On day 44 (ish!) we went and stayed out of Mandurah again, but just for one night. We wanted to go to a place called Rottnest Island off the coast of Perth and if we were to travel back the same day we wouldn't really have had enough time there to bother going. They do have a lot of accomodation on the island itself, and even a cheap hostel, however it is so popular particuarly this season that we couldn't get anywhere to stay. We decided to stay the night in Freemantle, which we had already visited previously, as that was the nearest place. That way we could stay all day on Rottnest, and still had the night and next day to spend in Freo. I did really like it there when we went before so I was happy about that.

We left fairly early in the morning as we had to take two buses to get to Freemantle, and that took a couple of hours. When we arrived we went and checked in at the hostel straight away so we could dump our things there. We had spotted the hostel when we were looking around the last time we went, and it was that which gave us the idea to stay the night. It was propably the nicest hostel we have stayed in, although it hasn't been that many yet. It was a really big, old building right in the centre of everything, and within walking distance to the bars and the beach. It was also home to the town's cheapest bar: another plus! We had booked to stay in an eight bed dorm, but when we arrived they managed to but us in a four bed for the same price, so that was good. We did manage to get the other person out of bed when we arrived though as we couldn't open the door with the dodgy key, so I don't think we made a good first impression.

After leaving our things we headed straight for the port where the ferries to Rottnest (or Rotto as they say here - they have to shorten everything like that!) went from. It was actually much more expensive than we had expected, so we had to get it all done in one day and couldn't really afford to go back to the island the second day as we had thought about doing. The ride took about alf an hour altogether so we arrived on Rottnest just before midday. It was smooth too so we did get any seasickness!

The island was much nicer than I had expected, and I could see why it got so popular. It was really busy as soon as we stepped off the boat. It would have been nice to stay there for a few days. We were really lucky with the weather again as it was another hot day. The weather has started to improve a lot over the last couple of days, and is set to be very hot until we leave for Sydney. You can hire bikes on the island but we decided to stick to walking. It was so big that there was no way we would've been able to see all of it anyway. After grabbing some lunch we went and hired out some snorkeling gear, then headed to the beach. As we walked through I thought the settlement did actually remind me a bit of Centre Parks, but obviously with better weather and the sea! We visited a couple of the nicest beaches at first; Longreach bay and The Basin. The whole island is supposed to be excellent for snorkelling, but unfortunatley we didn't get to see much. I think you needed to go to the beaches a bit further away. The island has about 40 different bays and small beaches in total. Even so the water was lovely, if not a bit cold. It was so blue and was the clearest sea I've seen since Thailand. The sand was really similar to Thai sand too, really fine and white. All the beaches were so nice there. I didn't get to take any pictures as I didn't want to leave my camera on the beach without us there, so you'll have to take my word for it!

Once we had finished with the beaches we went to take a bit more of a walk around inland. We went on a search to find some Quokkas. They are a small animal which looks like a cross between a kangaroo and a rat. They are actually related to wallabies, and Rottnest Island is apparantly the only place in Australia they can be found. They were so cute, and we found loads of the them to look at by Garden Lake. They weren't shy at all and came really close. Unfortunatley after a bit more of a stroll around and some more time on the beach (this time Thompsion Bay) it was time to leave. I had really liked it on Rottnest, but was completely worn out and slept on the Ferry on the way back. Hopefully I didn't snore too much as it was packed.

That evening we chilled out at the hostel for a bit then we went out for dinner. We went for fish and chips again. I think I'm getting a bit addicited to them here as that's all they seem to eat. The restaurant was by the marina and we watched the sunset after dinner, which was really lovely, but probably not as romantic as it sounds! We went to a bar after that called Little Creatures, which is quite well known around here. It's in an old warehouse and is actually a brewery too. They have their own beers, and brew them in the bar itself. It was really cool inside actually, but not very cheap, so after that we went back to the hostel bar for some more drinks. As it was a wednesday night, the bars were quite quiet so it wasn't really worth going to loads. Justin was pleased as he beat a German at footbal (on the playstation though) and we played some table tennis. I'm rubbish even when I haven't had anything to drink and Justin could easily beat me, but he still insisted on spinning the ball eveythime so I can't hit it. Men - they're so competative!

The next morning we had a bit of a lie in then went out to walk around Freemantle. We had a look at some of the shops, but I didn't really buy anything. It is hard being poor sometimes as there was so much that I liked. I did manage to leave my backpack in a shop though and I panicked so much until we found it. It's hard when your whole life is in one bag, because if you lose it you're screwed really. After lunch we went back to the beach again, this time Bather's Bay in Freo. The sand wasn't quite a white or fine here though which was a shame, but it was a really hot, clear day again so I got even redder than I had the day before. I really need to learn to start putting suncream on more, but Justin did have to carry my bags all the way back to Mandurah for me as my shoulders hurt, so there was a plus side after all!