Rottnest Island

Rottnest Island is a huge tourist attraction in Perth. It's picturesque, has lots of recreational activities, and a friendly marsupial that is only native to the one island. It's 18 kms from the Australian coastline and only 19 sq kms in size.

Salmon Bay

One of the snorkel stops

Thompson's Bay

The island is a DoC park and so it has some interesting rules. For example, the only motorized vehicles allowed are service vehicles and a small bus system. Almost everyone uses a bike.

Upon arrival, renting a bike was the first thing we did. The bike shop had thousands of bikes, unfortunately they are all the same kind; heavy, creaky and uncomfortable.

 

The 'bike lock' they gave us could have been cut with a butter knife. But whose going to steal these rust buckets from an island all ready covered in them anyways?

The cycling was wonderful however. Both SP and I agreed that it has been too long since we had been on a bike. 28 kms of nicely paved, car free road. Occasionally we had a wonderful 30 km/hr tail wind (and sometimes we had a 30 km/hr head wind.)

Outside of the main settlement services are minimal, pit toilets but no water, food, etc. So we carried a lunch and set off to meet the primary inhabitants of the island.

Despite explorers in the distant past confusing the local wildlife for rats (Rottnest translates to rats nest in dutch) the little critters couldn't possibly do anything to deter visitors.

Quokkas are fluffy, hungry, fat, and cute marsupials who have lost any fear of humans.

Quokka

They graze on the undergrowth of trees. Because they can't climb, most of the the trees they eat look like the one in the background below. Basically they just want your help getting a branch or two down.

Lunchtime!

We're not fat, we're big boned.

Truth be told, you're not supposed to feed them, they are already too acclimatized to people and some folks feed them inappropriate food. There are also 10,000+ of the critters in residence, so they seem to be doing just fine already.

Tomorrow we're vacating Perth and heading to Sydney.

-E

Turquoise Bay and the Oyster Stacks

Our three days of snorkeling have come to an end. I took fewer photos here than at the Great Barrier Reef (also, we spent a lot of time watching the octopi and the turtles.)

 

 

Beach Review #6: Turquoise Bay
Rating 4.8/5
Best use: Snorkeling, swimming and sun baking (it's not sun bathing down here, it's sun baking.)
Cool stuff: On one side of the beach there is a drift snorkeling area, on the other side, a protected sandy bay. Five minutes by car down the coast is a protected snorkeling lagoon on sandstone steps called Oyster Stacks. The beaches have almost no facilities. Just a parking area, a pit toilet and a very small shaded area with benches (no water, no trash cans, etc.) It's beautiful though, and the snorkeling is really good.

Turtles of Ningaloo

It's not everyday you get to crawl around on a beach in the dark commando style getting sand absolutely everywhere. But turtles are awesome and this area is well known for them. It does help that it's currently turtle mating and egg laying season here too. 

Last night we went to one of the nesting beaches beside the Jurabi Turtle Center and following the "turtle code of conduct" watched two turtles making nests and laying eggs. I don't have any photos of it though (no lights allowed).

Basically we hung out after sunset and waited. Once it was good and dark out (and we had almost given up) we saw a very large black shape making it's way up the beach. 

We sat and watched as she found a good spot and processes to dig a pit at least a couple of sq meters in size. 

While we were sitting there watching the first turtle, we noticed that one of rocks where the waves were crashing was getting closer. What's the chance that a turtle will land directly below you on the beach? Apparently pretty high. 

So while turtle number 2 starts her way up the beach, SP and I are scrambling to get out of the way without being noticed (you don't want to scare them). 

We hung out for a couple of hours, watching the turtles nest, the stars come out and the moon rise. 

The next day we went back to look at the nests and see how many had laid that night. Just the one short section of beach had 5 busy ladies on it. 

Big turtles. Either green, loggerhead or hawksbill - not sure.

The nest of Turtle #1

Lucky for us, the turtles don't end there. While snorkeling today we hung out with a green turtle for awhile. I'm not very good at holding the camera steady, but here is a video and a few photos. 

Shaky Turtle Video, by me. 

Between the octopi and the turtles I did manage to take a few photos of the reef, more of those tomorrow.

-E

Octopi

Spot the octopus.

We've now seen 5 octopi while out snorkeling (7 including the ones at Navy Pier). They are fascinating to watch and a lot of our time is spent trying to find them. I'm kinda chicken taking photos of them because I don't like getting to close, so apologies for how terrible these pics are!

Three out of five of the octopi we found were having a little discussion with some kind of fish (a cod perhaps). 

 Basically, the fish would circle around, put up it's spines and then try to slash the octopus.

In response, the octopus would put on a pretty amazing display. 

We watched this go on for 20 minutes or so. I can't decide if the fish is defending itself (or its territory) or if the fish is aggressively after the octopus. Obviously the octopus can leave whenever it wants (and generally they are predators - fairly high up the food chain.)

The next day, we saw the same dance again. Different octopus, and a different fish (same type) having a similar conversation. 

Octopi spotting was a ton of fun. Once you've spotted them, they know, and suddenly they are much easier to see. 

The camera doesn't pick up the color change very well, but this one was good at looking like sand.

SP and I are still debating what the fish and Octopus were discussing, and obviously I've been drinking too much beer.

Diving With Dimwits

Today's adventure was a day aboard the SilverSonic visiting the Agincourt reefs. We've relocated up the coast slightly to beautiful Port Douglas and as a perk we can access some of the less visited sections of the GBR marine park.

Though the day wasn't a total disaster, I can certainly say I've learnt my lesson.

• One day trips that cater to all types of reef visitors = bad.
• -Multi-day trips (liveaboards) for divers = better.

This isn't a slight on the SilverSonic, her crew or their business model in general. It's just that the one day trips need to be lowest common denominator type affairs.

I heard that if ignorance is bliss, then tourists must be in heaven. Well, that certainly applies to some of the people on our dive trip yesterday.

The boat has a policy that all divers must be guided (even if you are certified). So, the boat puts six certified divers together with a guide. In hindsight, this is a good policy as it means there will always be a bit of supervision. But it's also like group work in grade school, where you're assigned a 'team' and the decent students have to pick up the slack for the incompetent ones.

Our group included one person who was a beginner. From a diving perspective she couldn't swim, had serious buoyancy control issues, and most importantly had no self awareness of her gear or body position in the water. As part of our pre-trip briefing we have all been lectured on the delicacy of the reef. If you're a beginner, keep your distance and don't touch anything. That message didn't sink in though.

For example, here she is milliseconds from bumping into the reef, and again as she turns around wondering what delicate coral she's just crushed.

It's one thing to be a beginner, that's forgivable. It's another to not care at all.

Near the end of our first dive you're required to wait around while the photographer takes your picture. This person, so intent on getting a photo with her buddy, uses a coral covered bommie to push off so she can swim about 5 meters. While I'm watching, completely shocked, she then sits down on the reef for her photo.

Fin contact with reef

Pushing off the reef

Sitting on the reef.

Let's recap. She SITS DOWN ON THE REEF. It's the great barrier reef folks, the world's largest single structure made up of connected organisms, visible from space, containing 1/3 of the worlds soft corals, it's a cornerstone of our entire planet's biodiversity. And she's sitting on it. What's worse, neither the guide nor the photographer did anything about it.

I just don't have the words. The GBR is a is also a gigantic tourist draw (we're here) and a significant part of Australia's tourism industry ($5 billion per annum). In the last 20 years, it's lost 1/2 of it's coral coverage. Wikipedia lists climate change, pollution, crown-of-thorns starfish and fishing as the primary threats to the health of the reef system.

So sad as it is, I guess the message here is that if you want to  come see it, visit soon. And if you do, please don't sit on it.


-E

Snorkeling Pictures

My little point and click camera is waterproof, but only up to 3 meters. Because of that it can only go out snorkeling. On our last day on the liveaboard, we decided to skip one of the dives and snorkel instead.

The camera has been pretty good so far, but it's not great underwater. (Certainly it can't be user error that so many of the photos came out blurry and super green!)

There are many wonderful photographers who have done a much better job than me (and have break equipment), but at least I can say that I actually took all of the photos below.

Spotted puffer fish

This is a wrasse (some kind) and it was huge

Finger coral

The reef

Millions of little blue fishes

Giant clam (but this ones a baby)

Giant clam, about 1.5 m long (I'm not talking about SP)

One of my favorites, a parrot fish (being cleaned)

Another favorite, the giant trevally (at left)