a hole in the wall

An update on the Geordie Café for sale…

Rotto Bloggo called Robbie Doyle at WA Prestige Properties to have a chat about the business.

He’s a very personable Irishman who’s been in WA for seven years.

The café is sub-leased: lease-holder Emily is selling after six years.

“She’s an amazing young woman: she started the café from nothing, an empty space. It’s gone from a hole in the wall to a thriving foodie haven. She has leadership quality.”

(That’s what Rotto Bloggo hears: an island source told us recently that it’s the best place to eat and all the locals go there.)

Why is she selling?

“She wants to plan the next phase of her life,” says Robbie. “Her partner…works up north. She was only 20 or 21 when it opened.”

Emily called Robbie because she’s seen his name on a number of commercial listings.

“I went over there – I’d never been before – and I fell in love with the place (Rottnest). It (the café) works because of the simplicity, the cheap Red Dot plastic furniture – it’s a ‘build it and they will come’ thing.”

Isn’t it a bit surprising someone would sell, if the big Broadwater place will eventually be open around the corner?

“This is my own personal opinion: when a woman gets to 26, 27, 28, her biological clock starts ticking. She thinks ‘I’ve achieved this – I’m happy – I’ve found a good man’. I think her relationship is taking more of her attention.”

The property has been on the market for about two months. Robbie says he’s had enquiries from America, South Africa – and four from the UK in the past two weeks.

*Photo is not Emily. And it's in Thomson Bay, not Geordie. Never mind.

why make billions...

From the last RIA annual report:
‘The Authority is developing a tender to publicly advertise for a new Agreement to commence in
July 2007.’

And it was so: the Transfield job discussed this week on Rotto Bloggo is up for grabs. It cost around $6.1 million last financial year.

Company bugles are saying little. Liz Jurman at Transfield’s Sydney office said Transfield “don’t really comment about contracts coming up”.

The RIA’s Claire Wright said she couldn’t talk about it ‘cos it was “still in the process of tender”.

She also said “significant value…appropriate amount of time…if it takes longer…can’t say…”

Here’s what the annual report says about the Agreement:

‘Many of the day-to-day services provided and operational work undertaken on Rottnest Island, including baggage handling, building and fixture maintenance jobs, waste collection and utilities supply management are undertaken by Transfield Services under a Facilities Management Agreement is now in its final year.

‘The works and services provided by the Facilities Management Agreement amounted to approximately $6.1 million in 2005/2006 of which around $0.4 million was recovered from revenue from fuel sales, insurance claims and utilities sales. The main expense areas for 2005/2006 included:

· Management Fee - $1.1 m
· Fuel and gas supplies – $0.46 m
· Baggage handling for visitors - $0.8 m
· Waste management – $0.3 m
· Buildings, facilities and vehicle maintenance - $0.9 m
· Cleaning services (accommodation and facilities) - $1.0 m
· Power generation and supply services - $1.23 m· Water generation and supply services - $0.3 m’

beach and business

Here's another lovely photo of a glorious Rottnest beach.

It may well be that famous bit in Parakeet Bay (where Rotto Bloggo wet a line in January without huge success).

"Rottnest Island Perth : Amazing Beaches," says Flickr user jyeu.

The photo was taken on March 7.

Further to yesterday's post, we reckon the big job/40 workers needed that MySpace user was talking about is the Transfield Services contract coming up for tender.

"Rottnest Island, off the coast of Western Australia, is a popular tourist destination," says Transfield's website.

"On behalf of the Rottnest Island Authority, Transfield Services operates and maintains all power, hydraulic and waste management utilities. We also manage the maintenance of visitor accommodation and provide building and jetty maintenance and emergency services."

We'll give Transfield a ring to see what's what.

It has brilliant location

Young people today are so interesting!

Take MySpace user Silly silly Amy, for example: she’s 19, lives in Perth, likes “eating pineapple, chasing ducks and wasting time”, and had some recent strife on Rottnest.

“We started off just fine,” SsAmy says.

“It was boozy, cruisey and conviction-free.”

But then law enforcement – a policeman and two rangers – were suddenly in their “love den”, ordered against the wall and informed SsA and Co. were under arrest.

“It was fantastic,” sighs SsA.

There was a search in the love den (a tent? Villa? Caroline Thomson cabin?).

“When they'd gone through all our belongings, there were only four people left that remained under arrest.

“We watched as they were taken off in the paddy wagon.

“They later told us that they played rock/paper/scissors, took photos of each other and video taped themselves along the very short journey to the lock up.

“The police man (sic) didn't like that.”

It seems Ssa and the rest left the island on the next ferry.

“And Lewis will find out in a few short weeks if he's been banned for life from the island,” says SsA.

“The police man asked us all if we were happy with ourselves.

“My answer is yes. I am indeed.”

Young people!

In another Amy post, there’s another Rotto reference: in a post called ‘Short skirting my way to the top’, SsA says “random good looking man at work” might’ve offered her a job, and she dearly wishes she knew his name.

“This place might have a huge new contract with Rottnest. They find out in a few days. I've just been told that if they do win, they'll need 40+ more staff and that they'll 'definitely keep me in mind'.”

Goodness! Is it the Broadwater people? Rotto Bloggo might ask Amy.

It probably isn’t the ROTTO ISLAND DREAM BUSINESS that’s on WA Prestige Properties' site.

“IMAGIN RUNNING YOUR OWN RESORT ISLAND MONEY MAKING MACHINE..... THIS UNIQUE BUSINESS HAS BEEN CAREFULLY BUILT UP OVER THE PAST 6 YEARS BY THE SAME OWNER, IT ENJOYS A GREAT REPUTATION FOR FOOD AND COFFEE , IT HAS BRILLIANT LOCATION , SIMPLE SET UP , AND HEAPS OF POTENTIAL ..... WHAT MORE COULD YOU ASK FOR ????”

Better spelling?

It seems to be the Geordie Bay general store…Rotto Bloggo loves how the auto-generated map claims there are two train stations near Geordie Bay.

“THIS BUSINESS IS GEARED UP TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE HOARDS OF VISITORS, BOATIES , HOLIDAY MAKERS , AND RESIDENTS... TOO MUCH TO LIST HERE ..... PLEASE CONTACT THE AGENT FOR ALL THE DETAILS .......”

Hoards! Dear me…when you contact the agent, point him/her towards onelook.

board not bored

More ways of spending time on the island, both physically and imaginatively.

The Rottnest Society has organised two tree planting weekends: June 15-17 and August 10-12.

What a deal! Being on Rotto! Doing the environmental thing! A free ferry ticket! All it will cost you is $27 for accommodation (and what you have to spend on food, we guess).

"Rottnest Island pine, callitris preissii, and Rottnest Island tea tree, melaleuca lanceolata, seedlings will be planted, in areas fenced to keep quokkas out, once the winter rains have set it," says Post Newspapers.

Call Sue Folks at the Society on 9438 1413 or 0411 880 199 or email her at convenor@rottnestsociety.org.au

In other news, we’re sure you’ll want to put The Rottnest Island Game on your birthday/Father’s Day/Foundation Day public holiday gift list.

It’s on a website called Board Game Geek: Rotto Bloggo isn’t sure how it works, but here’s the blurb:

“This is an educational game, endorsed by the Rottnest Island Authority and (heavily) sponsored by Agfa Film. It’s a standard Roll and Move game with a single path and a start and end. The first half of the path is by boat from the mainland to the island, the second half is by bike on the island itself. The main theme, not surprising given the sponsorship, is photographing wildlife.

“As usual with these sorts of games, various points along the path cause things to happen, mostly drawing a card of some sort. You win by getting a photograph of a quokka and getting to the end of the path. There are a group of six quokka photo squares, such that you can't possibly miss it on the way through.

“The main educational content of the game is a small brochure with (tourist) information about the island.”

Sounds good to us. The pics of the game look great. But how do you get a copy?

that Rottnest colour

More Sketchbook gold: the island's early buildings and their origin.

"Nowhere else in Australia, except in Tasmania, will you find such a complete surviving colonial settlement as Rottnest. Yes, with its long, yellow-ochre sea-wall and squat, blockhouse like cottages overshadowed by huge, dark Moreton Bay fig trees, it looks more like a Spanish military outpost than anything of Australian origin."

This is, say the Sketchbook, thanks to Henry Vincent, a "tough old soldier from Wellington's wars" who went from being Fremantle Prison jailer to Rotto in 1839.

"Apart from the Hostel - completed in 1881 by a contractor for a European Boys Reformatory - Vincent built all the crude, picturesque old cottages, walls, buttresses, and stairways that give Rottnest its unique character."

Vincent's workers were, of course, Aboriginal prisoners. In one of his monthly reports to Government House he said they were: "Getten stan and lime, Belden barn, garden, cotten fier wood and fishen."

Readers of another great Rotto book, 'All The News In A Flash', will recall author John Moynihan quoting an excerpt from a Vincent letter to the Colonial Secretary's Office:

"Sir, I am out of flour non to issue to solgers nor men I served out the last of my one stock this morning I light one fire Monde night Wensde two fires..."

"Vincent's spelling and punctuation left much to be desired," Moynihan noted.

Vera, Celia and a duck

More gold from the Sketchbook.

And a Flickr image to go with it.

“From a first glance at a modern map of Rottnest it would appear that the Nomenclature Committees of the past have been influenced by the Isle of Girls fable, for many island features bear girls’ names.

“We find Mabel Cove, Marjorie Bay, Lade Edeline Beach, Charlotte Beach, Catherine Beach, Joan Island, Henrietta Rocks, Vera Rocks, Nancy Cove, Mary Cove, Celia Rocks.”

You bet Celia rocks. The Sketchbook hypothethises Sir Gerald Strickland (WA Governor 1909-1913, who had an eventful life) started the trend as he had plenty of women around him: his wife Edeline and daughters Mabel, Mary, Cecilia and Henrietta (poor old Constance seems to have missed out on having something named after her).

Mind you, names change, appear and disappear. The map in the Sketchbook drawn by Riggers shows King Head between Mabel Cove and Eagle Bay, but it’s not on modern maps. Likewise with Point Clune, just west of Longreach and Fays Bay.

The superb image is from Flickr user Sonja Rainer…in which of Rotto’s “63 beaches and 20 bays” (RIA) are we?

more Rottnest sketching

Kirwan Ward isn’t a glosser-over: he covers the sad indigenous stories about Rottnest.

“…for much of its recorded history it has been associated with extremes of human misery,” he notes on page 19.

“…in fact, the only glimpse of happiness we have, from the days the Rottnest Native Prison was closed in 1904, are provided by Mr L G Timperley’s accounts of the corroborees that used to be held in the prison yard.”

Timperly: a real Rotto name. So Rotto that a cottage is named after it.

“Timperley was a boy at Rottnest when his father, the late W H Timperley, ISO, was Superintendent there from 1883-1890, and he has left one of the best and most literate desriptions of life on this grim, penal colony…”

There were corroborees. But “…the commoner early sounds were the dragging chains of the work gangs, the coughing of the chronically sick and, in the early days, of the lash lacerating a naked back.”

Rottnest Island Sketchbook

Tremendous excitement on the weekend: Rotto Bloggo received a copy of one of the great Rottnest books.

Rottnest Island Sketchbook is by Paul Rigby (drawings) and Kirwan Ward (words).

It’s art and literature of the highest standard. It's hard to know where to start. The book is full of gems, insight, fact and nostalgia.

“In the course of my researches for this book I was shown – through the good offices of Mr Lewis Jones, superintendent of mapping in the Lands and Surveys Department – what is probably the oldest existing land map of Rottnest.”

The good offices! No-one says that any more (the Sketchbook was published in 1969).

And how about this: “A logical progression of Rottnest development will be the establishment of new settlements. The one on top of the Board’s priority list is that which is at present referred to as the Geordie Bay plan but which, in fact, will probably be more in the region of Longreach.

“The plan here is for a small settlement, dependent in some ways on the main shopping area, but with its own general store, and possibly a Board officer to act as supervisor. The programme calls also for a similar village complex at Stark Bay and Parker Point.”

*Pic from page 54 of the Sketchbook: Riggers lights up the pipe after a safe landing on Rotto.

the attractive Rotto reserve

The language of bureaucrats is a thing to behold.

Witness this verbiage from the Rottnest Island Authority's 2005/06 annual report...it's on page 22, under the heading 'Indigenous Heritage':

"Aboriginal people refer to Rottnest Island as Wadjemup. This year the impacts of the post colonial Aboriginal prison era have been proactively addressed in a sustainable manner by the Authority. The Authority created a new position to engage with Aboriginal Community from across the State in dialogue to develop a Strategy to go forward with the desired outcomes of repair of the Burial Ground physically and spiritually and development of quality Aboriginal Cultural ecotourism product."

Impacts...proactively...engage...dialogue...the language is dying! George Orwell (who knew a thing or two about islands) is thinking 'I told you so'.

Rotto Bloggo thought of this annual report perissology after seeing a media release from the State Government last week.

'People who obstruct Rottnest Island rangers from doing their job or refuse to leave the island will face higher penalties under changes to the Rottnest Island Authority Act,' it said.

"People value Rottnest as a safe, relaxed holiday environment - it is essential we ensure the Rottnest ethos is maintained," said Tourism Minister Sheila McHale (love that word ethos, too).

Obstructing rangers or refusing instructions to leave Rotto means you can be slugged $10,000 instead of $1000.

But this also caught our eye in the release:

Ms McHale said another feature of the Bill was the creation of the Rottnest Island Wadjemup Conservation Reserve.

“The new reserve is intended to raise awareness of the value of the A-Class Rottnest Island reserve,” she said.

“The name Wadjemup means ‘land across the water’ and highlights the indigenous history of Rottnest, and seeks to increase the island’s attractiveness to visitors and tourism markets.”

We're not sure how the new reserve will increase attractiveness: it's already there.

What is the Rottnest Island Wadjemup ConservationReserve?

According to the Act:

(3) In subsection (2) —
“Rottnest Island Wadjemup Conservation Reserve”
means —
(a) that reserve —
20 (i) as shown on Deposited Plan 52582;
or
(ii) on a diagram or plan notified under
subsection (4)(a); or
(b) a part of the Island declared under
25 subsection (4)(b) to be the Rottnest Island Wadjemup Conservation Reserve;...

But where exactly is it?

This from the Act's explanatory memoranda:

'The creation of a new conservation park in the area west of the settlement requires an amendment to the definition of the Reserve. The Rottnest Island Wadjemup Conservation Reserve is created in recognition of this area’s status as an environmental ‘icon’. The creation of a new conservation reserve is intended highlight the value of the reserve. This will make the Island more attractive to potential tourism markets assisting the Island’s drive towards financial self-sufficiency.'

There's that more-attractive thing again. Call Rotto Bloggo gormless, but we're still not sure exactly where the new Reserve is, or why it's needed, or what it really means.

sky spectrum...

...or a path between earth and heaven?

More great Rottnest images courtesy of a Flickr member.

delcond has a lovely selection of Rotto photos: we love 'A Part of the Rainbow'.

It seems as though the pot of gold is somewhere on Parker Point Road.

"After thunder, lightning and rain we got this view when departing from the island," delcond says.

"It's just beautiful."

Rotto Bloggo went to Wikipedia to remind ourself exactly how rainbows work, and we read this: 'Rainbow fringes can sometimes be seen at the edges of backlit clouds and as vertical bands in distant rain or virga.'

(Virga, of course, being falling rain that evaporates before reaching the ground).

delcond has some other excellent photos, including several of intense rain on the island.

medical procedure off Rottnest

This footy story with a Rotto mention caught our eye on the weekend.

Western Bulldog Ryan Hargrave told Adelaide Now a story about pulling staples out of his stomach using scissors while on a boat.

"It is cringeworthy and slightly mad but, in a way, it sums up the under-rated Western Bulldogs defender," AN said. "If you want to talk about toughness and defying the pain barrier, Hargrave is your man."

"I was having a few beers with mates just a couple of weeks after the operation and we were on a boat heading to Rottnest Island," Hargrave says.

"I had staples in my stomach and when I started to get sea-sick the staples were rubbing, so I got some scissors and took them out."

"The operation he was talking about was major surgery to remove an abscess the size of an orange from his bowel and have half-a-litre of puss drained from his abdomen", said AN.

(Rotto Bloggo is sure they mean pus).

Ryan Hargrave has played 102 games, kicked 26 goals, and been suspended by the tribunal for a total of six weeks.

Rottnest secrets

The admirable Subiaco Post has a front-page story today that mentions Rotto.

The main gist of the yarn is something about HMAS Sydney.

The protagonist, 86-year-old Julius Ingvarson, was a 20-year-old signalman in Fremantle in November, 1941.

“At that time he worked office hours, nine to five on weekdays, but all that changed after the Pearl Harbour attack on December 7,” the Post reports.

“He worked a straight 30-hour shift, and it was another long shift that saw him kicked out of signals after he fell asleep.

“He was later made a courier for top-secret documents between Fremantle and Rottnest Island, travelling on the ferry Zephyr.

“He recalls the Zephyr being held up in autumn 1942 by the anti-submarine boom between the North and South moles, and seeing a navy corvette dropping exploding depth charges several miles south-west of the harbour mouth.

"I was sizing up the distance I would have to swim if something happened to the ferry," he told the Post.

Secrets being couriered between Freo and Rotto! And on the Zephyr, no less.

There’s a picture of the Zephyr on page 140 of ‘All The News In A Flash’ (which is, as any fule kno, the second-best book about Rotto).

The pic shows a very small jetty, the Zephyr beside it, and passengers strolling to Rottnest Board of Control charabancs.

(The pic at the top of this post can be found in the island’s movie hall).

The vessel gets a few mentions in ATNIAF: one is it transporting techies to the island when the first PMG phone exchange was opened on 1 April 1936.

'Rottnest Morning - 53 x 82'

More Flickr fun about Rotto.

Seascape artist Julie Silvester has some Rottnest images here.

We especially liked ‘Rottnest Morning – 53 x 82’.

“I have been painting in watercolours since I was 30 and in 1999 changed to pastels due to their vibrancy, immediacy and the fact there was no drying time,” Julie says on her website.

‘Coastal Invite’ looks like Parakeet Bay.

A nice present for Mother’s Day.

Society speaks

The Rottnest Society has had a look at Rotto Bloggo's posts about FOR and emailed us.

"At this point we do not know a great deal about what they are planning to do except fundraising," says the Society's Sue Folks.

"We see this as a good thing, as Rottnest has been unable to access various grant funding because of the way it is constituted, so it would be very helpful to have funds raised for dedicated purposes in the area of environment and heritage works.

"However, as you have pointed out it is not clear how independent in its thinking this organisation will be from the RIA - although it is a separate organisation.

"The Society is also urging the Premier and the Opposition to commit to Community Service Obligations (CSO's) particularly to fund on a regular ongoing basis environmental and heritage conservation and maintenance, as well as a component of the cost of utilities. We believe that this is important for this 'A' Class Reserve if we are to ensure that it does not succumb to unsuitable development."

The Society does NOT oppose all development on Rottnest - "as anyone could discover by reading our website," Sue says.

"Indeed we kept an open mind about the Mt Herschel development until the concept plans were released by the Minister in January. Close inspection led us to believe that this would be a totally inappropriate development for Rottnest."

"We also discovered that the RIA had not done anything about amending the Rottnest Island Management Plan (RIMP) in several places (as they are required to do under the Act) to pave the way for such a development - which is why the RIA subsequently proposed a number of amendments to the RIMP (public comment closed 23rd April).

"We raised many valid questions about the development with the Minister, the Premier and the RIA - none of which have been satisfactorily answered to date. We therefore did encourage people to object to the proposed changes to the RIMP - and this is being interpreted in some quarters as opposition to all development, which it isn't."

The Society would be happy with some extra accommodation which catered for some of those Western Australian people who can't get accommodation in summe. It sees there's some call for "suitable accommodation" for singles and couples.

"We do not believe that Rottnest is the place for 'high-end' expensive accommodation with spa baths, swimming pools etc. We also believe that there are many, many people in the general population who care deeply about Rottnest and its future, many of whom do not want any development of any kind."

which way is the right way?

Let’s have a tiny bit of time-out from discussion over the demogorgon that might be FOR.

The latest nifty image plucked from Flickr (don’t say that too quickly) is a nice black and white shot of a sign on the beautiful island.

We can’t decide if the location is the end of Bovell Way, near the narrowest past of Rotto, or near the lighthouse in the middle, where Parker Point Road begins.

Flickr user ali3n_oz has nearly 50 Rottnest pics: also worth seeing are ‘no man’s land’, ‘Black&white visions’ and ‘Dead trees cemetery’.

Check out all his pics here.

Enjoy – and we’ll be back tomorrow with a RS comment.

clearer soup

Some progress made from where we left off yesterday...

Pat Barblett says she's been trying to get the FOR off the ground for a while.

She reiterated what it said in the Post: FOR is an offshoot of RIF, which was set up to raise money for environmental and cultural heritage.

"The RIA can't access Lotteries money or Federal funding, but we can," says Pat.

"Five hundred thousand people go to Rottnest every year: if 1000 of those pay $30 a year, we'd be laughing."

The FOR want to be like the successful Friends want to be like their counterparts at New Norcia.

What about RIA people being in FOR?

FOR is "absolutely quite separate", says Pat.

Pat says Janet Holmes a Court is the head friend, and Frits Steenhauer is her partner.

Yes, she was an RIA chairwoman, but only from 1991-1993.

Laurie O'Meara was just launching the FOR.

Lloyd Smith is chair of the RIF.

Yes, the Friends support the new hotel: the Rottnest Society don't.

"They just want no development on Rottnest and that just can't be," says Pat.

"We need another level of accommodation."

It's all about money for Rotto: "Think of a triangle," says Pat.

"At the top you've got big corporate donors, and at the base you've got mums and dads.

"The RIF has 50 paying members who pay $50 a year, but we want Friends to pay $30 a year."

Pat agreed there are a lot of organisations to do with Rotto: there're also the Winnits, the boaties..."there's a diverse group of people who think they know how to run Rottnest."

who's who in the Rotto zoo

The alphabet soup that is groups associated with Rotto just got thicker.

We had the Rottnest Island Authority (RIA), the Rottnest Island Foundation (RIF), the Rottnest Society (RS)…and now we have the The Friends of Rottnest (TFOR).

The RIA runs Rotto. The RIF is a bit mysterious but according to something on the RIA site, it’s “a voluntary organisation established to raise funds to to enable future generations to enjoy an unspoiled Rottnest Island experience”.

The RS is acting up about the Mt Herschel hotel development.

TFOR, according to an article in The Post yesterday, “supported the proposed hotel development at Mt Herschel and hoped people who stayed there would become members”.

Fair enough. Some people like the idea of the new hotel, and some don’t.

It’s who’s in TFOR which is curious. In a Post photo were Frits Steenhauer, Lloyd Smith, Pat Barblett and Laurie O’Meara.

Laurie is the chairman of the RIA.

Frits is listed in the RIA’s 2002-03 annual report as a ‘community representative’ on the Rottnest Island Marine Issues Advisory Committee.

Lloyd is a member of the Rottnest Island Interpretation Facility Stakeholder Group and was chairman of the RIF in 2004.

Pat is the chairwoman of FACET, or Forum Advocating Cultural & Ecotourism. She was on the RIA for 15 years, with three of those as chairwoman. FOR’s phone number is the same as FACET’s, in fact, and FACET grew out of a 1991 cultural event hosted by the RIA.

So…

FOR thinks the flash new hotel is a good thing.

FOR seems to have people in common with the RIA.

Is it reasonable to believe the RIA likes the proposed Mt Herschel hotel as well?

Maybe there’s nothing wrong with the RIA giving the stamp of approval to the development.

But why not just say so, instead of going through the palaver of setting up another Rottnest organisation?

We called the only P.Barblett and Steenhauer in the White Pages, but no answer. We left messages for the RS’s Sue Folks, too. We’ll try again tomorrow.

FOCUS on Rottnest?

We’re going to be overrun by travel agents later this year, and Rotto Bloggo is doing our bit to make sure the beautiful island makes the most of it.

About a thousand of “Australia's top travel agents and others involved in the industry” will be here in October, Tourism Minister Sheila McHale said earlier this week.

Travelscene American Express would hold its FOCUS 2007 conference at the hayshed.

But will they be making their way down the river?

“Apart from an expected direct economic impact of more than $3million, the State will benefit indirectly through the opportunity to show off to these key tourism vendors,” the Minister mused.

We hope so, and bugger the south-west or Wave Rock or the Bungle Bungles: what are authorities going to do about promoting Rottnest to these elite agents?

“The FOCUS 2007 conference will give delegates a 'true taste' of everything Western Australian," Travelscene general manager Leith Mills said in the Minister’s media release.

Everything includes Rottnest, so we look forward to seeing a Travelscene delegation landing in Thomson’s Bay.

Rotto Bloggo has written to Ms Mills at Travelscene just to make sure.

man overboard

Bad news from/near the beautiful island: efforts have resumed today to find a man who jumped off a ferry returning from Rotto.

From The West online: “The man, believed to be a 39-year-old Perth resident, fell from the ferry Star Flyte while returning to Fremantle from Rottnest Island, about 4.20pm (AWST), a WA Police spokeswoman said.

(This morning’s West says passengers were sure the man jumped.)

Two helicopters searched for the man without success – he went into the water about 4km west of North Mole.

"I believe we have recovered some clothing from the water but as yet we have not recovered the man," the West quoted a policeman as saying.

Fingers crossed.Not the first time the Star Flyte has been involved in drama: it helped save someone last October, as posted on Rotto Bloggo (see 'Rotto ferry saves man').

Shades of Blue

The days are getting greyer in Perth…the temperature drops…time to take an umbrella with you wherever you go.

Except Rottnest, of course.

The latest Flickr photo to appear on Rotto Bloggo is from Snoosan.

‘Shades of Blue’ was taken but a few days ago, at Parker Point.

Doesn’t it make you yearn for the beautiful island?

As a visitor to Snoosan’s page commented: “How gorgeous. Who needs Greece?”

Exactly.