Australia 2016 - Rottnest Island

Thursday was a day of adventure! We all took a catamaran ride to Rottnest Island off the Fremantle Harbor. It’s a 1 hour and 45 minute trip, and the sailing is not always smooth. Most of the folk prone to seasickness (like Larry) prepared themselves ahead of time with some Dramamine or similar remedy. It seemed to go ok for Larry, but he and the others were very brave to come along at all!

We first sailed into a small lagoon by rocks on the west side of the island. We swam, snorkeled, kayaked, and paddle-boarded off the catamaran. It was a great time! The little island near the lagoon was a refuge for the Australian Sea Lion The Australian sea lion, one of the rarest species of sea lion in the world and only found in Western Australia and South Australia. They are a threatened species, and are much more friendly and cute than the voracious California variety we know in the Pacific Northwest!

After our play-in-the-water break, we headed for Rottnest Island itself. The name of the island is Dutch for Rat’s Nest, because the original Dutch settlers thought the cute little local marsupials were rats! They are actually Quokkas, and are only found on Rottnest Island. We managed to see a few before we had to board our boat again and head back to Fremantle. On the return trip we had a nice trip of real sailing in great wind - yippee!

In the evening we joined the Powelsons and Jason and Betsy Schneier, friends of theirs from Seattle here for the wedding. We ate at Barque, just up the street from our flat. Really good pan-Asian food. We shared a giant fried Gold Band Snapper, presented to us sitting up on a platter! It was delicious.

More sun, more ocean, more great food - just another day in Fremantle!