"serene, one idyllic place!"

Mia was very impressed with Rottnest.

Rotto Bloggo is no linguist, but we think Mia is Swedish*: at her blog she records her impressions about Rottnest.

In fact, we're such a poor linguist we needed to run Mia's post through translation-guide.com to see the Scandinavian assessment.

Fortunately, thw weather was good for her trip: "We had luck with ventilate , it was warmly and clear sky."

About quokkas, the translator says Mia says: "These creature had become almighty rare because kattdjur and rips as am chasing them."

It was all good, in fact: handsome snorkelställen, good surfställen - Rotto is a handsome place.

Here's the translated post in full.

*No chef jokes, please.

Ah yeah! It was really been one attend! Wes was paying 46 dollar for luck - return with ferry as taken approx 30 minutes and 23 dollar for that rent a cycle for heal day , but it was giant ruse!

On rottnest Iceland liver creature as am heating Quokka. These creature had become almighty rare because kattdjur and rips as am chasing them. They liver yet vilt still on Rottnest Iceland and Canopy Iceland and on these öar find inga kattdjur ors rips. They is giant söta!:) That travel to Rottnest is few as that travel til Sveaborg but ön is very major and vackrare! We had luck with ventilate , it was warmly and clear sky , disadvantage with the each ju understand that self brände me. Husband lär themselves never ;)

Alas have I inga pictures for the occasion that set up for oneself typically enough forgot self ju mine camera housewife. But the French fellow as self åkte there with had a camera so self bark poll pictures soon and then am laying self up them! If ferry there nots should cost so very should self definitely travel there anew! Only for that take the serene, one idyllic place! Folk hyr sommarstugor there so the find settlement also and cafe and a matbutik. The find also one hotel and any kind backpackers. If yous sometime encounter be at ways ate this way bark yous absolute take a swing to that isle. Handsome snorkelställen and had husband dividend license so able husband travel out with a boat out ön and dive. Moreover find the any really good surfställen there also! Self is colour slide surprise over how much handsome place the really find in this town the world! incredible:)

Am desiring yourself all there housewife a jolly eligible and first may! Herself lär self nots celebrate the desto more here :)

Sunny!

As West Australians know, one of the joys of Rottnest is it’s usually a degree or two warmer than the mainland.

For example, it’s 19.8 on Rotto right now, but only 17.3 in Perth.

This delightful photo was taken on March 30 – clearly it was agreeably temperate on Rotto that day.

‘Jac on Rottnest’ is on Flickr – see it here.

Flickr user augustinesoong has some other lovely Rottnest images, including sunbathing at one of Rotto’s many incomparable beaches/bays.

It's raining now, but it's always sunny on Rotto...

"squalidness"

A Rotto Bloggo reader has drawn our attention to another great post on local blog fremantlebiz.

(We look at the blog’s rant on allegedly overpriced and disappointing cream buns from the bakery earlier this week).

This time Paul has reproduced a letter he wrote to the Rottnest Island Authority in 1990, after a 10-day family stay in a Rotto bungalow.

“This letter is not written in anger, but of concern for improvement, and I appreciate that yours is not an easy task,” Paul begins, very diplomatically.

Then: advice on signs, “squalidness”, the general store, rubbish, a dead quokka in a pond, plastic bags, blocked toilets, fire safety, “urban cancer”, loud music on Friday and Saturday nights, stolen bikes, vomit…Paul’s bungalow was “adequate”, though.

There was no reply to Paul’s 1627-word missive.

If only we all wrote such letters when we were disappointed by shoddy service or standards.

high Rottnest standard

Rotto Bloggo is keenly interested in anything vexillological, so we were delighted by a lovely story in The West yesterday, Anzac Day.

In World War 2 lots of blokes from the 2/28th Australian Infantry Battalion signed a Union Jack.

“Someone got hold of a flag…and in the weeks which saw 1941 turn into 1942, it collected the signatures and addresses of more than 150 soldiers and some civilians, though some are indecipherable,” The West reported.

"Most are West Australians, some from country towns like Gnowangerup and New Norcia. But there are also Polish, Canadian, American, British, New Zealand and South African soldiers. And six Palestinians, too. Some, like Lawrence Arnold, became prisoners-of-war, and others, William Young, James Allen, Shamus Maunsell and John Huxley Oxton among them, were killed.”

The Rottnest angle?

One of the signees was Leonard Allan Wilkes, who was born 1 November 1913 in Kununoppin. He enlisted in 1940 in Claremont – and his “locality on enlistment” – where he lived – was Rottnest Island.

Wilkes was discharged in 1942 as a Lance Sergeant.

Story link above, and see here for more images of the flag.

Remora off Rottnest

Remora off Rottnest

No, not the elongated brown fish, aka sharksuckers, that grow up to three feet long.

The Navy’s one and only submarine rescue vessel has been retrieved from the ocean floor near Rotto and is now at HMAS Stirling.

The Remora has been in 140 metres of water since December.

Two people were trapped beneath the waves when a cable snapped.

The Remora is going back to the people in Canada who made it for a makeover.

cream scream

We enjoyed this rant (link above) about the price and quality of the cream buns at the Rottnest bakery.

After recalling halcyon days on Rotto and the early morning aromas from the bakery, Paul notes the "functional gleaming glass and chrome" of the new premises.

He takes his three kids to the bakery and orders cream buns: "They were one of the great Rottnest treats I remembered from the past."

How much? $18.

And in Paul's opinion, not money well spent.

"They were icy cold and doughy. Like some sort of a concoction from Mawson Base. There was a blob of red jam and a light dusting of icing sugar on the tops, but these trimmings did nothing to enhance the taste or texture."

However, not as many people share his outrage as expected.

"...they didn't give a rat's arse either...they looked at me as if I was some kind of Martian. It seems I am the only one who thinks they were expensive."

wikirotto

Noodling with Google over the weekend, Rotto Bloggo stumbled across Wikitravel.

It looks like Wikipedia!* It smells like Wikipedia! But in fact it's a privately-owned site.

As you can see, there's a bit to go before the Rotto entry is complete.

It's easy to make fun of others' spelling and grammar mistakes, but we did like the mention of "wartime reminants", and "Wildlife, that is, the thousands of quokkas which populate the island (especially at night)."

And let's not forget the "convenient stores" that sell booze.

Will you be working on Rotto's Wikitravel entry?

* Jimmy Wales is in Perth tomorrow.

making waves

Here's an interesting Rotto resource: 'Near Real-time Wave Data'.

The page (link above) shows sea and swell direction and extent.

Scroll a bit further down and you can see it got a bit choppy around midnight on Friday.

And what is 'significant wave height'?

"The significant wave height is the average height of the highest one third of waves recorded. It is often the wave height reported by an experienced observer."

Our tax dollars at work.

have your say?

Not long to go before public comment about the Management Plan closes, according to the Rottnest Society.

No doubt: the Society is as cross as a frog in a sock about the Mt Herschel hotel.

"...we understand that a hotel could not legally be built on the Mt Herschel site without amending the Rottnest Island Management Plan (RIMP) in several places, the Rotto Soc says.

"Obviously if enough people submitted comment opposing these amendments it would not be possible for the project to go ahead."

The Society says comment closes on Monday.

They're not all doom and gloom: they're supporting the new Dome site.

stubbed out

Have a look at this magnificent birthday present given to Rotto Bloggo.

It's a superb ashtray from yesteryear, showing a Thomson Bay scene from days past.

Fortunately, this gift will be as unspoilt as the bucolic spot it portrays, as we've given up smoking.

An associate of Rotto Bloggo, when standing on Armstrong Point in the bracing winter breeze, is fond of remarking: "This is the cleanest air in the world".

(The theory being that it's travelled all the way from Africa and been refreshed for thousands of miles by nothing but sea spray).

We look forward to our first smoke-free stay on Rotto.

Rotto snaps

A pic of some pics: these are photos taken recently by a young gel on the beautiful island.

Quokkas, Thomson Bay units, the beach.

What could be nicer?

The only thing missing is Scrabble and fishing.

Rotto Bloggo believes kingfish and dolphinfish are biting off Rotto lately.