Clearly, we hadn’t had enough of getting away because on Friday at 4.00 p.m. we finished packing up the Sherwood and drove up the hill to Glen Forest. There was a talk by Malcolm French who is a botanist and farmer, a man of experience and wisdom.
Curiously, we had something of the same hopefulness after his talk that we felt after the film ‘Oceans’, with David Attenborough. David spoke about the regeneration of life in the ocean by creating sanctuaries, and how everything could come alive after just a few years, with spill over effects which make fishing viable. Though not deep sea trawling, which creates deserts on the ocean floor.
Anyway, Malcolm’s message was that many of the beautiful native trees to the east of Perth can thrive in very hot, dry conditions. He suggests that we start to plant these trees closer to Perth so that we still have lots of trees as climate warming bites.
As a farmer, he knows that local producers can get much higher prices selling to the European Union, if they adhere to the sustainable farming practices set by the Union. This means that farmers are adhering to these principles out of self interest. The EU does not take this on trust, but does satellite and in person inspections to confirm compliance. The farmers get 10% higher prices. A win for the environment and farming becomes more sustainable financially.
On arrival we had checked out the park where we stayed overnight last time to check for no camping signs, then went and parked near the hall to have our small meal.
At 7.00 p.m., when the meeting was supposed to start, we walked along the road trying to find the hall, but all was in darkness and we initially walked straight past. When people did arrive the lights came on briefly before going out. It took a fair bit of trial and error to work out what the problem was. The offending light switch was turned off and meeting commenced.
We had a quiz to start, Stephen and I could answer none of the questions. Then we had the talk, with slides showing the various trees. Malcom is quite old, but he didn’t need a microphone to project his voice and we really enjoyed it.
After a peaceful night in the parking area we had breakfast and went for a walk along the Heritage Trail, heading east this time, we went west last time.
We still somehow ended up at the cafe for hot drinks and a savoury scone.
We’ve had yearly stays at Rottnest for the last three or four years. Eversley books a cottage months in advance and if we are in town (and somehow we always manage to be available), we join her for a short holiday.
Note: there are no photos of Eversley here, but she is in the video.
We have usually travelled from Fremantle Jetty, although one year we travelled down river from the Barrack Street Jetty, then caught the ferry in Fremantle. This year I wanted to try something different. Eversley travels on the ferry from Hillarys and we decided to join her, driving up to Hillarys. This meant that we only had to take our cases a short distance to the pick up point. On return, we picked them up from the same place and it certainly beats taking our bags on public transport.
Eversley then guided us via phone to the dock where the ferry was waiting. We boarded fairly quickly and were able to get our preferred seats at the back on windows.
I had been waiting for a coffee, but was out of luck getting a hot coffee on the ferry as they had forgotten to stock up on coffee beans. I had a canned coffee instead.
It was a sunny day and the sea was fairly calm, so a good day for the crossing. As it was Sunday the ferry was full, though we could look forward to a quiet couple of days on the island for Monday and Tuesday, with fewer tourists.
On arrival we waited at the Dome for our cottage to be available. Although the official time is 2.00 p.m. we were able to get in at about 1.00 p.m. We dropped off our things and went to the local store to get some essentials, such as bananas, milk and yogurt.
We had an evening meal at Frankie’s and it was mild enough to sit outside in a sheltered spot.
On Monday we parted ways after coffee at the outdoor cafe in the newly renovated Rottnest Lodge. Stephen and I went to catch the train to Olive Hill, with the intention of walking from there to the Light House, whilst Eversley did other things.
The train journey was noisy, but being on it meant we travelled through parts of the island where we hadn’t been before, so it was interesting. The journey finished by going uphill to the aptly named Olive Hill, where there was quite a good view.
The Lighthouse didn’t seem very far away. We were warned that it was quite a challenging walk, but in fact it didn’t seem difficult and the only steep uphill part was right at the end. At the top we were delighted to find a caravan selling coffees and food. We opted for toasties and fruit juice as I’d already had two coffees.
After lunch we walked the rest of the way up to the Lighthouse, about 100m. When we left it was about a 600m walk down to the bus stop to catch the hop on hop off bus that goes around the island. We were really happy to just go back to the settlement and to our cottage.
We picked up some food at the store and had dinner at home. We had thought of pizza, but having the toasties at lunch time had rather spoiled our appetite for a similar type of meal. We bought some Thai curries, not really that nice, but filled us up.
It became very cloudy in the afternoon and by evening it was raining and there was a strong wind. We were happy to stay in and watch TV.
By Tuesday morning the weather had cleared to another lovely, sunny day. Stephen went on a walk to the lookout beyond Kingston Barracks and Eversley and I stayed near the settlement. We planned to go to the Lodge for an evening meal on our last night and Eversley booked us a spot with comfortable chairs where we could watch the sunset.
When we ordered dinner we moved to a dining table further inside. It was chilly and we wanted to be as warm as possible. When we returned to the cottage we tried out the heater, but it kept throwing an error message. We felt it was too late to ring up and complain, but apparently that’s what we should have done. We wrapped ourselves up in shawls and blankets instead.
Leaving day it’s good to get up early as we have to have our bags packed and outside the gate by 8.00 a.m. They are picked up by the ferry company and we don’t see them again until we arrive back. We also had to vacate by 9.00 a.m., but that gave us an extra hour and we were all ready in time. Eversley and I went for a coffee and Stephen had a bit of a walk around the settlement.
There were very few of us leaving at 11.30 a.m., so again we got good seats. It was another mild and sunny day.
At Hillarys we felt ready for lunch and went to the Dome, where we sat outside, but sheltered, with views of the the inner harbour. We felt that it was the continuation of a very lovely few days away.
Of course, we were all glad to actually get back home afterwards. I was so relaxed that I didn’t check on a couple of things planned for Thursday night and Friday morning, I was thinking they were happening the following week. However, I am all caught up now.
We did some filming. I took the camera around the cottage to make sure we remember it clearly. I think it is the fourth year because I think we may have had two years in one cottage, a different one last year, and a different one this year. Each time we feel like we’ve been very lucky to get such a nice place to stay.
I filmed the train ride and walk to Rottnest, and Stephen also filmed some of his walk to the lookout. I did a quick edit, which was pretty boring in parts, so I’ve done another edit this morning, taking out many bits that were too long and repetitive. I’ve also changed the order of some things and had to reapply the music. Hopefully, this is a much better edit. We showed Matt the first one and he got a bit bored.
I feel we should do what they do with the Olympics and vote this Rottnest trip as the best so far. Perhaps it always feels like that when we’ve just been away and feeling relaxed and refreshed.
PS: we saw lots of quokkas, but that is normal on the Island.
