Hi, everyone!

I have heard great things about Rottnest Island since before I left the USA, so I knew it would be a perfect way to spend my birthday. The water was supposed to be gorgeous with beautiful, secluded beaches… and the quokkas!

I woke up early to catch the 8.30am boat from Perth CBD to Rottnest. The boat actually journeys from Perth to Fremantle, stops to pick up more people, and is a further 15-20 minutes from there.

I’m not sure what I was expecting, but Rottnest was completely incredible. I can’t wait to go back!

Upon arriving on the island, I stopped at the visitor center to get a bus pass for the day. I asked the employee where the quokkas might be and she told me to walk down by the shops. Within a minute, I was seeing quokkas!

The Quokkas of Rottnest Island

Quokkas are marsupials – they’re kind of like miniature kangaroos. Apparently, they are extremely rarely found on the mainland of Australia, but Rottnest is a host to a whole bunch of them as they have no predators on the island. They seem to live quite happily there, except… one thing that I was pretty put off by was everyone’s reactions to the quokkas. Apparently there’s a bit of “quokka hype” right now (maybe always?), so when a group of people first sees a quokka, they immediately flock to it and essentially surround it to take pictures.

I recently read a book called Fathoms: The World in the Whale, and it talks about this exact phenomenon – how people feel connected to animals, but yet want to photograph them and sort of infringe on their personal space/safety for the sake of… a picture. And what’s funny is that people will stop for a second, take a picture, and then walk away. When I can, I really like to watch wildlife, to observe their behavior. I try to keep my distance as well, but with the quokkas, they would sometimes walk right by me. Yes, I take pictures, but I also try to honor the animals. Anyway, I’ll get off my high horse lol.

You’re not supposed to feed or touch the quokkas, but I saw people doing both. It’s kind of upsetting. A few years back, there was even a dude who kicked a quokka which is just awful. Apparently, he was drunk, it was nighttime, and it was an accident because something came out of the bush and he didn’t know what it was and got scared – but still.

I was watching a mom and her baby for a moment and just sat down on the ground several feet away from them. It was cute to watch the baby nursing – and it felt special, because there wasn’t a horde of people surrounding them. At a certain point, the mom walked right past me and sniffed my bag for a second before looking for food elsewhere.

I made a mental note to visit the quokkas before getting back on the boat later, and then hopped on the bus to go… SNORKELING?

Little Salmon Bay

There are plenty of secluded beaches and snorkeling spots along Rottnest Island, but I’d heard good things about Little Salmon Bay, so decided to make that my first stop.

Upon leaving the bus, I set out my blanket and lathered up in sunscreen… and then it started to lightly rain. In retrospect, I was NOT happy haha – I was SO looking forward to snorkeling! But I waited it out, and sure enough, the sun came out again. I seized the opportunity to hop in the water, mentally preparing myself for the water to be cold. And it somehow wasn’t that bad! The water looked incredible, too. Such a vibrant blue, with spots of teal.

I wish I knew the names of these fish, but I don’t, so I’ll just describe them haha. There was a school of large, white fish. Some teeny tiny fish near the surface. Lots of pretty coral of different colors and sizes. I saw one lone yellow, black, and white striped fish that I followed for a little while.

Before I knew it, I found that I had snorkeled farther away from other people and got spooked. I don’t like to snorkel too far from others, as you never know what’s going to happen in the water. I decided to get out of the water and heat up since the wind/water was starting to feel cold.

I went for a short walk down a hiking trail and saw a number of tiny, little skinks. They are becoming my buddies – I’ve seen so many of them since being in Australia! They come in all different shapes and sizes.

I decided to continue on my journey since I only had the day in Rottnest. After a brief conversation with another backpacker from Germany who borrowed my sunscreen, I hopped back on the hop-on/hop-off bus.

Cathedral Rocks

Cathedral Rocks was my next stop. After a short hike (and some snake warning signs), you get to a viewing platform where you can see fur seals hanging out on some rocks jutting out of the ocean.

I observed the cuties for a little while – one of them was so playful, spinning around and sticking it’s flippers and tail out of the water! They were pretty far away, but it was still fun to see them. I didn’t even know they had fur seals at Rottnest!

Little Parakeet Bay

My final stop of the day was Little Parakeet Bay for some more snorkeling. I laid in the sun for a little while and then hopped in the water again. The underwater terrain at Little Parakeet wasn’t as cool as Little Salmon Bay – there wasn’t much coral there and it was mostly sea grass. But with that said, there were so many fish! There was a little cave that had dozens and dozens of little fish just swimming in place, bobbing back and forth with the current. I saw some tiny, electric blue fish, too.

At one point, something large caught my eye and there was a huge fish hiding under a big rock. As I was taking a video of it, I noticed some other movement… and it was a little stingray! I was so caught off guard. I love those moments in the water. You never know what you’re going to see when snorkeling, and this was my first time snorkeling with a stingray, so it was a great joy for me. A Stingray Birthday!

The Settlement

I hung out at the beach for a while longer and then took the bus back to the “Settlement” area. The Settlement area is where all the hotels are, as well as shops, cafes, etc. And it’s where the highest concentration of the quokkas are (probably because they know people will feed them).

I noticed a cemetery as I was hopping off the bus and decided to check it out. There were lots of old-looking headstones.

It was nearly time to get back on the boat, so I hung out with some quokkas for a bit longer and then headed back to the mainland. All in all, Rottnest was absolutely incredible and I can’t wait to go back! It made me feel really excited for Ningaloo Reef and the Great Barrier Reef. If I could be pleased by the snorkeling here, I will surely be blown away by those two places. Soon enough! That will be in a few months.

C Restaurant

For dinner, I treated myself to a five-course meal at C Restaurant in downtown Perth. It’s the top floor of a building and the floor actually rotates 360 degrees within an hour.

I’d like to say it was amazing, but I wasn’t totally blown away haha. The food was good! This might be kind of shady, but I got the impression that Perth’s standard of fine dining is very different from Chicago’s.

Still – I’ll share some pics!

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Reflections

Bugger = oh, shoot
Dero = derelict
Swimmers = swimsuit

So, as mentioned, it was just my 31st birthday! While I am very, very far away from my loved ones, I keep thanking my higher power for the opportunity to finally be here, in Australia. The beginning of a grand journey of adventure. Even though I’m working at the moment, I explore when I can, and am seeing things that are so different from my life in Chicago. I definitely wish my family and friends were a quick train ride away, but luckily we have the internet and can stay in contact. I coordinated a video chat with my family the other day for Thanksgiving/my birthday and it was so nice to see everyone’s faces. I love my fam!

Honorary mention to my roomie Kory, who gave me this v. expensive Louis Vuitton ring that he found a while back at his job! He doesn’t wear gold, so I am in luck hahaha.

There’s a joke that WA stands for Wait Awhile instead of Western Australia because usually what happens in Sydney/Melbourne first… if you wait a while, it will eventually come to Perth.

Perth is apparently dubbed “the city of lights” – because in 1962, the people of the city turned on as many lights as possible, lit lanterns, and pointed torches at the sky to generate as much light as possible, and it could be seen from the sky.

I… accidentally swallowed a fly the other day. I had been warned this would happen to me while being here, but I did not expect it to happen so soon hahaha.

In Australia, websites will read as “websitename.com.au”. It’s kind of funny to see the “.au” part, because in America, it’s just .com or .net or what have you. Kind of a funny reminder that Americans invented the internet!

They sing “hip hip hooray” at the end of singing Happy Birthday here. Maybe some people do that in America, too, but no one that I know does that.

The time zone changed in America, which means I’m now 13 hours ahead of my parents and 14 ahead of my siblings. Making it even harder to communicate with my loved ones, America! Haha.

I watched Muriel’s Wedding the other day which is an Australian movie from the 90’s starring Toni Collette. I had heard people recommending it, but wow – what a great movie! It was very well done.

I’ve also been watching Kath & Kim which is an Australian TV series from the early 2000’s. It is SO goofy and ridiculous. I’m enjoying it so far!

Christmas decorations have gone out in Australia and some of them are… VERY different from decorations in America hahaha.

Art of the Week

Some artwork to share with y’all!

That’s all, folks! I don’t have too much planned for this following week. I have Wednesday off work, so I’m going to go down south of Fremantle to check out Omeo Wreck which is a shipwreck with good snorkeling. It’s supposed to be a HOT day, so I think it will be perfect for being in the water.

Lastly… if you’re enjoying these blog posts, I’d love if you’d share the link on social media! It would be a dream to be able to take pictures of wildlife and document my adventures as a full time job. I’m not sure how it would work yet exactly, and it’s a long shot, but it’s something I’ve envisioned myself for quite some time now and the best way to make it happen is for people to share it with the world!

Until next time! Sending my love.