To the Land of Quokkas

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This morning the CIEE Study Abroad students are headed on a weekend trip to Rottnest Island. We had to get up nice and early and meet in the parking lot to head on down to Fremantle. From Fremantle we have to grab a boat that is going to take us over to Rottnest Island.

Once on the island, we immediately got suited up for our bikes that we are going to be taking around the island. Before heading out we grabbed a quick breakfast. When we finished eating we headed over to a little cabin were we had an introduction to the island and a quick bike safety talk. Yay for helmets!

After learning how to be bike safe we headed out. The biking wasn't to bad until we hit the hills which were a bit intense. We probably got a lucky because it had be hot all week but today it was cooler and overcast. We had quite a few stops along the way, first at some swamps and then there was a bay and at one point we stopped at a spot where there were a few islands that apparently had some sea lions hanging out on them.

After the island we moved on to an amazing osprey nest. It was not in a tree at all and quite impressive. It was several years old and absolutely huge! And on top sat one osprey, just hanging out.

When our bike ride was over, we made it back to the little beach where we had lunch. We spent some time there relaxing and getting to know each other. We also got a chance to check out some of the wildlife here. There is actually a colony of peacocks that roam the island and we actually got to see her chicks. Shore birds like Australian Pelicans, Gulls and so many more can be seen walking along the beach along with many birds flying around here and there. And probably the only mammal I saw there was the Quokka. It's a weird little rodent thing that apparently you can only find on a few small islands off the coast of Western Australia.

Once lunch was over we took a train ride which was nice and relaxing. After the train we took a tour of the barracks. The coolest part of this wasn't so much the barracks but the venomous snake hanging outside called a Dugite.

We returned back to where we had lunch and grabbed some afternoon tea, although afternoon tea came with no tea at all just some fruit and crackers.

The group of us went off on a settlement tour. Our guide was rather dull but she seemed friendly enough. Everything seemed to be built by some fellow named Vincent and that became the joke for the rest of the weekend.

When that was done, we went to were we would be spending the night. It was a research station filled with bunk beds and one bathroom. Its an interesting little place.

After some freshening up we biked out to dinner at the hotel where we grabbed pizza which was pretty good. We then went on the sunset tour which was really quite gorgeous. After seeing the sun disappear we drove out to the lighthouse. They told us to close our eyes and they lead us outside and lined us up. When we were allowed to look, I saw more stars in the sky then I had ever seen in my life. We spent some time there and then headed back. The bike ride was tricky in the dark but we made it some how.

When we were back, I didn't feel like going to bed so two of us headed outside and took a walk around. It was ridiculously dark and hard to see where we were going but the stars were so amazing it was totally worth it.

The next morning we woke up early and biked into town to grab some breakfast. After grabbing some food we biked towards the Army Jetty where we did a few ice breakers which were corny but still nice. It was amazingly hot today, so we only did half of what we had planned. Instead we grabbed some snacks and walked along the beach.

We had a new guide for our biking today who was a bit better than the one yesterday. Eventually we stopped at a salt lake where we actually found sea monkeys.

After a bit of biking we make it to Little Parakeet Bay where half of us went snorkeling while the other half swam and then switched. The snorkeling was pretty cool. I saw a lot of different species of fish, but the reef wasn't anything special because it was filled with vegetation.

After snorkeling we had to get back to biking. We headed back to the beach where we grabbed some more lunch and headed off once more. This time we went to the wind mill and the desalination plant. The ride was hard and I'm not going to lie, I was glad when it was over. We made it back to the beach where we relaxed for a bit and then hopped the ferry and headed back to Uni.

"When you come to a fork in the road, take it."~Yogi Berra

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