Running Rottnest Island
Our flights and travel although very long went extremely well. From start to finish it was 33 hours of traveling. We arrived at our hotel room at 2:00pm local time. Since we did not want to be knocked out by Jet lag for too many days we went straight out to check out Perth. It was stinking hot here, 29 degrees, compared to calgary’s -5 to 10 we had been used to. We worked super hard at not going to sleep and we finally gave in at 8:00pm.
We woke up wide awake at 5:00am so we went for a run along the Swan River, absolutely beautiful and hot 19 degrees at 5:00am. We saw some parrots in the palm trees and a pelican filling his beak in the river. We spent the rest of the day working on learning the public transit and figuring out how to get to all of the hikes we want to do.
We went to one of Perth’s many beaches to check it out and kill some time before we could hook up with our friends Kat and Jenni who we are staying with.
Friday morning we headed over to Rotto. We did not want to hire a bike as they looked pretty junky and the brakes are opposite hands to ours. We decided running would be our best course of attack for this day. We were amazed by the beauty of the long white sandy beaches and the tropical blue waters. We spent the first little while just walking along the beach enjoying the heat and the surf.
We then decided it was time to start seeing this island Phil and Grace style, on foot and fast. We started running the beaches where ever we had the chance and went to the paths and road only at a last resort. We saw quite a few Skinks and little lizards running away from us as we approached but no snakes. It is a difficult thing for us to remember not to run through the low lying bush but as soon as you hear something in the bushes it is a very good reminder to stay on the well defined trail. We decided we wanted to check out the old gun towers on the top of the island to we turned inland about half way along the island. We were happy we did since when we were leaving there and running back we almost ran over a Quokka.
We got back to the main harbour and went and played in the water for an hour or so before our ferry left to take us back to Perth. Rotto was absolutely beautiful if anybody is coming to perth I would highly recommend going over to this place. Awesome place for a run, bike, or just chillin on the beach.
Our next stop is the 135 km Cape to Cape Trail south of Perth in the Margaret River region. We are hoping to get it done in 3-4 days but we will see how tough and beautiful it is maybe we will stay longer.
Great to hear you guys are safe and sound… well as safe and sound as you crazy kids can be! Good luck and have fun!