Rottnest Island Quokkas (Photo by Paul Hanaoka on Unsplash)
Get up at 6.30 am, ready to leave at 7.30 am to discover the quokka island. The 3 Italians, the French girl, a young German girl and I leave to take the train.
The ferry
At this hour, it’s a little chilly and I’m a little sorry I didn’t bring a sweater. We arrive at the ferry, a little coffee and it’s time to board. The German girl is all dressed up, she has put on a dress, put on make-up, curls in her hair. Uh but my beautiful, are you aware that we will spend the day pedaling and swimming?
The ferry’s a little hectic and I’m taking it upon myself not to get sick.
The beauty of the place
Arrival on site, rent the bikes and off you go. I would have thought the island would be overcrowded, but it wasn’t. People spread out quickly and we pass only a few cyclists along our journey. The small beaches are beautiful, the ocean is turquoise blue.
We stop at a first beach, what a joy to swim. I take advantage of my mask to observe the big tiger fish. The aquatic fauna is not spectacular for all that. While I swim with pleasure, the French and the German are in the middle of a photo session: standing, lying down, head tilted, don’t wait for this one, it makes my belly fat…
A well-deserved swim
I can’t help but think this is ridiculous. Hungry, we leave to eat in a restaurant, we realize that we are all scarlet red, and that the sun cream from the first stop sign will not have been enough…
Quokkas
Then we set off again on our bikes, the German girl is struggling, she’s even having a hard time, I can hardly wait for her. I’m the master of the GPS, the mother of the day. We cross beautiful beaches, and finally … A quokka !!!
Quokkas are marsupials that live only on this island, where they have no predators. They are very friendly and are not afraid of humans, when you see one, you can approach it without touching it.
Beaches
So first quokka, under a tree in a grove, a few pictures and we leave. We’ll see several of them on the way. The day is coming to an end, biking, swimming, quokkas, it went by at full speed and we are all tired but very satisfied.
The German girl stayed alive, I didn’t gut her, she didn’t even bathe, she grumbled a lot and forgot her smile on her Instagram account.
End of the day
We came back home exhausted, a last drink in town without the little girl, and we quickly went to bed.