Rottnest and the Quokkas

When I were a wee lass… just a few short years ago… I had a friend named Weapon, who told me stories of the Quokkas on Rottnest Island. I wasn’t going to be in his home town, and not go and see the quokkas. Poor Himself didn’t have a chance.

Other than wanting to go, this side excursion was mostly unplanned. So it was off to the concierge asking him to wield his magic for us! (I love a good concierge! They can do anything!)

We came home that evening to a note under our door that we’d be picked up at ludicrous hour the next morning. With alarms set, we drifted off to sleep.

Before the alarm went off we had a phone call from the tour company just confirming with us that we wanted to go on this day’s ferry over to the island and asking for our credit card number! Well, at least we weren’t going to miss the boat.

We had decided that out of all the available options, our best bet was just to see what we could of the island on foot. It’s not all that big, and we know we work best at our own pace.

There may also have been a tiny bit of me that was worried that I wouldn’t be able to find the quokkas and I wanted to be “on the ground” and able to stop as soon as I spotted one!

My fears turned out to be unfounded.

Yeah, they were … I’m not going to say everywhere, because they are (as I had feared) nocturnal animals, but certainly along the coast and in the shade they were easy to spot, and friendly enough to come up to you, even if you weren’t allowed to pat or feed them.

We were pointed in the direction of a beautiful bay by some fellow islanders in bathing suits, and took time out from our game of “spot the fluffy” to have a swim in the Indian Ocean.

The temperature was perfect. The sea was wonderful. We swam for a bit, then stood on some rocks and watched the fishes swimming beneath us. I’d forgotten just how delightful clear blue sea water could be! (*takes a long hard look over at the Aegean*)

We wandered our way back around through an inland road, marveling at the lake, the lack of trees, our need for more water, and stopping in the shady patches to take more photos of quokkas. We just returned in time for the ferry to take us back over to Perth for the evening.

One of our best adventures ever! Next time I believe I’d like to camp on the island, or stay in some of the accommodation for a few days 😉

There’s still more to come from our West Australian adventure!