I had a whale of a time

19km off the coast of Perth is an island called Rottnest. Today a popular tourist attraction, its past saw it the home of an aboriginal prison.

On Tuesday 1st November, me and Jen jumped on the typical tourist bandwagon and boarded the 30 minute ferry to Rottnest Island. We were both excited for the day ahead having heard good reviews.

Other than a bus service and maintenance vehicles, Rottnest is vehicle free. The best way to explore the island is by bike. We hired bikes which we picked up on departure from the ferry. And off we cycled, deciding to follow the brown cycle route on our map (a nice 22km ride, estimated completion time of 3-5 hours, the longest route on the island). Not a problem we thought.

In general our travel ways is just wing it and go with the flow. We do some research but don't overdo it so that there is still things to discover as you explore. Naively we assumed Rottnest would be flat. Ohh how wrong could we have been. The next 22km consisted of cycling up a hill and down a hill and up another hill and down the hill and up and down and you get the picture. I am only little with small legs so when jenny long legs kept overtaking me up a hill I was wishing I had been gifted with some of the tall gene from my Dad. Despite this I managed to cycle the entire 22km and didn't get off my bike to walk once. Not even when my legs literally gave up half way up a hill (this happened more than once) and came to a halt. I just took a minutes breather and somehow found the strength to overcome the lactic acid build up and keep on cycling. Despite us both having very painful legs (and bums) at the end and unable to walk properly for the next couple days we are both super proud to have accomplished this and it was worth every pain.

Treated myself to an ice lolly after the cycle

So what did this 22km cycle allow me to witness?! Lots of cute quokkas!! Rottnest is home to the quokkas. We really hoped we would be able to find some on our trip but a while into our cycle we both started to think that it wasn't our lucky day. That is until I saw some randomers looking at something. So being my nosey self had a look as I passed. Well I slammed on my brakes when I realised they were fusing a quokka! The cutest friendliest thing. Letting us stroke, cuddle and have selfies with it. It did give me a fright though when a bus was coming and the quokka decided to walk towards the road. Stupid thing! That was the first of many we saw and fused. I really wanted to kidnap one but it wouldn't have been fair (or legal) so I resisted the urge.

The furthest point on the island from the ferry jetty (11km, 3 hours cycle) is a whale watching location. This was one of the reasons we decided to follow the brown cycle route. Knowing our chances of witnessing a wild whale would have been slim we thought it was worth the risk. After about 30 minutes of no whale sightings we decided to head off on the rest of our cycle to ensure we could get back for the return ferry. I got back on my bike and out of pure luck I had one final look out to sea and over Jens shoulder I spotted a whales tail going back into the water in the distance. We then stood in awe for the next 5 minutes watching at least 2 (possibly more) whales playing in the ocean. I'm not one to be easily overcome with emotion but I had several tears in my eyes. It was completely unexpected and one of them moments I will forever remember.

We made it back to the Thompson Bay area of the island with a couple hours spare so laid on one of the 63 beaches Rottnest has to offer, letting our very sore bodies relax and recuperate slightly. We then got the very choppy ferry back to mainland Australia. On our disembarkment at Fremantle port we witnessed an amazing sunset. We then treated ourselves to a pizza at a restaurant to top of the perfect day.

On a completely different note, about a week ago I had a grim experience which makes me feel like a proper backpacker now. I have resisted the temptation to write a blog on it because it may make people feel sick but it may also make you laugh. If you want me to do a blog post please let me know and it could happen hahahaa

Amester x