Rats and Rocks in Western Australia |
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Western Australia seems despite its huge size be a forgotten part of Australia. The state, which takes up almost 50% of the country's area only has got a population of less than 2 million, and out of these 1.2 million live in Perth. After living a few years in Sydney and Melbourne, Perth felt more like a country town to me than a big city. Perhaps this feeling resulted from the fact that most of the city is very quiet from 6 PM and that there are very few well known tourist hot spots. The city is like most cities in Australia very suburbanised and the central business district is practically dead as soon as the offices close. The exception is a near suburb just at Perths northern end, called Northbridge. Here the restaurants, bars and nightclubs lie wall to wall, and the streets are at times crowded as a Tokyo railway station at peak hour, and the music echoes out from the clubs as if they tried to compete with each other out on the street. Out from the city. Perth as a city perhaps doesn't offer the tourist a lot and I personally soon felt a desire to get out of the city. The first place worth a visit is the old harbour town Fremantle. Fremantle, or Freo as it is called locally, has got a lot of old buildings (as old as you find in Australia that is) and along the harbour streets there are numerous seafood restaurants. And although Freo's seafood restaurants are popular among visitors, the prices are very reasonable. And if you, like me, come from a place where there isn't that much seafood, I strongly recommend that you take the chance to try all the prawns, lobsters and oysters that you can.The Rat Nest Island North and south of Freo and Perth the whole coast line is a beautiful stretch of beaches and a short drive to the East/North-East you hit the outback. We however choose to go further west, to Rottnest Island. Rottnest, that is the Dutch word for Rats nest, is easily reached by ferry from either Freo or Perth. The island was given this name by a sailor who
thought that the islands inhabitant, the Quokka, a distant relative of the
kangaroo, was some sort of giant rat.
There are no private cars on the island, but there is a shuttle bus service taking you between the most popular beaches. The other way, which I would recommend, is that you hire a bike. Rottnest isn't bigger than that you can cycle around in an hour. Just make sure you bring plenty of water and sunscreen. The Australian sun is treacherous and you won't find any kiosks or restaurants besides around the wharf. Because of the ozone hole is is necessary to wear sunscreen even if it is a cloudy day.Once I dived into to the cool turquoise water I forgot that I hadn't covered my back and after just 40 minutes of snorkelling my back was red as a tomato. This of course I didn't notice until hours later and the coming night when I dearly paid for that mistake. Although the water looks beautiful and clear it is surprisingly cool and although I saw a couple of big fish, the corals and the fish just didn't have those beautiful colours that you find in tropical areas.
Desert stalactites. If you get tired of swimming and beaching you can do a tour towards inland, to the desert, and from Perth you don't have to go far before the soil is mainly sand. Vi chose to go a few hours drive North to a place called "the Pinnacles". The Pinnacles isn't far from the coast and here nature has created a phenomenon well worth visiting. When the ocean covered this area the soil mainly consisted of soft limestone. The stone cracked and was over time packed with seashells. Over time the lime stone has eroded away and left just the pillars of packed seashells standing in the middle of the desert. Some of these pillars now reach more that 4 metres up in the air, and they continue growing as the sand and soil continues to erode away.The sand here is well compressed and you can drive around a track in a normal vehicle and there is no problem parking the car if you decide to go for a walk and try to spot some of the deserts inhabitants. This is something I had to pass on though since my girlfriend is terribly afraid of snakes.
Story by: Mika - DoAustralia LINKS:
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