Tuesday 13th April 2010 - Rottnest Island

It is Tuesday here on Rottnest Island WA and it is blowing a gale! The weather bureau has posted a severe weather warning and we hope that it eases by Thursday morning because that is the day we are taking the ferry back to Perth (or at least it is taking us). It has been getting progressively more windy in the past two days, but this afternoon it really blew in - so we are having to stay in and work through our supplies of chardonney and nibbly things (cannot be bad!) so we will not have to carry too much back to the mainland.

Sunday was a good day, sussed out the museum in the morning (and if this weather clears up will make our way back to there again). Our youngest son came over from the mainland and seeing as he arrived at lunchtime first thing to do was lunch at the Pub. Beautiful sunny weather again and sitting in the beer garden overlooking Thomson Bay with some fish and chips and a couple of beers is a terrific way to spend a couple of hours.

I am writing this post at the window of our chalet overlooking the beach and there is blue sky so tomorrow may be better.

Monday we spent on the bus around the island and went up the Wadjemup Lighthouse. It was constructed in 1851 and there are 155 steps to climb to get to the top. The lighthouse is only 30m high but when you are at the top it feels a lot higher (probably because of the spectacular views and its height above sea level).

Our son left on the 4pm ferry and after the boat pulled out we walked to Bathurst Lighthouse (which is not open to the public and is much smaller).

This morning was a bit of a disappointment, we headed off to Kingston Barracks on the 11.25am Shuttle as per the guide book, for a tour of the complex and gun emplacements, but on arrival the place was deserted! Wandered around a bit and got the next Shuttle back to Thomson bay, apparantley that tour is no longer operating and should have been removed from the guide book, oh well it was a nice ride out there anyway!.

And this afternoon the storm settled in.

Tomorrow (weather permitting!) we are off to Guns and Tunnels at Oliver Hill and will be taking the train (tram?) there. Also tomorrow evening (again weather permitting) we will be heading out to West End with a bottle of wine and some nibblies to watch the sun set over the ocean (West End is the furthest point from the settlement) Hope the weather improves!

I have almost forgotten to mention why Rottnest Island is called Rottnest Island. Basically, the early Dutch explorer de Vlamingh arrived here in the early 1600's and noted that the island appeared to be infested with a form of large rat, hence the name Rottnest (nest of rats) what he actually saw was the Quokka (which is not a rat but a small marsupial).



- and they are very cute.


de Vlamingh also visited the mainland but apparentley did not praise it very highly! (obviously did not sit on the beach at Cotteloe on a Summer evening with a picnic, some wine and a few friends!)