Before Dolphins - Skinks, quokkas, and galahs oh my?

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I made it out west. Not quite the Donner party but a long 5 hour flight nontheless. I underestimated the time it would take for me to take the train from Wollongong to Sydney airport. Got there 25 minutes before my flight. Luckily domestic flights aren't too picky and I made it on (although not without a little panic and being called over the intercom). I will definitely leave more time from now on. Got into Perth at about 3:00 pm and had a relatively quiet night. My hostel was unfortunately less than sanitary, but I was only there one night so it was not a big deal. The next morning I got up early to explore Perth.

Finally sat down. Seems like I've been walking all day. Spent the day walking around downtown Perth. King's Park was absolutely fantastic (minus some heavy showers off & on). Walked around on my own for ~2 hrs then went on a guided tour. Saw numerous new spp. of bird including parrots, honeyeaters, wattle birds, & fantails. Australia is turning me into a birder. Guided tour was semi-private as most got scared off by the rain. I was too fascinated to care about a little moisture. Plants are infinitely more interesting when you know their back story...medicinal uses, water/nutrient strategies, pollination etc. Kangaroo paws had to be my favourite type of plant.

Took advantage of winter sales at the camping stores. I am now completely set up for camping 😊. I am noticing the range of hostels in Aus. Good to have other options.

Took the train over to Fremantle on the coast. Accidentally bought a one fare ticket. Played naive tourist to get out of a $100 ticket. Didn't seem like 2 zones on the map. Oops. Warnings are appreciated. Going to Rottnest Island tomorrow morning! Hopefully the weather holds up.

So as I mentioned the next morning I took a 30 min. ferry over to Rottnest Island. I got there just as literally hundreds of 18 year olds were leaving. Apparently the 3 days prior were a big end of exams university party, but everyone gets too burned out to stay longer. Good for me. I set up my tent and explored a bit of the main settlement. The whole island is only about 12 km by 4 km. There was only one other person in the entire campground (although there are huts and other accommodation all over the island). This is winter I guess. My feet would've liked it to be a few degrees warmer. Other than that I was ok. Apparently the next morning was the second coldest June Perth morning on record....a whopping 0 degrees celcius. Back to the journal.

This day is why I travel.

Woke up to the sun. Rented a bike. Explored. West end of the island...next stop Madagascar. Snorkeled Green Island. Talked to interesting people along the way. I'm traveling alone but am rarely alone. One girl from Colorado had never seen a live wild fish. Lent her my snorkel gear. She definitely saw a fish. Pod of bottlenose dolphins swam past. Biked. Snorkeled Little Salmon Bay. Salmon? Watched the sunset. Biked. Avoided collisions with quokkas. Portly but surprisingly agile creatures. Most are pretty tame. Outnumber humans on the island 1000 to 1. I feel like the only person on the whole island at times. People are only in certain spots. Otherwise just me and some quokkas. Biked. Made pasta. Crawled into sleeping bag...Coulda used some wool socks. Great day.

(break)

Even better day...Jesse, my camping buddy from yesterday, had his mom come over & just got a cabin. He invited me to stay as they had an extra room with 2 beds. Full kitchen, bathroom, shower, & pretty much everything else you could want. So much for camping...After a couple games of euchre it's off to bed.

Rottnest island is an amazing place. It's an immensely popular vacation destination for Perthites especially in summer. Known for its surf, coral reefs, laid back nature, and of course quokkas. A quokka is a mini kangaroo relative. It was called Rottnest because early Dutch explorers thought they were giant rats. They come out at dawn and dusk mainly and will eat almost any form of vegetation put in front of them (and the occasional egg carton until I took it away). They're mostly just ridiculous. You get so used to them after a while. Miniature hopping lawn mowers.

The island is easily bikeable in one day (~25 km round trip). The middle has salt lakes (~5 X saltier than the ocean) and there are two lighthouses and old army installations from WWII. You can see the ocean from almost anywhere on the island and the white sand beaches are, in a word, amazing. I often didn't see another soul for kilometers. Had some beaches all to myself.

Another beautiful day on Rottnest Island. Woke up warm and cozy on my comfy mattress with thick blankets. Got my big bag sent over on an earlier ferry & went off walking towards the centre of the island, the only part I hadn't seen.

Took a guided tour of the Oliver Hill gun & bunker. After Singapore fell in WWII, Fremantle became the most important allied base in the region. Rottnest housed 2500 soldiers at its peak in order to protect the mainland. No gun was ever fired at an enemy.

Walked back to the settlement (~10 km total). Probably will read for a couple hours before my ferry. Started Robinson Crusoe. I felt it was appropriate given my current island position. Should be meeting up with Whitney in Fremantle...

I did indeed take the ferry off Rottnest and said goodbye to the quokkas. Met up with Whitney who will be working with me in Shark Bay. Went out for pizza and will probably go touring somewhere tomorrow. I start my course on Monday, so I'll have to enjoy my last true day of 'vacation' for awhile. Not that studying dolphins is all that stressful...

Pics to come on this blog soon.

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