me hearty Flipper

Rottnest Island: home of buried pirate treasure, dolphins and palm trees.

I ask you. This ad was in the West yesterday, shilling the Lodge. The adventure BEGINS at the Lodge (which is the place to stay).

The Lodge has it's own website: the dolphin and treasure themes aren't continued.

"The unique history of Rottnest Island will captivate you, whilst the natural beauty is a constant reminder that Rottnest Island is a true gift from mother nature for all to enjoy."

They have a book online and get a 15 per cent discount thing. Which you can spend on treasure underneath the palm trees.

"The Mediterranean-style climate and indigenous flora and fauna of this Island provide the backdrop to a special holiday experience."

Conditions apply.

little fury and drunk Vikings

Lots of people go to the beautiful island. Some recent visitors:

djganzer had some issues with ferry times, but eventually made it and was impressed. S/he loved the "little fury marsupials" that are quokkas. The waves were also impressive: bigger than Monterey.

The Mandurah Mail had the skinny on a Halls Head teacher who files there for the weekend. Very nice.

Scarlet Down Under arrived with no roof over her head but after some escapades bedded down with some drunken Norwegians. She caught the fairy.

And check out the Kaplan Aspect Event Page for pics of Kaplan Employees on the beach and in the tunnels.

Rottnest has something for everyone.

30 years ago tomorrow

We had a look at the unauthorised biography of Kim Hughes for Australian Rules: check it out here.

We're not as level-headed as Football Therapist Les Everett: we know he would have excised any mention of the Rottnest incident in the review.

It was the rest day of Australia versus Pakistan at the WACA: 28 March 1979. The Golden Boy made a paltry 9 in his team's first innings. On the rest day some reporters had gone to the beautiful island to fish; most of the players headed there too. Journo Mike Coward was working in his Travelodge Motel room.

"Catch of the day came to him. 'Oh,' said the maid, 'nice old bunfight last night.'"

A party attended by players from both teams was a "ripper". Beer bottles saild from balconies, a car was damaged, a motel door busted.

As you may now, what happens within the team often stays within the team - but the pre-Rotto party was different. The cops had been called.

"But once the police were involved you knew you had a responsibility, because if suddenly there was a court appearance and you hadn't done your job properly you'd be in more trouble than the early settlers," Coward told Christian Ryan.

Marvellous stuff. Australia won the Test by seven wickets.

o bay

Our sympathies to the two blokes who got carbon monoxide poisoning at Rotto recently.

According to this report, they were in their 20s. According to this report, they were at the back of a "pleasure craft".

"They were both improving getting oxygen therapy, which at the moment we're assuming they are probably [suffering from] carbon monoxide poisoning which we'd have to assume was from exhaust that's yet to be confirmed," the RFDS's Dr Geoff Day told the ABC.

We liked the photo with the Aunty story - apparently from the National Trust. A very moody Thomson Bay. But the mouseover text refers to "Thompson's Bay". We don't know if that's the fault of the ABC or the NT.

porcine

Porquoi?

It's a quokka, Jim, but not as we know it.

Here's the work-in-progress of commercial radio station 92.9's ambitious giant quokka.

It's going to be three metres...the RIA are still distinctly luke-warm.

What do you make of the plans, reproduced here?

Doesn't the face look, um, a bit like - well, a pig?

We haven't seen many pigs on the beautiful island.

Perhaps these plans are more the big picture, and the face is still in the planning process.

bottom and middle dwellers

Those wobbegong don't muck around: the one that bit the bloke off the natural jetty on the beautifulk island narrowly missed his groin, according to The West online.

The bloke trod on him. 15 stitches. A boffin says it's self-defence:

“If you tread on a wobbegong it is likely to react but so are a lot of other marine animals,” Dr Rory McAuley told The West Online.

“There are any number of things that will bite you if you tread on them in shallow water including scorpion fish, sea urchins and small reef sharks.

“Generally wobbegongs are sedentary species and will mind their own business. If this guy had put his foot down either side of the shark it probably would not have reacted and the guy wouldn’t even have known it was there.”

Nice underwater Rotto pics from this blogger. Scroll down a bit to see some submerged stingers. Now they hurt when they get hold of you.

See the above accompanying pic for our own exclusive image of a rapture of the deep...

Colossus Quokkaus

'The people of Perth have spoken and surprisingly what they want the most above posh hotels and decent camping facilities, is a Big Quokka.'

So says commercial radio station 92.9. The broadcaster is running a campaign to build a big quokka on the beautiful island.

This was covered yesterday in that estimable paper The Post. It may have been edited, but the paper spoke to the Rottnest Society, who pointed out we already have some big things: a lighthouse, a wind turbine, bakery prices (ha ha ha!).

But the station is resolute, despite a luke-warm response from the RIA.

'A Big Quokka to rival the massive Banana, Prawn and other the things in Australia that are massive for no other reason other than we can. Unfortunately the Rottnest authorities have put the kibosh on our plans and aren't returning our calls. Sign this petition to let them know how much you really want the Big Quokka.'

If there is going to be a giant quokka, the station could do worse than use this quokka puppet made by The Lazy Aussie (he of the Geoff Gallop bust crafted from masking tape fame) some years ago.

I can see this poised over Thomson Bay like Helois adorned Rhodes. 30m high would be about right.

syndrome

The beautiful island continues to generate news overseas. But we can't tell if this is good or bad:

愛上一個城市的理由有很多種，也許是城市建築之美，或者是藴涵的文化之深

It's all, um, Greek to us. But of course it's not Greek.

We understood part of this bit:

那一天，我們在碧海藍天下繞著澳洲的rottnest島騎了5個小時的自行車

Hopefully our Mandarin associates will be able to shed some light on this matter. The pics are lovely.

TRG in TB

There was excitement in Thomson Bay this morning: oh to have been up at dawn and having a coffee in Colebatch or another well-placed bungalow.

'Police have charged a 44 year old man after a domestic dispute saw him take a boat to Rottnest Island during the early hours of this morning,' says the police media release.

The police will allege the man told his partner he had a firearm and was going to float to the beautiful island.

Rotto officers glommed the vessel and alerted the Terribly Rough Guys, who broke out their rigid inflatable.

They boarded the vessel after sunrise, the man was taken into custody without incident and a .22 calibre rifle was found on board.

We love the closing line in the release: 'The man has been charged with Possessing an Unlicensed Fireman and has been summonsed to appear in court at a later date.'

have an art

A little-known scene of one of the western suburbs' most picturesque streets is being auctioned to raise money for bushfire victims in Victoria.

The watercolour of Rottnest's Thomson Bay is by Maurice M. Kennedy, a WA artist well-known a generation ago.

The artwork shows the blue water of the Bay beyond two buildings in the distinctive Rottnest Orange shade.

Kennedy's works can fetch more than $1000, but the woman auctioning it picked it up for far less.

“I got it at Karrinyup markets for not very much,” Liz Evans told Rotto Bloggo.

“The streetscape captures the essence of the island.

“I haven't been to Rottnest for a long time but I think people take the place for granted.”

Ms Evans said she really felt for bushfire victims.

“There's building going on right next door to us: there's noise and dust all the time,” she said.

“I thought to myself: 'I can't live like this any more'.

“But then I thought: 'At least I've got a home, unlike many of the bushfire victims'.”

The artwork is on local auction website Tradeaway and bids are being taken until March 14.

The site will match the winning bid and send the money to Victoria.

By the time the POST went to press the highest bid was $150.

That could be a bargain, according to local valuer Gregson Flanagan.

“In local circles Kennedy is quite well-known and well-regarded,” Patricia Flanagan said.

“He generally painted scenes of Perth.

“I haven't seen a Rottnest scene by him before: this one could be from the 1950s or 60s.”

The artwork is 35cm by 65cm and professionally framed.

“This is a very fine example of Kennedy's work,” Ms Flanagan said.

“Kennedy's highest price at auction for a watercolour of similar dimension was $880.

“The picture is definitely a collector's item and appears almost as fresh as the day it was painted.

“It's a bright summer's day on Rottnest and Kennedy has captured the dappled sunlight on the path and trees so confidently.

“His brush strokes are quick and self assured and the two figures at the end of the pathway add a human element to the composition.

“I don't remember seeing a work by Kennedy with a figure before but this is definitely by him and makes it relatively unique.

“The picture was probably painted around 11am because of the position of the shadow.

“It was probably a personal picture depicting a summer holiday at Rottnest with his family.

Little is known about Kennedy: he won the Claude Hotchkin prize for watercolour in 1954 and 1960.

Another Kennedy painting, 'Summer Gold, Wanneroo', is in Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital's art collection.

Originally in the Post: marvelous paper...

glass act

Apologies for the eight day hiatus. We hope service will return to normal this week and month.

A source sent us this pic. The source's source was a Channel 7 identity. The sharp-eyed will be able to identify it as Rottnest. A few other things place it in the last 70s or early/mid 80s.

We love the beer in glasses. We can barely remember being able to buy jugs on the beautiful island. Now it's gone the same way as everyone else (no glass, no BYO food, don't have too much fun).