3rd most isolated city in the world

• 5 movies watched
• 2 books read
• Biked around undulated hills of an island: 2 hours
• Quokkas met: SO many!

So very excited to see the other side of Australia! Western Australia is almost half of the entire country, and it’s just massive. I love me a comparison map so I had to dig this up.

Turns out Perth is the 3rd most isolated city in the world. Unsure how it ranks but I guess it’s not including small towns, but this is an interesting map too:

Perth had a huge mining boom but it’s died down some. Still pretty big, and actually is the 4th populous city in the country (took over Adelaide in the 80s).

The beaches were pristine and so lovely! It’s finally turning into spring here, so it’s great and warm out (70sF mostly). The waters here are safer.. in a way. No jellyfish (those are in the Swan River!) so only great white sharks are the concern. Simple. Swimming in Australia is an adventure. What isn’t an adventure here?!

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My first night was at a sweet Airbnb, literally across the street from Cottesloe Beach. Got to fall asleep and wake up hearing the waves hitting the beach. It was gorgeous walking along the white sand beaches and getting to explore Freemantle. It’s great and full of cute shops and cafes.

Denise got to go down memory lane and I got to see where she grew up. All her schools and where she used to live. It’s so nice getting to see where your friend’s roots are. We got to try jaffle pies (like a panini press). Seriously, I need to look into a source of meat pies outside of this continent.

Perth itself was a little too spread out for me. Full of cars but I never saw anyone on the streets. I knew people were around but just never knew where they all were hiding. The Swan River is massive and swirls right through the city.

Kings Park is a massive public park and is almost 100 hectares larger than Central Park. Everything here is crazy big! Very nice military memorial too.

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The highlight for me was heading over to Rottnest Island. It’s a short 30 minute ferry ride away and it was given that name by Dutch explorers “Rats’ Nest” since that’s what they thought all the quokkas were. They’re far from it! This island is a protected wildlife area and over 10,000 of the little creatures live there.

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We rented bikes and rode the undulating hills of the place. It’s gorgeous and it was perfect biking weather. Mostly cloudy that cleared up as we cycled our way across the little island. Denise was a pro riding with a chariot carrying the kiddos.

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The waters were super clear and a shade of green so luminous! We rode around and fed ourselves a superb lunch of a potato topped pie and WA’s iced coffee version, Chill. I think it’s my favorite one so far! Each state seems to have their own version (Big M in Victoria, Farmers Union in South Australia, etc.).

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Didn’t see any quokkas during our bike ride, but I realized that they were all closer to town, where all the food bits were to be found. They’re seriously so cute. About the size of a chicken and not afraid of humans at all. Famous for taking selfies so I had to do it! Scored some sweet ones and they’re just SO darn cute. I mean it may not be as good as Hemsworth’s but it’s darn near close.

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Thank you, Western Australia for the hospitality and I cannot wait to visit again one day!