25th - 29th February - Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Our flight from Adelaide to Perth was in the early afternoon, so we had time to do a little shopping before setting off to the airport.  Our flight was on time and we landed in Perth 40 minutes after we left Adelaide, Perth being two and half hours behind Adelaide.  As we arrived in Perth it was raining, the first rain for some weeks, but it wasn't making a lot of difference to the parched grass and vegetation.

We were picked up and taken to our hotel in the centre of the city.  My old friend Piers who I went to school and university with back in the day has been living in Perth for many tears and he and I had not met up for some time.  We had arranged to meet on this trip and he picked us up and took us to his house for dinner.

We were entertained not only by Piers and Jan, but by the wildlife in their garden, Cockatoos and Lorikeets flying over, a quite tame Kookaburra, that almost took Helen's head off and a pair of Tawny Frogmouth, that were found by Helen when looking for a possum!

The tawny frogmouth is a species of frogmouth native to the Australian mainland and Tasmania and found throughout. It is a big-headed, stocky bird often mistaken for an owl due to its nocturnal habits and similar colouring but is in fact related to the nightjars.

The tawny frogmouth makes use of cryptic plumage and mimicry to camouflage itself. These birds strategically perch themselves on low tree branches during daylight hours, cleverly assimilating with the tree itself. Their silvery-grey plumage, adorned with patterns of white, black, and brown streaks and mottles, enables them to seamlessly blend into the appearance of a fractured tree branch, rendering them nearly invisible in the bright light of day.

The following day we had sometime in the morning to wander the malls close to the hotel, before we were picked up and taken to Kings Park, yet another green area in the city with a Botanical Garden.  This oasis in the busy city turned out more birds.

A Rainbow Bee-eater hawking for insects from the Eucalyptus.

We then came across a group of Red-tailed Black Cockatoos.

This large, glossy cockatoo is jet black, with a heavy bill and is named after its spectacular red to orange tail feathers that resemble a sunset. With a unique crest that protrudes past its bill, this distinguished feathery crown that belongs to the red-tailed black-cockatoo is unlike any other crest within the black cockatoo family. The male is truer to its name and is glossy black in colour with bright red segments in its tail. The female cockatoo is duller in colour and has distinct yellow spots on her wings, neck and head, yellowish barring to the underbody and paler yellowy panels in the tail.     

The red-tailed black-cockatoo is the most widely distributed of the black cockatoos. There are five subspecies that can be found broadly across northern, western, and eastern Australia. A smaller, isolated subspecies occurs within Victoria and South Australia. 

Seeds make up most of the diet of the red-tailed black-cockatoo, with favoured plants including the eucalyptus, casuarina, acacia and banksia. Birds also eat flowers, fruit berries, nectar and occasionally insects and larvae. Highly nomadic, red-tails spend much of their time searching for stringybark species that have produced a high seed crop.  

There is a common myth that the movement of black-cockatoos means bad weather is on its way.

It was very hot now and even the trees were not providing shade and respite.  There were some great views across the city though.

We had lunch out at the City beach, deserted once ain in the heat of the day.

In the afternoon we explored the CBD and ended up down on the water front.  For dinner we tried the restaurant attached to the hotel.

The following day we were off to Rottnest Island.  The morning started with some drama but we made it to the ferry and set out along the Swan River towards Fremantle, where we stopped to pick up before heading out into the Indian Ocean.

Rottnest Island, and often colloquially referred to as "Rotto", is a 19-square-kilometre (7.3 sq mi) island off the coast of Western Australia, around 18 kilometres (11 mi) west of Fremantle. A sandy, low-lying island formed on a base of limestone, Rottnest is an A-class reserve, the highest level of protection afforded to public land.

Rottnest became separated from the mainland around 7,000 years ago, when sea levels rose; the traditional Noongar name for the island is Wadjemup, which means "place across the water where the spirits are". Human artefacts have been found on the island dating back at least 30,000 years, but visitation and habitation of the island by the Noongar people appears to have ceased following its separation from the mainland.

The first Europeans known to have landed on Rottnest Island were about 14 sailors from a Dutch expedition, including Abraham Leeman van Santwits from Waeckende Boey, who landed near Bathurst Point on 19 March 1658 while their ship was careened nearby. Waeckende Boey had been searching for survivors of Vergulde Draeck, which had been wrecked off the western coast of Australia in April 1656.

The island was first documented by Willem de Vlamingh in 1696, who called it 't Eylandt 't Rottenest ("Rats' Nest Island") after the quokka population, a small marsupial that was mistaken for larger rats. Following establishment of the Swan River Colony (now Perth) in 1829, the island was initially used by British settlers for agricultural purposes, and a permanent settlement was built in Thomson Bay. From 1838 to 1931, Rottnest Island was also used as a prison and forced labour camp for over 3,600 Aboriginal people, who were subjected to extremely harsh conditions on the island.  Other historical uses of the island include as a military site, and for internment camps housing enemy aliens. Many of the island's buildings date from the colonial period, often made from locally quarried limestone, and are now used as accommodation for holidays.

We came ashore in Thompson Bay

Before our lunch reservation, we decided to walk around the area close to the main settlement.  This took us out to Pinky Bay and the Bathhurst Lighthouse.

A beautiful sky and turquoise waters with Perth skyscrapers in the distance.

As mentioned Rottnest is known for the population of Quokka on the island.  Around 10,000 Quokkas live on Rottnest Island today. Very small populations also survive in the mainland’s south-west forests such as those near Northcliffe. Overall the species is listed as vulnerable due to predation by feral animals (cats and foxes), altered fire patterns and habitat loss.

I have to admit I imagined them being seen everywhere, it took a while but we finally came across one.

They are normally more active around dawn and dusk, preferring to sleep out the heat of the day.  But they have learnt that human beings mean food and unfortunately they are seen around the restaurants of the main settlement area.  I say unfortunately because it has been shown that those Quokkas living around human settlements live shorter lives than those out in the dunes and bush.

Quokkas are herbivores that eat a variety of grasses and shrubs. When food is scarce they can draw on stored fat in their tails for energy to get them through. Fresh water is in short supply on Rottnest but the Quokkas can survive on very little of it – lasting up to a month without a drink.

There were not that many birds about but did manage to find these, Galah

Laughing Dove.

And a Welcome Sallow.

We had lunch with Quokkas around our feet and then had some time before our tour by bus of the island, so we headed towards the salt pools.

There are several of these lakes around the island, on one I had distant views of Pied Stilt and Red-necked Stint.

A bonus though was as we looked across one lake a Collared Sparrowhawk flew across and disappeared into the bush.

The only bird showing well around the bushes was the Singing Honeyeater.

Back at the settlement more Quokka.

The tour took us around the island, it was a 90 minute trip with unfortunately only one stop, this at the west end.  Before we reached the West End we passed an old Eastern Osprey nest on the shore.

We had fifteen minutes to take in the view at the west end, but I was interested in finding the Ospreys.

And I found one sitting on the rocks close to another nest.

It took off and glided in the uplift around the cliffs towards the nest.

Where it joined its partner.

Notice the way the talons are curled in so as not to harm anything when it lands in the nest.

Then it was off again.  Ospreys are found in every continent other than Antarctica, but although there is this world-wide distribution, Australian Ospreys are now considered to form a second species, the Eastern Osprey. 

Activity in the nest, an adult and juvenile that will probably soon be fledging.

For me this was a wonderful opportunity to actually see into a nest without CCTV.

Only eating fish, the osprey would have to hunt in the rough waters, quite a feat.

It was time to get back on the bus, but as I walked back an Osprey flew alongside me so I stopped to photograph it, they wouldn't go with out me.

Back at the main area we walked down to the beach to get away from the crowds, a beautiful island, but it was very busy.

As we walked along the beach, this Australasian Pelican flew in and settled on the sea close to the rocks.

The large, dark black eye standing out.

All along the beach, Silver Gulls in the tide line.

At the ferry jetty a White-faced Heron fished from the rocks.

Suddenly people were climbing on the rocks and cameras and phones were out, I clambered up on to the rocks to find a small pod of Bottlenose Dolphins.

Were they looking at the crowd on the rocks?

They came quite close to the jetty.

There was also a small yound dolphin, that seemed to be quite curious.

We arrived back in Perth just before 19:00 and had dinner at a restaurant on the wharf.  After dinner we walked back to the hotel, stopping to take in the lights of the city.

The next day we took the train to Fremantle.  Fremantle is the port for Perth, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth.  A city in its own self, Fremantle is recognised for its well-preserved Victorian and Edwardian streetscapes and convict-era architecture, and is known as a bohemian enclave with a thriving arts and culinary scene.

Fremantle was the first area settled by the Swan River colonists in 1829: 11  and is named after Captain Charles Fremantle, an English naval officer who claimed the west coast of New Holland as British territory. The settlement struggled in its first decades, and in 1850, with the advent of penal transportation to the colony, Fremantle became Australia's primary destination for convicts. The convict-built Fremantle Prison operated long after transportation ended in 1868 and is now a World Heritage Site following its closure in 1991.

That evening we met up with Piers and Jan once again and had dinner at Clancy's Fish Bar at City Beach, a wonderful meal was concluded with a spectacular sunset.

We had secured a late check out on our last day, so we had a full day.  We headed out of the city again, this time stopping at North Fremantle and spent some time on Leighton Beach.

heading back to Perth we stopped off in Claremont and took advantage of the air conditioned Mall and also a walk around a local park where there was a flock of Western Corella, the smallest of the Corella species.

Before we caught the train back to Perth and the hotel we had a drink in the Claremont Hotel.  This is the Australian version of Corona and the words on the bottle summed up for me Australia.

We now had a twenty four hour journey ahead of us, but we were both looking forward to going home, to see family and the house though we were going to miss the weather.

It has been a wonderful trip a huge adventure.  It is difficult to pick out best nits, there were so many.  This was the bucket list holiday we had promised ourselves when we retired and it has not disappointed.  I feel as empty now writing this as I did when we boarded the plane home.  It is hard to believe we have been to all these wonderful places.

Thank you New Zealand and Australia for a wonderful time.