Western Australia, Part 3: Freemantle, Perth and Rottnest Island

At the ferry landing at Rottnest Island, Western Australia

Recently, I was cleaning out and found my diary from our trip to Australia in 2007, when we toured the west coast with our friend Mike in his camper van, traveling from Augusta to Shark Bay and back to Perth. As I read through the entries I was reminded of the uniqueness of that landscape–different from anything else we had seen in Australia. Here is the third installment of some highlights from the trip.

New Holland Honeyeaters gather att our campground in Freemantle

From Eneabba we continued driving south to Perth and our campground at the port of Freemantle. The next morning we took the ferry from Victoria Quay in Freemantle to Rottnest Island.

Victoria Quay, Freemantle harbor

Originally built as a penal colony, Rottnest Island is now a protected reserve and tourist destination.  No cars are allowed, but one can rent bicycles, which we did, and rode to the Rottnest Lighthouse. (See my blog of March 31, 2014.)

Rottnest Lighthouse

On our way we met numerous quokkas–small marsupials extinct everywhere in Australia except on Rottnest.  They were remarkably fearless and approached us hoping for a handout. One was so friendly it bit my finger!  We then biked to a World War II gun emplacement on Oliver Hill and had a short tour by a volunteer guide. By the time we returned to town it started to rain so we spent the rest of the time in the museum, learning about the use of the island in the 1800s as an aboriginal prison and a boys reform school.

Quokka on Rottnest Island

Our final day was spent in Perth, walking along the Swan River and visiting the Western Australia Museum where we saw giant meteorites, a megamouth shark, and an exhibit focusing on the “lost generation”--aboriginal children taken away from their mothers. (The Australian film Rabbit Proof Fence is the powerful retelling of the story of three such girls who ran away from their boarding school and walked 1500 miles home. The story takes place in 1931.)

Walking along the Swan River in Perth

We then headed to the airport for the long flight over the Great Victoria Desert to Melbourne and from there, home to Los Angeles.
Our trip up the coast of Western Australia had been full, but still there was an enormous amount of the country yet to see. Someday, we’ll have to go back!

Western Australia, Part 2: Shark Bay--Dolphins, Pearls, Pelicans and More

Pelican at Monkey Mia, Shark Bay

Recently, I was cleaning out and found my diary from our trip to Australia in 2007, when we toured the west coast with our friend Mike in his camper van, traveling from Augusta to Shark Bay and back to Perth. As I read through the entries I was reminded of the uniqueness of that landscape–different from anything else we had seen in Australia. Here is the second installment of some highlights from the trip.

Dolphin at Monkey Mia

Shark Bay, located about 500 miles north of Perth on the westernmost point of the Australian continent, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site famous for its friendly dolphins, dugongs (relatives of the manatee), ancient stromatolites, and rich marine life. After spending the night camping nearby in Denham, we got up early to go to Monkey Mia to see the dolphin feeding at 8:00. A crowd of onlookers waited on the beach for the dolphins to appear.

Feeding the dolphins at Monkey Mia

Bottlenose dolphins have been visiting the beach at Monkey Mia for more than 40 years. In the 1960s, fishermen returning to Monkey Mia began sharing their catch with some local dolphins. Over the years, the dolphins’ trust grew and several more were fed at the jetty and later the beach. An increasing numbers of visitors came to see the dolphins. Now the feeding of the dolphins is managed by the Department of Parks and Wildlife. When the dolphins came in to the shallow water, we watched as volunteers fed them from buckets of fish.

Catamaran tour at Monkey Mia, Shark Bay

Later that morning we took a catamaran trip on the bay, where we saw more dolphins and stopped at a floating pearling enterprise. That evening we had dinner in a restaurant in Denham called the Old Pearler built of bricks made from leftover shells.

Demonstration of seeding oysters with pearls

The following day we started on the long drive back to Perth and stopped for the night at the Wildflower Caravan Park at Eneabba.

An example of Australian humor

Because of the long-running drought, there were not as many wildflowers as in wet years, but we had an interesting tour to see the few plants that were in bloom and a slide show of some others. In the morning, we met a number of VERY friendly kangaroos. Like many Australians, the owners of the caravan park foster orphaned joeys, who, when they are old enough, have free run of the campground. Not surprisingly, some of them allowed us to get quite close!

Caroline with young Western Gray Kangaroo

Western Australia, Part 1: Augusta, Yanchep National Park, the Pinnacles, Murchison River Gorge

Murchison River Gorge, Kalberri, Western Australia

Recently, I was cleaning out and found my diary from our trip to Australia in 2007, when we toured the west coast with our friend Mike in his camper van, traveling from Augusta to Shark Bay and back to Perth. As I read through the entries I was reminded of the uniqueness of that landscape–different from anything else we had seen in Australia. Here is the first installment of some highlights from the trip.

Jewel Cave, Augusta, Western Australia

We spent the first few days in Augusta (about 200 miles south of Perth) getting ready for our trip and seeing some of the local sights including the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse (see my post of March 31, 2014), Jewel Cave, with its curtains of stalactites, a tour of the Leeuwin Winery, where we tasted and bought some excellent wine, and hikes to see the local flora and fauna, including various colorful parrots. Mike studies parrots, so he was the perfect guide.

Black Cockatoo, Yanchep National Park

On our first day on the road we drove north to Yanchep National Park, about an hour north of Perth, where we camped in a caravan park near the beach. It was raining when we arrived, but the following morning was sunny and we went to see the koalas displayed in the park (Koalas don’t live in Western Australia so these had been imported from eastern Australia.) A flock of rare black cockatoos had settled in the trees above the koala enclosure.

Looking at Stromatolites at Lake Thetis near Cervantes

We then continued north to Cervantes, famous for its stromatolites. Stromatolites are the oldest known living organism and grow only in shallow, super salty water. The tiny organisms grow very slowly and form clusters (they are extremely fragile.) A boardwalk allowed us to see them up close without causing any damage.

The Pinnacles, Nambung National Park

Also near Cervantes are the Pinnacles, in Nambung National Park, an assemblage of conical rocks rising out of the sand like an army of stone soldiers. They reminded us of a giant chessboard with odd shaped pieces or something from a science fiction movie. We stayed until sunset, fascinated by the strange shapes and shadows.

Banksia flowers

Our third day on the road in Western Australia took us from Cervantes back to the Brand Highway and on to Kalberri where we stayed the night before setting off to visit Murchison River Gorge in the morning. The sand road into the gorge was a bumpy giant washboard lined with yellow-flowered Banksia bushes.  Signs warned us to watch out for bilbys (a marsupial with long, rabbit-like ears) and we were hoping to see one. We didn’t, although we did spot a flock of emus.

Emus

Few other people were at the overlook when we arrived at Murchison River Gorge. After taking pictures of the impressive view, we hiked down to the bottom of the gorge. As we were leaving, a thunderstorm rolled in, making the view even more dramatic.

Murchison River Gorge with storm approaching

The rest of the day was spent back on the road, driving to our furthest destination, Shark Bay.