Western Australia

2/18 Kangaroo Island

Funny that I titled this Western Australia but this island is actually in south Australia... regardless it's getting lumped in with this blog because it fits into my timeline.

When a place has zero transportation, 5 HAP people get together, rent a car, and drive around Kangaroo island from start to finish. Literally. First tender in, last tender out…

We saw wild Kangaroos! Which was amazing. Although we didn’t get any pictures of them, I did get a picture of a kangaroo crossing sign.

We went to Flinders Chase National park and out remarkable rock, which was very remarkable. It reminded me of Utah in a way, because of the color of the rocks. The wind and water had carved into them over centuries so they took on various odd shapes as they sat on top of a granite base.

Admirals arch, which… was indeed admirable. It was a cave a long time ago, but has been carved out by waves and wind over time. And we saw seals here. Since mating season just happened, there were tiny pups everywhere!

2/21 Fremantle

A casual morning in Fremantle. The darling, artsy, picturesque small town in Western Australia. I really loved this place.

This is the kind of town I could see myself living in permanently. Small enough to have a strong sense of community, but big enough to have plenty to. A place for open mic night on Tuesdays, but feel safe walking the town. A pretzel shop decorated entirely in pink with milk cartons (shauna loves milk so this was a momentous find). A place with a hippie boutique, all clothes on sale but still too spendy for me, a record store, and a target with T-shirt’s on sale for $5 AUD.

I had to laugh because here I am, in the middle of a Target in Western Australia, looking at a T-shirt that says Nevada in big bold print with a motorcycle in the center.

We got to go to the historic prison site which was not only very informative, but had an option to view part of the prison for free. Instead of paying extra for a tour we opted for the free... and still saw quite a bit and learned a lot. Which is good, historical education and enrichment should be free!

2/21 Perth

Honestly, not my cup of tea. It was still a nice day in the city. Teresa, shauna, and I took the train from Fremantle to Perth and then road a free loop shuttle that took us to some hidden gems. A church, a library, a mint (that was closed when we got there) but, it just wasn’t my favorite city.

My biggest highlight from Perth included seeing a swan bridge over the swan river… we also saw brown jellyfish in the river, which I found really interesting!

On the 30 minute train ride back to Fremantle from Perth we did catch the sunset

Partayyyyyy! Or at least party as much as possible for a Tuesday night in the small town of Fremantle.

“It’s a Tuesday. There’s drink deals on Tuesday” - shauna

There was not a drink deal. And my tasty sour was $9 USD… but, still, what a night!

We got to sleep around 1am with an alarm set for 5am to go to Rottnest island… The only place in the world to see the famous quokka. Not to worry though, a great coffee place was promptly waiting my arrival

2/22 Rottnest Island

The quokka are marsupials that I can best describe as a mini wallaby, mixed with a rat. They’re basically a giant rodent… but people love them because they have a natural smile.

A few years ago it became popular to take selfies with them…

"I wonder where we'll see our first one?!" - me excited as soon as we get off the ferry...

We'd been told they're everywhere so we're guaranteed to see them!

And where do you suppose we see our first one?

Behind a trash can... haha.

“Here I am, crouching in a pile of quokka poop trying to take a selfie with this giant rat…” - Abby

But let me tell you, don’t let the first quokka and this quote trick you. Because MAN what an INCREDIBLE DAY. Sooo much fun! Not only did we spend our fair share of time with these little critters but we also checked out the island. They offered a hop on hop off tour where:

We saw the beautiful blue water the island had to offer

The two lighthouses on the island

A pink lake

The west end Cape with seals to watch play around in the crashing waves.

We got back on the ship, and celebrated National margarita day while we sailed away from Australia…

Cheers,

Tay

Here's a bonus picture of me playing on a sail boat at the wooden boat festival. PC: Shauna