Rottnest Island (aka Rotto).  Is an island made of limestone, roughly 10 kilometers in length located about half an hours boat ride off the coast of Fremantle.  This beauty offers a vast number of gorgeous beaches, coral reefs, waves, cycling routes, boats, food & tourists.  Emphasis on the tourists!!

 

Home to the quirky quokka, Rottnest is also a car-free island.  Don’t know what a quokka is?  Neither did I.  It’s basically a small Australian marsupial that looks like a cross between a wallaby & a mouse, (see picture below!).  They are very cute & located everywhere on the island, most prominently under the table at your feet at dinnertime waiting for a crumb!!  With the no car policy on Rotto & also a no dog policy, we left Perry the Patrol, The Clam & Barney boy behind, boarded the Rottnest Express with just our bikes & dive gear & had 3 amazing days on the island.

 

Dog Owners: Anyone needing to put their fur baby into a kennel while they’re in or around Perth – Auspet Boarding Kennels located at Southern River, half an hour out of Freo, is absolutely fantastic!!  The best we have come across during our travels around the country so far.  The owner is lovely.  She really will love & look after your dog.  The kennels themselves are large, & during the day the dogs are put out into a large fenced yard with a few other dogs to play.  Barney had a blast.  We hate leaving him, but it’s just a reality of travelling this country with a dog if you don’t wanna miss out.  Auspets definitely takes the cake!!

 

There are a few main roads on Rotto, but basically there is just one that circumnavigates the whole island with a few smaller trails leading off the main drag to all the different little nooks.  Like I said there are no cars on the island, everyone rides pushys.  It’s roughly 22k’s to cut a lap of the island, but that’s without adding in all the extra little detours.  Basically it wouldn’t take you that long to ride a lap, what adds on time are all the stops & activities you can do along the way.

It had been a while since we rode our bikes.  They were brand new this year when we left for our ‘Big Trip’.  Nowadays they aren’t looking so flash hot… But what’s a bit of rust & squealing brakes if not character!?  It was such a pleasant change playing the tourist game on bicycles, slowing down the pace.  There is a continuous number of gradual rolling hills on the island.  Sore bums & tired legs were compulsory.  We really earned our dinners, which was lucky because we were eating out & not holding back!!

 

Snorkeling at Little Salmon Bay was definitely the highlight for both of us.  With a hefty amount of colourful reef, fish, crayfish, beautiful kelp & so many small caves to dive through & explore we were truly surprised.   We spent hours out there on the first day.  And after riding around the whole island on our second day visiting & diving other locations, we went back there to snorkel the area a second time. Whenever Fred & I are snorkeling there is a 99% chance you’ll find Fred waist deep, upside down jamming himself into a tiny crevasse or cave on the hunt for crayfish (see below).  Me on the other hand you’ll find gawking at all the pretty coral, chasing the vibrant fishies, swimming through tunnels & searching for turtles!!  It is my favourite activity to do together.  We both get so excited when we find a cool cave or critter to look at.  Under the sea in another world.

 

There were more waves than we could keep count of on the island, we were pretty bummed we didn’t bring our surfboards – though it would most likely have proved a bit impractical with the waves being so far from the Hotel & our only means of transport being bikes.  We noted that the majority of surfers seemed to have come over to Rotto in their boats from Fremantle.  The island does have a bus service – I think you pay $20 & you can jump on / jump off wherever you like, but we just stuck to the bikes.

 

At Strickland Bay we saw a pod of dolphins feeding about 100m offshore.  Jumping out of the water doing little flips here & there.  As I have mentioned before, swimming with dolphins & whales is what my dreams are made of (in the wild of course!!).  And so off with the clothes & on with the dive kit it was.  In anticipation for them to swim in a bit closer to shore, we were standing knee deep in the sea at the ready.  Unfortunately they didn’t come in any closer, & the bay was looking a little dreary on the overcast morning.  Not wanting to be Bruce’s lunch we didn’t swim out to meet them.  Instead we just got wet bums & chafe.  Next time Flipper, next time!!

Simmo’s ice cream (main shop is in Dunsborough but they have a shop on Rotto too) has taken the number one ranking of best ice cream in Australia (so far) – according to the extremely experienced & accurate ‘Fred & Bear tasting scale’.  A record previously held by Dooley’s Icecream at Apollo Bay, we are extremely eager to see if any future contenders can match the beyond delicious creamy flavours of Simmo’s.

We filled in our late afternoons by watching the sunset on the north west of the island, only a short ride from the hotel.  See below!

 

Altogether it is not a cheap trip coming to Rottnest. The ferry ride, hotel stay & food were all a bit pricy $$. But it was definitely money well spent.  Apparently there are 63 beaches on the island, meaning despite the tourists there is always a peaceful spot you can find to chill out & enjoy as we did.  Nothing short of beautiful, we would reccommend not missing Rottnest.  This is what we live for right, exploring new places & having a good time!!

Now it’s time for us to start heading north – toward warmer waters, long left hand point breaks, coral reefs & better fishing!! Yew.