnest Island quokkas. They were cut off from those on the mainland 7,000 years ago when the sea level rose and thus developed differently. The island was also named after the quokkas because its discoverer (a Dutchman) mistook them for rats and the Dutch word for rat is "Rott." So a rat nest :D

The Quokka Walk took about an hour and then we hopped back on our bikes. This time we rode to the northern coast of the island, discovered another lighthouse there, and found more beautiful beaches. From an elevated position, we were able to watch the sunset before we returned because our ferry left at 6:10 pm.

So it was a completely great day and a trip to Rottnest Island is really recommended! Today was a horrible day with very strong winds and rain, so I had time to sort all the pictures. Otherwise, we finally slept in today - very nice! Tomorrow we have to get up at 4:30 am because our flight departs at 8:40 am and it takes quite a long time to get to the airport. I'm really looking forward to Darwin, but I'm also sad that we have to leave Perth already. Somehow, I have gotten used to the run-down hostel and the cool weather and would like to stay longer! But who knows, maybe our adventure will bring us back here again :)