Rottnest Island

Although it's only 11km by 4.5km, Rottnest Island is one of these places you need more than a day to visit if you want to see more than just a taste of what it has to offer. I guess that's why people keep going back.

Leaving at 8:30am from Perth, you don't arrive there until 11am and with the ferry leaving again at 4:55pm you don't really get a full day anyway. Ever the unconventional traveller I bypassed the popular coves for swimming and snorkelling (although it was very tempting to jump off the bus at the stunningly beautiful Little Salmon Bay - I did intend returning but alas, the best laid plans) and headed to the Wadjemup Lighthouse in the centre of the island. When the original lighthouse built on the site in 1851 proved ineffective in preventing ships wrecking themselves on the approach to the Swan Lake Colony the decision was made to construct a replacement, twice as high. Following a nine year build, the current 30m high lighthouse was opened in 1896. When the City of York foundered off the north coast of Rottnest in 1899 with the loss of 12 souls the Bathurst light was constructed at the north east end of the island. Triangulation of the lights at Wadjemup and Bathurst on Rottnest and Arthur Head at Fremantle allowed for safer passage around the island.

From the lighthouse I headed overland on the walking track to the WWII gun emplacements on Oliver Hill. Interestingly the spotter and signal tower for the guns along with the accommodation for the WRAN's who manned them were situated on the headland not far from the lighthouse, well away from the guns and the male barracks. The two 9.2 inch guns installed were apparently salvaged from a decommissioned WWI ironclad at Scapa Flow and transported south for the defence of Fremantle. I could have stayed for the tour of the guns and tunnels but alas that would have taken too much precious time.

At this point I had intended walking down to Little Salmon Bay but calculating the timings for the bus I'd need to get to get me back to the settlement in time for departure I thought it was a little tight, so I decided to just complete the overland walk back to the settlement instead. Taking the road from Oliver Hill I made my way past a few of the hyper saline lakes that dot the landscape. My extra today is of Pearse Lake. In the early days of the colony before ice was used to preserve food, the waters from the lakes were used to source the salt used instead. Indeed, many of the trees on the island were used to fuel the boilers and along with some manufacturing use and loss to bush fires some 70% of the islands trees were lost, something that the state is trying to reverse with areas of reforestation all over the island. With only a few fluid ounces of water left in my bottle and the sun beating down from an almost cloudless sky I staggered into the settlement. I was tempted to walk into the Dome Cafe and as for an ice cold Heineken ;-) but I settled for a lemon and lime bitters and a slice of apple pie. Yummy!

The trip across to the island was made in almost perfect weather with hardly a ripple on the water but that could not be said of the return. The swells weren't that high but the Indian Ocean was letting everyone know of its potential power. I had taken the same position in the boat as I had on the way out and was fully protected from the spray which was ever present but sometimes gathered a ferocious blast. As the swells increased, refugees from the front of the ferry gathered at the back, preferring the damp outside conditions to the pitching bow but everyone got back safe and sound, arriving in Perth just before 7pm. I headed straight for dinner before heading back to the hotel to give my well worn feet another well deserved rest.