(CARYS) Oh wowzers, what a day! Where on earth do I begin? I Don't belive there are enough words in the dictionary to describe thhe day I've had. I was woken by a very annoying ditzy-sounding alarm. It wos 5:30 AM. 5:30! Can you believe how early I had to wake up. Our mode of transport did have an early start though. I munched on some small croissants and an apple, and then we headed off to a nearby grand hotel. We had a arranged the previous day to get an early cab from there. Just as promised, the cab was there waiting, so we hopped in and were taken to Fremantle Port. Our ferry to Rottnest Island which wwas where we were going to today - didn't leave for another hour or so, so we decided to hang about in the cafe there; I had a very lovely hot chocolate.
Soon the boat finally did leave, and it only took approximatley 20-30 minutes to arrive on the island. When we did, we immediately got our hire bikes from the boat, and set of on our on little tour, just tthe four of us, around Rottnest Island. The iisland has it's own animaal, called a quokka. It's a mix of a rat and a wallaaby, but they are so so peaceful and surpisingly friendly! I even touched one in the end,, ddspite the signs that ssaid not to. It was very soft, and so so so so so so adorable! I discovered what a beautiful island it is, with crystal-blue waters that are super transparrent and lovely views. It was quite a hilly ride but we got through. Dad and I even struggled up a extremly steep climb to a lighthouse. I walked some of it, but the ride back down was thrilling.
After our aamazing explore around the island we went for a dip in the water. It was colder than we excpected, but felt lovely. 3/4 of us tried out our snorkelling gear which we had picked up earlier, as we were to be doing snorkelling quite soon.
After our little paddle, we went to the small pier to find the 'snorkelling gang..' We got on our wetsuits and swiftly boarded the boat. There were only eighht of us snorkelling today. We took the sppeedboaat out to a part of the ocean, quite far out from land. I was rather nervouss on the way, but sucked it up, because when the man instructing us asked who wanted to go first, I offered. This was after we'd been told how to wear our gear - goggles and snorkells - correctly. I plunged in, shocked by the water at first, but then swam back a bit to wait for the others. I put on my goggles and snorkel correctly, and swapping between parents at different times.
I got quite frightened at some points of getting injured by the marine creatures like ''sting rays' because of there names or even sharks, but after I'd been reassured I was fine. It was wonderful, snorkelling. The marine life was stunning - thee fish, I even saw a Dory fish! I spotted a sting raay too, very beaautiful creatures! It was one of the best experiences of my life. Unfortunatlley I did not see a dolphin, but everything else was splendid! Oh, except for the few bleeding cuts I got from the hard corals - which too looking amazing!
After getting back to the boat I jumpedin a few times, wary of the deepness below me, but after watching some others do it, incuding dad and Bryn, I jumped. I did it two more time, and it was fun, but hurt a bit. We then came back.
Our ferry home was at 3:55 PM so we just ggot changed and pretty much came strsight baack. Then we had another meal of yesterdays leftovers anda few extra tthings we bought from Coles today. A fantastical day overall. I ssimply lovd it! Over to LLoyd. :)
(Lloyd) Not much to add, Carys in top form today, pushing the boundaries in both her activity and writing. Was up at 4am having crashed very early last night, watching the Indian Ocean slowly coming to life a worthy way to spend those opening few hours.
The Rottnest experience very much a back to nature type of adventure, with our holiday bike tour thrown in. The whole family lapping it up, feeling so alive by engaging rather than sitting back and watching is something I am keen to instill in them, all sensory functions being applied on this trip, seeing and understanding the world and all its beauty something I hope develops their thinking and appreciation of the human and physical environment. If I can leave a couple of non narrow thinkers on this planet of ours after I exit stage left I will feel job done.
Lovely bit of cycling, which I trust you get a flavour of here
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/photo/101977337510384246232/6410687836671569618?icm=false
The snorkelling was an experience, not the multicolour explosion of the Barrier Reef, but dipping your head into the ocean underworld for a few moments, and the strange combination of hypnotic silence and life teeming everywhere a mesmerising privelege. The most southern outcrop of tropical coral don't you know. Great to follow that up with some childlike bombing off the front of the vessel that transported us to our snorkel spot.
Shame we didn't have a camera with us for our underwater adventure, so those images will have to remain locked to each individual concerned. Got a transfer back to Scarborough where our last full night in Oz ended the day as it started, staring out at the Indian Ocean, reflecting on all that we have experienced to date.
