We arrived early and had to wait for the bike hire shop to open. Jade was the first to spot a Quokka, in the garden next to the shop. We had only been here 15 mins and already we had seen one - they are so cute!!!
We picked up our bikes- 4 mountain bikes and helmets plus a cargo buggy to carry a days food, towels and snorkeling equipment and we were off. There are no cars on the island only tour buses and lots and lots of bikes however once out of the main area you had the road to yourself quite a bit. The roads are tar all the way and lots of rolling hills. We were off to a slow start whilst Dave got used to towing a different kind of buggy - he now understands how the poor car feels going up hill dragging the van behind it!
The flies were incredible, the worst we've ever experienced. They were up your nose, in your ears, behind your glasses whilst riding and I think we all ate a few!
We pulled into lots of the little bays and once again were awestruck with the colours of the water. This one below "Little Salmon Bay" was our favourite
We snorkelled around - the water was freezing and even moving around didn't warm you up a lot but there were lots of fish to look at and the water was so clear that you just had to do it and the outside temp was so beautiful that you warmed up real quick anyway.
We were sitting on the beach drying off and Jade says "Hey Mum that looks like Sarah from Nippers". We looked around and sure enough it was Sarah and her whole family - amazing that here we are on the otherside of the country a long long way from home and we bumped into someone that we know that lives only a few blocks from our house! Whilst on the island we bumped into them another 2 times also. Yesterday the world felt so big and now today after this it seems so small...
Back on our bikes and we headed a little further down the road, stopping frequently to take photos. The kids had been riding ahead and setting a cracking pace.
We rode up a big hill and then were flying down the other side, Thomas went whizzing past me, got the death wobbles and couldn't recover. He hit the deck hard, ran off the road (and there was quite a drop off the side of the road) and then rolled down the hill on his face dragging his bike behind him. The most horrifying thing I've ever seen in my life and I can still hear his scream ringing in my ears now. If you've ever seen any of the footage from the Tour de France where the riders go over the edge in the mountain stages - that's what he looked like!!!
Amazingly kids seem to bounce. Our poor boy has skin off all over and some really impressive bruises but thankfully no broken bones!! Thankfully also he was wearing his helmet, it really saved his head. I've always thought the silly bike helmets were useless and wouldn't really do much for you but Tom proved me wrong today!!
He was so incredibly brave even riding his bike away from the accident scene. We soon realised this was too much for him, his legs weren't working properly and he was too shaky so we abandoned his bike and mine at Bus stop 7 and we got the bus back to the main settlement. Dave and Jade road their bikes back through the middle of the island just beating us back.
We then had a quiet rest and some lunch under a tree overlooking the water - very pleasant. Food followed by an ice-cream (cause we all know that fixes everything) and Tom was looking a little better. We wandered around to the Basin and Pinky Beach playing with Quokkas along the way. They were very friendly to the kids even taking leaves out of their hands and eating them...
But beware these cute and friendly little critters that have the tail of a rat, look like a wallaby, hop like a rabbit but run like a kangaroo have a nasty side - they don't like big peoples hands! I know this from personal experience I got all sucked in by their cute gooey eyes and just wanted to pat one but sadly Mr Quokka didn't feel the same about me and bit me, yep took a chunk of my flesh and drew blood, so I warn you watch out for the killer quokkas.
The Basin looked lovely for a swim so some more snorkeling was done - not many fish here though!
We boarded the boat back at 4:30pm. It was quite rough on the way back and poor old Tom didn't fair too well feeling rather sea sick for most of the journey.
It was toasted sandwiches for dinner all round tonight and off to bed, 4 very tired people in our home tonight. Despite Tom's accident Rottnest was great, it would have been great to spend more time there today - maybe an overnight (or 2)....
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