Our amazing Perth friends invited us out on their boat, once again- lucky buggers we are, to celebrate Australia Day January 26th. We had heard boasts, stories, & even legends about how awesome Aussi Day is, apparently surpassing New Year's as the country's reason to party and celebrate.
We had an early start, and boarded the boat by 7:30 Tuesday morning. Spent the day crusing out to Rotto, in a much smoother fashion than our previous journey out to this stunning place. No swinging from the bars or men overboard this time. We just have to say that people from Perth are wonderful. If you're reading this- you know who you are- and know you have a very special place in our hearts. Thank you for your generosity, and for always going out of your way to make our stay amazing! Aussi day did not disapoint! We had an absolutely blast on the boat; partying with friends and making new ones. We had another night on Rotto, and a very rocky sleepover on the boat. We awoke to the sunrising over the ocean with Mumford & Sons for our listening pleasure (thanks Brett & Ricky). We did more swimming in the perfectly clear turquoise water, and while some swam, others napped. A particularly impressive move was when Stu managed to pop & slither his way onto the back deck of his boat, using no arms whatsoever. I think Valena owes him for losing a bet there- turns out he does have quite the unique talent & skill. Even more entertaining was watching the attemtps come afterwards- no one could match this new form of sport.
We arrived back at Perth, and while unloading the front cabin of the boat we heard an unimpressed question fill the air: "Who brought the Quokka onboard?!" There was literally a timid little quokka in the basement of the front cabin, rolled up in a map of Rottnest. Marsupiel lesson from Wikipedia here: The Quokka (Setonix brachyurus), the only member of the genus Setonix, is a small macropod about the size of a domestic cat.[2].The Quokka has no fear of humans and it is common for it to approach them closely, particularly on Rottnest Island. It is, however, illegal for members of the public on Rottnest Island to handle the animals in any way. An infringement notice carrying a A$100 fine can be issued by the Rottnest Island Authority for such behaviour.[3] However, prosecution of the offence can result in a fine of up to $1000.[4] Such fines are implemented in the rare cases that Quokkas are abused or killed by visitors to Rottnest.[5] There you have it, my isn't Wikipedia informative. The fines have gone up since then. Feeding & petting can get you a $500 fine, and I believe if you injure or kill this protected animal, the fine can be up to $20,000. Oh dear. We had quite the predicament on our hands. What to do. The options were flying out left and right. 1)Drive the boat 2 hrs back to Rotto and drop it off (problematic because the boys had to get ready for a trip to Asia the next day, and time was of the essence) 2) Tie a weight on and sink it (this didn't go over so well as you can imagine, and never was actually taken seriously 3)Call the Ranger (yeah, this was the wisest & chosen option). Because the Quokka had left the island, it was questionable whether or not the ranger could take it back. Rottnest was in discussion with the Perth zoo about what to do with our little Quokka problem.
We missed making the Perth news by 1/2 an hour! The crazy story has a happy, and quite hilarious, ending. Channel news picked up the story, and documented the Quokka rescue from Mt. Henry bridge Jetty. The news & zoo team flew the little marsupiel back to Rottnest island (because he had never left the boat to Perth land, he could return home. Yay!). We watched Stu @ 6pm on the bigscreen explain the Quokka 'prank' and rescue to the public. Well done Mr. Farquharson- you looked great! The night 'prankster' has yet to confess he brought the poor little thing on board with him. As for us, it makes yet another great story to tell about our adventures in Perth! We have the newsbroadcast & newspaper clipping of evidence of another fantastic day on the boat! Cheers! d.
No comments:
Post a Comment