Island Paradise

We took a ferry to Rottnest here and entered another world. This is the island of the Quokka, with about 15000 of them. They are marsupials and hide in the day, but sometimes appear by the cafes. There is a settlement unchanged since the early settlers brought in convicts to build the basic little bungalows, now basic accomodation for the rich to have a holiday chill out. The beaches of pink sand and aqua water were beautiful paradise to swim. A bus does tours around the island in an hour hop on and off. I could swim in a bay, hop on a bus and go and see the seals, or the lighthouse. I saw a lizard called a skink as well as a Quokka. The trees are so windswept they bend

over. The bay was filling up with boat and yachts as people arrived to spend Christmas here. Not a cheap holiday, with rich and famous here often!

The weather was hot so I swam a lot, and visited the chapel all ready for Christmas with its stained glass picture of the pregnant Mary meeting the pregnant Martha, and the jail now a giftshop. There are a few cafes and shops and a new glamping resort but it is mostly beautiful wilderness.

Nick volunteers as a guide and is very knowledgeable about it, the family that first came here, the placing of a gun here in WW2, which is reached by a little railway. I would love to come back here and spend a couple of days, swimming and walking and seeing the stars at night, it is beautiful, as I said a real paradise.