Week 18 – Milligan Island – Jurien Bay – Perth

We free camped at Milligan Island near Green Head at a remote camp which was well set up by the local council. We picked a site right behind the dunes and a short walk to the beach. 

There were very few people around so we went for a walk on the beach. The weather was very windy and cloudy.

After lunch we walked along the beach to Green head. The beaches here are rough, jagged limestone rocks with sandy patches in between the headlands. There are heaps of fossils in the rocks of corals and sea plants.

Jurien Bay was our next stop. A pretty town which, like most of the towns in this area of WA survives on the lobster industry. Jurien Bay is also a tourist hotspot being only 200km from Perth. The main beach jetty is a great place for fishing and swimming.

We drove out to Leseur National park in the arvo for Nanna to see the wildflowers. This park is only 30km inland and is quite rugged with sandstone and limestone hills. There is a higher concentration of plant species in this area than anywhere else in Australia as it is untouched by humans and within a range of weather and landform conditions.

We visited the Pinnacles National Park. This area is quite strange with thousands of rough, pointy limestone columns sticking out from the desert sand. We drove through the Pinnacles and took some good photos, Pa even flew the drone. This area is only 5km from the beach and there could be thousands more pinnacles under the sand dunes around the area. This area was exposed when the sand blew away from the rocks.

After our visit we went to Hangover Bay where pa was going to have a dive but the water was pretty cold.

We visited Cervantes, another coastal town dependent on the lobster industry. To celebrate our 38^th wedding anniversary we splurged on a seafood platter with local lobster as the highlight. The Country Club even gave us some balloons to celebrate.  

The next day we headed for Perth and stayed at the Karrinyup Waters Resort. We went to dinner at Pa’s friend from school, Stephen Arnott’s place. It was great to catch up with Stephen and his wife Michelle. Their children Chanelle and Lachlan were also home. We had a great time and had quite a few laughs.

The next day Steve picked us up and gave us the grand tour of Perth. We drove through the city to Fremantle, the home of the America’s Cup when Australia won it. We had coffee on the Cappuccino Strip, the main drag of Fremantle.

The foreshore and harbour area is awesome with thousands of boats of all types. The weather was awesome this day with light winds and sun. It was also a Sunday so there were lots of people enjoying the weekend. We walked around the jetty area and had fish and chips for lunch on the boardwalk.

Steve then drove us along the beaches, past Scarborough and Trigg to Hillary’s where we will catch the ferry out to Rottnest Island. As you can see the surf is pretty small.

The next day we got up early and caught the 7.30am ferry to Rottnest Island, 20km off the coast of Perth. 

We took our bikes on the ferry so we could ride around the island, cars are not allowed on the island. The island is called Rottnest because the Dutch sailors who first found it noticed there were huge rat-like animals on the island. So they called it Rottnest – Rat’s Nest in Dutch. These rats are actually Quokkas and have survived well on this island as there are no feral predators such as dingoes or cats.

We had breakfast looking over the main beach of the island before we rode around the island. The bays and beaches are very pretty. It was pretty windy but the sun was shining and it was very quiet as it was a Monday.

At lunch time we saw lots of Quokkas hanging around the town area. They are very tame and walk under your feet. People are asked not to feed the Quokkas so they don’t become dependent upon humans for food.

In the arvo we had a ride on the train which was built in the 1930’s to take equipment up to a defensive gun emplacement, high on the hill of the island. This was a 9 inch gun which was capable of firing on ships up to 35km away if necessary to protect Perth during World War 2. It was built but never fired on ships as Perth was too far south for enemy ships during the war.

The ride home on the ferry was quite rough as the wind had picked up. The next day we went into King’s Park which is the botanical gardens of Perth. The weather was rainy and windy but the rain came in bursts with sun in between. Nanna loved the flowers and plants which are displayed high on the hill overlooking Perth city.

The State War Memorial is also on this hill with commanding views of the city.

We did some shopping ready for our trip tomorrow then headed home to the van. Stephen rang and invited us to his place for dinner and drinks again and we had a great night catching up. We really appreciated the time and effort Steve and Michelle put in to make our visit fantastic. Hopefully we can return the favour when they come east next time.

Tomorrow we head off south for Busselton but the weather is forecast for rain and strong winds.