Border crossing to WA - and a day at Rottnest Island

We're still not feeling blasé about flying across borders, so there was a bit of tension in the air yesterday morning as we dropped our car off at the longstay carpark at Adelaide airport and boarded our Virgin flight to Perth. The queues at Adelaide airport moved along well however and the staff couldn't be more helpful or efficient. By this stage, sitting in the departure lounge, with the WA border still open, all we had to worry about was whether our luggage would follow us over to Perth ..................

But all worked out well. The three-hour flight was endurable, the luggage arrived at the same time we did, and here we are in Perth - YAY! We celebrated with a pint of ale at the groovy Flour Factory (Gin Bar) in Queen Street last night, just around the corner from our hotel.

Wasting no time, we set out early this morning to the Barrack Street Jetty to catch our prebooked ferry over to Rottnest Island. But unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate with our plans today, being rainy, cold and very windy!! Our jeans got wet just from walking to the ferry in the rain - and it was freezing cold!

But we only had one chance to do this trip this visit - so off we went, hoping for the best .........

The ferry can only travel slowly down the Swan River so it took an hour to get to Fremantle port - but it was an interesting ride looking at Perth landmarks on the way. We passed the Royal Perth Yacht Club, famous for hosting the America's Cup in 1987 (defending its unforgettable win in the 1983 race hosted by the NY Yacht Club). The RPYC looked way too tiny to us today to be capable of hosting such a world class event (but indeed it did!). 

Still on the Swan River we slowly passed the mansions/estates on so called Millionaire's Row in Mosman Park. There are very many rich people living in WA, thanks to its iron ore/oil and gas entrepreneurs. But we're not so sure how well deserved some of these riches are (especially you Madame Gina R!).

An hour later we were in Fremantle Port .......

... and able to make the much faster crossing over to Rottnest Island.

Half an hour later we landed ...... but much to my dismay, the island looked nothing like it did on my previous visit 22 years ago - all turquoise seas, bright blue skies, very little development and a ferry load of happy day trippers. I was looking forward to showing it to Rob, who hadn't been there that day 22 years ago. But today it just looked grey, grim, wet and very windy!! 

But we decided to tough it out and just go walking - across the top half of the island on the 9.7 klm Gabbi Karniny Bidi trail, following the inland salt lake systems across to Parakeet Bay, the most North Westerly point on the island.

The track looking across Herschel Lake towards Wadjemup Lighthouse in the (far) distance........

After this point we hit a big glitch with this walk as one of most picturesque sections was closed for "renovation" so we missed seeing the other lakes and took the shorter track to Parakeet Bay via the road instead.

This side of the island reminded me of my year 2000 visit, but without the sun and the colour!

We walked as far as Geordie Bay and Fays Bay before heading back to the main Settlement area. Alongside Herschel Lake again we witnessed a small-scale drama involving a pair of mountain ducks that held our attention for a while, as well as the ducklings and aunty duck watching on in alarm.... 

The grey day view from the Vlamingh Lookout .........

There is a tiny cemetery on Rottnest Island - thirteen people are believed to be buried there (in the last half of the 19th century) and it is carefully maintained, in stark contrast to the unmarked burial site of the 373 Aboriginal prisoners who died in the island's prison in the 100 years it was in operation from the 1830s - the 1930s!

Back at the Settlement we warmed ourselves with a hot pasty from the island's very good bakery while observing the local quokkas who've grown fond of the crowds around the shops, although there are many reminders not to feed them or touch them!

After raising our internal temperatures a bit we set off again, this time northwards towards Bathurst Lighthouse ....

Around to Pinky Beach .......

The best sunset viewing beach on the island (but not today!) .......

and then on to The Basin and Longreach Bay beyond that ....

We checked out the new eco resort behind the dunes at Pinky Beach - the first low impact glamping development on Rottnest Island - but it didn't look all that appealing to us on this grey day!

Not very beachy conditions today!

Back at the Settlement and with an hour to spare before the return of the ferry, we settled in to learn more about Rottnest island's dark past - as a prison for thousands of Aboriginal men from all over the state, brought here in chains for petty "crimes" largely manufactured by the state in order to remove leaders, warriors and activists from their clan groups from around the 1830s right up until the 1930s. The full truth of all this has only started to be acknowledged in very recent years.

This is the hideous "Quod" building, site of the former prison..... 

We got a lot out of our visit to the excellent Wadjemup Museum (opened in 2020) which is striving to tell the full and complex story of Rottnest Island's 40,000 years of history in all its richness and more recent horrors.  

We caught the ferry back to Fremantle and wandered the streets of this historic old port town for a while ...

... before settling in at the Jungle Bird Rum Bar for a pint of Moon Dog Ale and spot of people watching in Freeo.....

It was a noisy and lively ride back into Perth afterwards with lots of Fremantle Dockers supporters on board on their way to the big game at Perth's Optus Stadium (PS The Dockers won!!! - that will be a very noisy crowd on their way home after that game!).