North Fremantle Beach was amazing. The sand was pure white and soft, and the dunes were open and spacious, along with the fact that there were very few people. It did not have the commercialisation and buildup of pubs or cafes as some of the other cool beaches, but it did have a snack shop.
We all enjoyed this beach alot, especially the much larger and more heavily crashing waves that take place at this beach. Body surfing was great, and the waves pounded you into the shore. (Some were very tall, and as we played football in the water could drag you almost all the way in if you werent looking at them and were taken by surprise)
It was so much fun that we decided to stay for about 6 or 7 hours before coming back, and with temperatures of around 92 degrees, we all got plenty of color that day.
The color was enhanced by our activities the next day. Six of us decided to get up early take the ferry to Rottnest Island, or "Rotto" as it is known to the locals. It is very similar to Mackinac Island in Michigan. You have to take a ferry to the island and is about 8-10 miles off shore. There are a couple of ferry companies and it takes about 25-30 minutes to get there. Once there you rent bikes and ride around the island.
One of the girls in the group of 6 that went never learned how to ride a bike, which meant that she had to use the transport system around the island, but other than that we all got bikes. There are no cars allowed on the island. There is a small town at the dock side, and then state park and protected wildlife the rest of the way (very similar to Mackinac).
We stopped at a few of the outlooks over the ocean along the way, before heading to an early 19th century lighthouse. We went to the top of it, which was very cool, and in the amazingly strong wind were able to get a great view of the island.
Four of the group decided just to head for a great beach on the other side, while myself and Keaton decided we wanted to bike all the way around the perimeter. We hit every lookout and path, and in total rode about 15 miles.
The similarities to Mackinac are startling -- there is one nice resort on the island and many other lower quality restaurants. The town is rather "tourist trappy". There is a golf course on the island. There is a former military fortification towards the middle of the island (although in this case it was big guns from WWI and WWII). Bikes are very popular (although we actually had to wear helmets because it is Australian federal law that all bikers must wear helmets), and almost everyone on the island is a tourist.
We finally got to the beach that we had chosen to meet and it was spectacular. Almost the entire island is amazing Indian Ocean beaches, however, this in particular was a little hidden away beach with its own cove. The sand was great, there were great big sand dunes, and the snorkelling and swimming was great.
A reef off the coast had some colorful coral (mostly blue and some red) and we saw some pretty large fish, as well as a sting ray in our group. We snorkelled to another beach and then headed over the rock formations of limestone to get back. We then got to relax in paradise for awhile at the beach. It certainly did not hurt that it was again over 90 degrees.
We all got a lot of color, and a great work out by biking over the many hills on the island.
After the ferry ride back and a quick shower, we finished the night off in Perth, trying out a very cool but different Asian themed bar. We didn't go very hard due to being tired from the long day, but it was a good end to a great day.
No comments:
Post a Comment