Rough start to the morning for me, but Michael kindly took pity on me and popped out to grab us some takeaway breakfast. I opted for a croissant I could ‘pick at’ and a coffee.
Having been already bitten by our lack of planning once, we didn’t want to risk disappointment again, so I’d actually booked our ferry tickets the previous afternoon as we drove towards Perth. There were limited seats left online as it was and given how busy the ferry was when we got there, I’m glad we did book in advance!
We weren’t hiring bikes or snorkel gear through the ferry company, so we just walked up to the check in desk at Hillary’s Harbour with time to spare and got waved through to board the ferry.
They operate at least two boats and the one in the picture below is actually the one we came back on (the older of the two). Despite the newer vessel we took in the morning with all its mod cons and fresh look, the sea waves and catamaran-style approach to navigating them did not agree with Michael and I’ve never seen him look so pale. I, on the other hand, quite enjoyed it. Perhaps because it was distracting me from my myriad problems for a change.
We crossed the water to Rottnest in about 40-45 minutes and were soon allowed to disembark and go and find some bikes and Quokkas. Michael was grateful to be on dry land and not hitting waves at 20 knots, and so we walked over to Pedal and Flipper, the island’s bike and snorkel hire people. They have over 1,000 bikes, so if, like us, you haven’t hired one from somewhere else, you can just hire them here at the same cost and it saves you waiting for your bike off the boat at the end of your trip.
That said, the bike hire queue was quite long, but not more than 15 minutes. It’s quite an efficient process!
Armed with our bikes and helmets, Michael had now overcome his seasickness and was ready for some food (unlike me, still making my way through my croissant, or at least contemplating it). We headed to the main food area where there are clothes shops, a small supermarket, cafés and restaurants with a central open street running through them. The area is lined with trees and benches to sit and eat on, so we grabbed a bench and we’re soon joined by the adorable quokkas.
They clearly have no fear of humans, which is a lovely thing and I hope it never brings them any harm. There are many signs telling people not to feed them, but I’m sure people do anyway. It doesn’t stop the quokka licking spilt tomato ketchup etc off the pavement. And it’s much better than seeing them locked up in a zoo somewhere! apparently they only live here and in a forest down in south WA. And then nowhere else in the world! Their tails were a bit rat-like, but we won’t dwell on that. Their squidgy faces made up for that.
Despite both feeling pretty exhausted, we had our bikes and wanted to put them to good use to explore the island. Michael was in charge of navigation as I wasn’t feeling much use to anyone at this point. We started with Pinky Beach, where there’s a lighthouse, and made our way along the northern beaches, up to Geordie Bay.
As you can imagine, on a sunnier and less windy day, this place becomes a little haven of paradise. As you cycle along the yellow beach villas behind the bay, you feel like you could be in the Caribbean, as you catch glimpses of the turquoise sea between buildings.
We meandered around on our bikes, often fighting against insane headwinds that almost pushed us backwards. Probably more of a workout than either of us needed that day, but the scenery was lovely to look at. We made it as far as Henrietta Rocks and admired the view out to sea and the little shipwreck just off the shore. But the ferocious wind stopped us even taking a photograph and we decided that the remaining time we had left on the island would be better spent resting than battling any further down the island against the heavy wind. So, we headed back to the hub in the eastern corner past Garden Lake, and gave our bikes back.
We happily found a spot on the beach outside Hotel Rottnest, which was very busy and had a lovely atmosphere. The wind didn’t seem to be affecting this patch, so we put our towels down peacefully and managed to lie down for an hour or so before it was time to make our way back to the ferry. Quick call to Mum and Dad, catching up on news from family friends, and then we spotted the ferry boarding passengers, so we figured it was our time to move and make sure we got back to the mainland.
After a much smoother ferry ride back to Perth, we were reunited with the Juggernaut and headed to Scarborough to see if we could find somewhere for a drink and a bite to eat.
We parked up in the car park behind the beach, admired the number of kite surfers enjoying the blustery wind, and wandered up towards the eateries on the esplanade.
We found a Mexican place called El Grotto and ordered some drinks (non-alcoholic for me), quesadillas and soft tacos. They had pork belly and shredded chicken ones, which definitely felt and tasted the wrong way round… But the location was nice and somewhat sheltered from the wind.
Sunset gradually drew nearer and we knew this would be our last one in WA, so we hoped it would be a good one.
On our way back to the car, we noticed a rather inventive travelling home that had made the 3,400km journey from New South Wales, where we’d be flying to later tonight.
Sheltered from the wind, we initially sat in the car in the car park facing out to sea, and as the sun sank lower, it became clear that we had lucked out on front-row seats to the Epic Sunset Show.
The sunset did not disappoint and threw up some beautiful colours. And so, with the remnants of it in our rear-view mirror, with heavy hearts, we made our way to Perth Airport to drop off the trusty Juggernaut, which we’d covered 2,400km in!
Once we’d said our goodbyes, we trotted off into the airport terminal and each had a shower while the other one sorted out their suitcase and made sure it was within Jetstar’s weight limits.
Our flight, which wasn’t the earlier one we’d originally booked, was also now delayed by an hour, so we had plenty of time to kill in the airport. Michael grabbed some food and I grabbed some sleeping pills, in the hope that I could at least make some use of this red-eye flight…
Blonde on a Road Trip 
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