Just 
before Christmas, Steve, Carol, Danny, Karen, Helen and Lei all visited Rottnest Island - a holiday spot just outside of Perth. Originally found by Dutch explorers - who noticed a local species called the Quokka - an animal that looks a lot like an overgrown Rat (but isn't I hasten to add - since they are marsupials) and so they named the island Rottnest (or Rat nest in dutch). The island was used as a prison from around 1838 to 1931 for Aboriginal men and then in the 1940's it was a defensive position in WWII protecting the west coast of Australia. A long and checkered history for this place - but now, it is used as a holiday destination for WA inhabitants who love it's beaches.
before Christmas, Steve, Carol, Danny, Karen, Helen and Lei all visited Rottnest Island - a holiday spot just outside of Perth. Originally found by Dutch explorers - who noticed a local species called the Quokka - an animal that looks a lot like an overgrown Rat (but isn't I hasten to add - since they are marsupials) and so they named the island Rottnest (or Rat nest in dutch). The island was used as a prison from around 1838 to 1931 for Aboriginal men and then in the 1940's it was a defensive position in WWII protecting the west coast of Australia. A long and checkered history for this place - but now, it is used as a holiday destination for WA inhabitants who love it's beaches.
Other than the flies and some dodgy food when we first arrived, the weekend was great. When we checked in - we found that we had been put into an old army barracks built prior to the war that was named 'Kennedy'. Originally we were very impressed that they had been efficient and had the key's labelled with the last name of the party who had booked the accommodation - but soon discovered that it was truly named 'Kennedy' although we never got the history behind why. 
We spent the two days on the beach - and while the ocean breeze was blowing the sand pretty fierce, it was lovely. Rottnest is a holiday spot that you go to for the awesome environment around you - not for the accommodation which is pretty basic, but that is one of the charms of Rottnest since the Australians want to keep it as original as possible - right down to the army blankets. There are no cars, although they do have bus transport to get you around the island to the 63 beaches, where you can hop on and off all day if you like. There are no fancy hotels - just lovely beaches, a small outpost for shopping and relaxed living. At one bus stop we saw a snake heading for us so we STAMPED and fortunately it turned around and headed off. Steve told us later it was one of the more aggressive species.. phew!
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