Rottnest Island

Q 

Today we are going to try to get onto a ferry Rottnest Island. 

Breakfast at the cafe/bar at the YHA was great and not too expensive. 

Wandering down to the ferry terminal at the bell tower on the swan river, we went past the government house and some some of the old church's in the city.  

Obviously we got on the ferry (really dirty windows) and are on our way to Rottnest Island. 

Later the same day…

The trip down the Swan River was interesting but slow.  We saw the most expensive house in Australia, an amazing  monster, coming in at a $57 million, and just how extensive the river is.   The lower reaches of the Swan would give Sydney Harbour a run for its money.  I think Sydney would win but it would be a close race. 

The plan for Rottnest Island was to hire bikes and ride around some of the island.   We found the place overrun by bikes, but we also found that you could get an all day ticket on a the explorer bus for $20 each, cheaper than hiring a bike, the day being quite warm we decided to go with that option.  As it turned out, a really good idea. 

From the main harbour at Thompson Bay  we took the bus East around the southern part of the island to Wadjemup Lighthouse.  

The walk up to the lighthouse also visited an old pre WW1 signal tower used to verify the identity of any ship approaching Freemantle and a WW2 fire control tower used to direct the anti shipping batteries on the island. 

Then on to the lookout. 

We decided to not take the tour and climb the lighthouse but you can get an idea of the climb. 

The view from the hill was brilliant. 

If you look carefully at the panorama at the area just to the left of the lighthouse, you can see some mounds of sand. On this is a black dot, an anti shipping cannon. We didn't make it over there but the gun is still there. 

So much done today. More to follow. 

Back to freemantle and fish and chips on the beach.