Rottnest

On my birthday, 26th December, we headed to Rottenest Island for the day

We had an early start, arriving at Fremantle at 8am to catch the ferry.  

The girls waiting for the ferry to arrive

The water was fairly smooth on the way over but I still felt sea sick. Yuck. Its that awful morning sickness/hangover feeling all rolled into one. Charlotte also felt a little unwell, but everyone else seemed ok. It took 45 minutes before we docked at Rottnest. We got off the boat and headed straight to the playground for morning tea. Then we went for a walk to the most beautiful swimming beach, the Basin. No sharks here as it is a basin shaped swimming area protected by reef.

The Basin

One of the friendly little Quokkas we saw.  The quokka was one of the first Australian mammals seen by Europeans. The Dutch mariner Samuel Volckertzoon wrote of sighting "a wild cat" on Rottnest Island in 1658. In 1696, Willem de Vlamingh mistook them for giant rats and named the island "Rotte nest", which comes from the Dutch words rattennest meaning "rat nest". The word quokka is derived from a Nyungar word, which was probably gwaga.

After our long morning swim we headed to the restaurant for some lunch. Fish and chips and a glass of moscato. Well it was my birthday!

Family pic, at Arristos restaurant for fish and chip lunch

 After our lunch we boarded the bus and headed over to the other side of the island to have a look at Geordie Bay. Being boxing day it was packed with boats. Craig spent some time dreaming about which boat he would like.

Geordie Bay 

We then headed back to the main area of the island to board the 4.15pm boat back to Fremantle. Three tired little people did such a good job on the boat on the way back. Charlotte fell asleep on my arm and Abigail barely said a word. 

On the way back to Freo, one kid asleep and another on my knee singing twinkle twinkle. A lovely ending to a lovely day.

Rottnest Island broke away from mainland Australia over 7,000 years ago. It has a rich Indigenous history and several parts of the island are now protected as Aboriginal sites. The first European settlers arrived at Rottnest around 1830 and built colonies. The land was farmed for cereal crops and was quite successful. Then in 1839 it was decided that the island would become an Aboriginal prison, and indigenous people were sent to the island. Access to the island was prohibited and farmers were compensated for their land then sent back to the mainland. For the next century the island remained a prison for Aboriginals, during this time the Aboriginals were used for slave labour to build lighthouses, roads and the buildings. The island was also used for prisoners of war in WW1 and as a holding station for ammunition in WW2. It was then reopened to the public in the 1960's as a recreational area and is still enjoyed by all of us today.

Two and a half months

Its now been two and a half months since my last post. I think about writing often, think about what I could put on here. And I am disappointed in myself that I haven't been able to put in words exactly what I wanted to write. But Im here now. So here goes. 

Reflecting on the year that has been.

1. We were very very close to the bush fires in January, but the direction of the wind that day saved us. So many 'what ifs' in January.  But it didn't burn. For that I am grateful.

2. In March we decided to go to Kalgoorlie. I am not saying this was the best decision. Sometimes stepping out of ones comfort zone is scary and can therefore feel like a 'bad' decision. But at the end of the day we learned a lot about ourselves. I know a lot of people who are 'gunnas'.  They are gunna do this and gunna do that. Gunna go on holidays gunna change jobs. Craig and I are certainly not 'gunnas'. We make things happen. And even if it doesn't work, I am grateful we take risks.

3. Having someone close to me have a health scare. Was the hugest thing in my life. On the 244th day of 2014 I wrote in my diary one word. 'Shattered'. Cause that is exactly how I felt.

4. The sale of our house in September. A huge thing. A decision we didn't think through in its entirety. A decision that I trusted others and probably should have used my own brain to make. But I didn't. A decision that we made to take a huge risk in life and one that we haven't worked out if it was a good idea or a dumb shit idea yet. But we did what we thought was best at the time.  We both have good careers and can easily make an income to get another house/ a bigger house/ more... Its something I have put a lot of time and energy into worrying about this year. But at the end of the day its gone. And right now the absence of that mortgage allows us to decide to do other things. Whatever that may be.

5. Moving back to Perth. Fuck me. Moving house is time consuming, draining, financially stressful not to mention a headache. But we did it. again. To be closer to family. To be back to what we know for a little while till we can make our next move. Thankfully we still had somewhere to live, our unit in Midland. Its not much, but its ours and its been our safety net. And for that I'm grateful.


6. November 2014.  My little niece is born. Another person to love. She is so beautiful.

So from here we are up down up down with the decision making. Craig now has a good job that is holding us back from heading off. And my sister can no longer have the dogs as she has a baby and dogs of her own and its too much of me to ask. So my main concern would be finding someone else I trust to have my dogs while we go. This part has me crying in the night about it. 

Although we are back to our 'normal', I don't fit in here in Perth any more. I don't fit in at the school playground or with friends, or even with my family. Craig and I are on edge. With every decision, with each other.  It feels like a storm is brewing. there will be a change, a huge one. But what that change will be is yet to be decided.