I wanted to go back to Rottnest Island. My first visit last year was way too short. I had taken the Rottnest Express 11.30am ferry and returned at 4pm.
Yesterday morning I booked the ticket online, took the first morning ferry from Fremantle at 9.30am and returned with the last one at 4pm. Not much difference really... only 2 hours more, for a total of 5 hours on the island, but at least on this visit I took my own bike so did not have to waste time renting one.
It was so pleasant to cycle on these roads with no traffic at all -apart from a bus from time to time or a ranger's car-, stopping here and there to admire the scenery or to walk along the beaches. These few hours passed too quickly; I guess next time I will have to stay one or two nights on Rottnest to really enjoy it... There is definitely enough to see and to do there for a longer stay.

Rottnest Island is a very popular weekend and holiday destination for the Western Australians. It takes about 30 minutes to get there  by boat from Freemantle.

I went to Rottnest island on my day off and although i have been there many times i had never seen it from the air, every time i have been on a flying lesson i have always gone in land and never out to sea and over to Rottnest. I rode my bike to the airport on the island and inquired how much it would cost to get a trip on board the Rottnest air taxi. Rottnest air taxi provides flights from Jandakot airfield to Rottnest island and also scenic flights of varying length around the island.

I wanted to see a much as I could so I went on a 30 minute flight that took me up to 2000 feet for an overview of the whole island and got to do a loop around the island twice at this height so i could see everything. I also got the pilot to fly nice and low so I could get a close up view of the beaches and coastline. It is always very windy at Rottnest which makes the flight more fun as the little Cessna gets pushed around the sky (probably not good for the squeamish) . The wind was especially noticeable on the landing when the plane was thrown way to the right just before landing (good fun).

the 30 minute flight only cost me $50 and i think that is money well spent, from the air you can really appreciate how big and beautiful the island is. I highly recommend a flight around the island, i think the costs starts off at $20 and thats a bargain!

Elise and I headed for the island of Rottnest, only a short ferry ride from Freemantle. It was a great few days of relaxation and gorgeous beaches! It may have been the first time during the trip where I really just totally and completely relaxed. The first two nights we stayed in a hotel which was right on the water. We walked around the island and into the cute town square which has around 5 shops... all which close between 4 and 5... the latest you can get food is 9PM so if you feel the urge after that, don't expect a meal till the next morning (a dieters paradise in a way). On our last full day we took a trip in a glass bottom boat to see the coral reefs and the ship wrecks out in the ocean surrounding Rottnest. It wasn't exactly funny... though I found it amusing... Our boat was filled with a group of elderly tourists out for the day. The boat was pretty rocky and one by one you see almost every single person get up and struggle their way upstairs turning a little green along the way. What started as a packed tour was left to about five of us who were able to keep down our breakfasts. That night we moved all our stuff to the cabin and grabbed dinner and some wine to watch the sunset on the beach (how romantic!) ... We discovered our love for Brown Brother's Zibibo sparking wine and enjoyed the evening chatting and watching the different colors all over the sky. Then, reality hit. Upon entering the cabin we were faced with 2 massive bugs and 2 giant spiders on our ceiling. Now, spiders in Australia can be deadly... it's one of Australia's three deadly S's - Snakes, Spiders and Sharks. Elise and I start freaking out and she calls her mom screaming. I decided that I needed to take matters into my own hands and find a tall boy or someone who can kill these monsters on the ceiling. Instead I walk outside to an older couple in the next cabin who are just laughing at us. I ask if they are skilled and killing poisonous spiders and they say no, but I have something that is! The older man gave me fly spray and told me to spray it on them and then leave the cabin because they take a long time to die... oh my. So Elise books it out the door and I fight off the killer spiders... that is until the spider falls off the ceiling and I jump off the chair and leap out of the cabin myself. We went out, had a beer, and came back to face our inevitable fate.... were they dead or really angry? Well one spider was dead... we knew that for sure because he died all over our sheets. After cleaning that up we went to bed, where Elise slept soundly all night and I twitched with dreams of poisonous spiders running through my head. Minus the last night (which was a fairly good comic relief) the trip was very nice and relaxing.

The next day we woke up early and caught the ferry from Fremantle to Rottnest Island, an island about 20km off the coast of Fremantle. It wasn't a ferry you could take your car on, as there are no vehicles allowed on the island. Your only mode of transportation on the island is to take the bus or to rent bicycles and explore it yourself.  Andy and I split up from our friends on this day and rented some bikes and headed down the road.  The island was spectacular, around every corner was an even more beautiful beach.  We found a calm bay and spent most of the day there.  While sitting in the water, I noticed a black thing swimming in the water- a sting ray was circling the area- he stayed far away enough from the people, but was close enough to get a good look- he spent most of the day circling and got pretty close to us a few times. I thought that was pretty cool! Also while we were there, a Quokka wandered up on the beach. I'd never seen on up close like that and they're pretty friendly creatures and not at all afraid of humans.  I got some good pics of him and he let me touch him.  We had a really relaxing and wonderful day.  We met back up with our friends to catch the ferry home and shared our stories of the things we'd seen that day. That night we had dinner at a restaurant in Perth right on Swan River. There was a view of the Perth skyline thru the boats at the marina. So many beautiful sights in one day!

Today myself and Kirsti set off to Rottnest Island for the day, this is a small island just off Perth and after hiring 2 bikes we set of on the half hour ferry ride over, once again another gorgeous location, we got our map and set off to cycle the island and visit the many many bays it has, we got a bit lost so added a couple of k to the trip from the start, we spent the whole day cycling round the island stopping of at some of the bays for a swim, Barry had told us that it was a 14k bike ride, what he hadnt told us was it was 28k ride round the whole island, this was also slightly hindered by the bike I had hired was stuck in 3rd gear, so getting up and down the hills was trying at times, but had a great day if not a tad tiring, we got the 4.30 ferry back, unfortunately this was the latest one and could have really done a few hours longer to have been able to lounge around longer at some of the bays, by the time we got home we were totally knackered and not much good for anything.