day 4

The promise of high drama last night. An associate reported five drunken youths trying to force beer down a quokka's throat at the hotel. Mrs RB grabbed her torch, I checked I had the ranger's number in my phone, and off we went in search of any wrongdoing.

But all was quiet. Plenty of quokkas roaming around, but none looked drunk or distressed.

Yesterday was another wonderful day in paradise. Fed the herring scraps to the gulls on the beach and had the fish for lunch. Went to the army jetty again to watch an associate reeling in many herring. Marvellous eggplant moussaka for dinner. Won a game of Scrabble, lost a game of Scrabble. Went on walks. Watched the evening TV news - that doesn't happen often, as we're rarely home before it's on. Everyone is very upset at The Chaser.

Finished our first book: a Japanese novel called Ring. It was only three stars. A journalist discovers four people die exactly a week after watching a video. He finds the video and watches it - and thus has a week to live unless he works out what he has to do. Over-written and implausible. And the story continues in the next book.

Have now started on an essay collection, and David Lodge's Therapy. A pic today shows the pile of books to be consumed.


Other pics are of Mrs RB watching clips of The Triffids on YouTube, some night quokka action, and a night pic of the hotel.

No firm plans for today. But we're sure it will be fabulous.

day 3

It's cold, wet, windy - perfect Rottnest weather.

The whole morning has been spent inside our (unnamed) premium view villa. Reading (books and newspapers), eating, bickering over how to make coffee, having the odd Pinteresque conversation, watching the black clouds scoot overhead...delightful.

(There may be a break in the weather: Mrs Rotto Bloggo reports the sun is shining on the natural jetty. Mr Percival and confreres are bobbing about).

Today's pics are the sunrise, a bit of rope on the beach we thought was flotsam but turned out to be someone's tie, and RB hard at work on Teh Intertubes.

We also had a look at Dez Smith's pictures of Rotto.

Time for a holiday haiku...

Heaving seas outside
But winter is content in
Placid Thomson Bay.

herring happiness

What a fabulous day. Minigolf, a late lunch of antipasto and cheese and wasabi mayo, reading, and then epic fishing off the army jetty.

We came home with a dozen herring, but it was a cold hard slog. Half an hour in there was driving rain and a piercing wind. Our fingers went numb. More than one herring jumped off the hook as it was being pulled from the water.

Never mind. These things are good for character. The fillets are safely in the fridge ready for breakfast tomorrow.

The minigolf was fun. But the course is a blend of run-down and renovated. See pic for an associate having to dig his ball out of the ground.

The steep bakery prices have also been mentioned - inevitably. Our sources revealed to us the bread is cheaper on Christmas Island (another Indian Ocean wonder of the world). What to do? Not a lot.

Can't wait to smoke some of that herring. The octopus is next.

Rottnest: perfect one day, sublime the next. Some associates went to the museum today, behind the store: interesting information, fascinating displays, helpful staff...contrast that for $16.50 for an apple danish, two very ordinary coffees in styrofoam cups and a jam donut for $15.60.

Tomorrow: more fishing, act up about muzak on Rotto, buy more bait, and a nice sleep-in.

day 2

We watched the first Rottnest Express ferry come in from our premium view pad. Seagulls are squawking. Last night's rain is evaporating. Does it get any better than this?

Well, it could. Frankly we're a little disappointed our place doesn't have a name. The names run out halfway down Nappy Alley/South Thomson. There are bungalows called Love, Ship, Gull et al - but ours is just a number.

Imagine having a place named after you here. Now that is happening. Rotto Bloggo dreams of the day we can book into Cohen. It's be like being called Onslow, and living on Onslow Road - but like a hundred times better.

What's on for today? Once our hangover is safely out of the way there could be some mini-golf at the Brett Heady Family Fun Park. And it could be timely to wet a line later.

Mrs Rotto Bloggo is keen to test out her new wheels. We're calling them the K-Rudd Pistachio Pathfinder, as it was thanks to the PM's generosity she bought it. She also refers to it as Kevin, which isn't quite distinguished enough, we think. It's getting top treatment so far: as soon as it started to rain last night it was brought in to a warm dry place and had a rub-down with a towel.

More pics later today...

first night in paradise

The sunset was marred by the raucous muzak blaring from the expensively-renovated pub. We asked for the muzak to be turned down - but no joy.

Ah well. These minor imperfections haven't affected our delight at being on the greatest holiday spot in the world. This is truly paradise. We've had requests to show photographic evidence of the old Rotto - that will be forthcoming in the next few days. But for now we have pics of what's on sale in the Thomson Bay store, and what was on the drinks menu in our digs.

Can the store flog tiny packets of chips when they're stamped with 'Not for individual/separate sale'?? They were only 50c.

We knocked back some delightful Bolly - Bollinger to you - at dinner tonight. The taste was a revelation. Crisp yet intriguing. Dry yet insightful. Yes, we are Bollinger Bolsheviks. Bring on October and revolution.


Check in tomorrow for details about fishing, lunching and strolling around the 63 bays and 20 beaches...or is it 63 beaches and 20 bays?

arrival

Safely on WA's island holiday paradise. Or the seventh wonder of the Indian Ocean. We forget: we're giddy with delight at being here. Our plush premium water view digs are magnificent. Thomson Bay is before us, kiddies are splashing in the safety of the shark net, there's date loaf on the table...and the only thing between us and Perth is a seagull and a yacht which could be called Seaducer.

We forgot poo tickets, so have been to the shop and bought them, along with eggs, OJ and some other neccesities. Mrs Rotto Bloggo has already bought a very stylish Rottnest t-shirt: she describes it as "Rotto punk". It was on special too.

After the ferry we had eggs and coffee at Dome. The new Dome. It's lovely except for the loud doof-doof faux jazz. Or "South American elevator music" as Mrs RB called it. No trace left of the old Dome. It's mini-fenced off, with a sign imploring people to let it grow. A bit of a mystery as the ground is covered in some sort of strange grey matting/carpet.

More to come later today...

island twit

Of course Rotto is on Twitter. Nearly everyone else is.

Now we're over our astonishment of this ultra-modern development for WA's island paradise, we can see how it couod be helpful. Alerts about cancelled ferries. Other nautical news. Will the papers be late? Send out a tweet.

We'd like to see a tweet when the jam doughnuts are down to 25 per cent left. Or a reminder about what's on at the picture hall. The best one would be being able to lounge at Dome until you get your tweet your bungalow is ready, instead of nipping down to the office every 20 minutes and anxiously scanning the LED readout.

What else? There were a flurry (well, three) tweets about the shark sightings last month. A couple on the room deals. Wind conditions, the opening of Aristos' new eatery, and other bits and pieces.

One sleep to go. That luxurious spot on Nappy Alley with "superior view" (ie of the water) looms ever closer.

gear

Two sleeps to go. Where are they biting? Even if we don't catch anything, Rotto Bloggo will look good at the natural jetty with this Plano tackle system.

It's a belt with zipped pouches, but tackle system sounds so much better. It was a gift from the American in-laws. In two pouches are plastic containers, where you put your bait, hooks and whatnot. We guess the idea is to be mobile and not have to scamper back to the rock to bait up again. That is a hassle. But it's never a hassle coming back to the rock with a monster fish.

Rotto Bloggo doesn't fish anywhere else. But it's very soothing on Rottnest. It's kinda atavistic, catching your food. Mrs Rotto Bloggo gets bored with it and will stay home and knit.

Even thought we're only a Rottnest angler, we do like looking at fishing porn.

old news

Apologies for the hiatus. Only three sleeps until we're on the beautiful island.

The Rottnest news has been piling up during our absence. One item we liked was this, from Murdoch Uni: the academics did some research, which was forgotten until someone found the interviews and photos in a box.

“One recording was of Jack O’Donoghue, who had clear memories of his childhood spent on the Island where his father was a warder at the Prison in the earliest years of the twentieth century.

“Another was with a family who had an original sketch map hand-drawn by a German sailor interned on Rottnest during the First World War, which they gave to the project and is now held at the Rottnest Museum."

A positive look at Rotto from this New Zealand reporter: she describes it as "Perth's very own island getaway".

"It sits 19 kilometres off the coast of Fremantle, is 11km long, 4.5km wide at its widest point and its coast is ringed with bright-white beaches and coral reefs." Fancy!

(Or is that: "Ut's cust us tunged with bright white beaches"?)

still there

OMG the Cottesloe pylon is gone. Or it's hanging by a filament. Big news, anyway. There have been many news stories in the last 36 hours about wind and rain: Rotto has been copping the full force of the elements.

In yesterday's post we were going to theorise what the five wonders of the Indian ocean were, but couldn't think of enough. We'd settled on Phuket barmats, Mozambique's flag, and the pylon.

A wasted opportunity. Imagine how prescient we would have looked if we'd mentioned the pylon (which doesn't seem to have it's own Wikipedia entry).

Some good coverage of the downed pylon. Why are we talking about? Hats off to Chris Thomson at WAToday for his wonderful pic of the scene: you can see Rottnest in the background. It's still there! The Wadjemup lighthouse has withstood the hurricane and perfect storm. No worries.

* Pic is from WAToday. If the company or Chris is unhappy with its use here we will take it down immediately! Just spreading the word to the small army of Rotto Bloggo readers about the excellent work by Chris and WAToday!

pristine pink

Only 12 sleeps until we're on the beautiful island. Much excitement in the Rotto Bloggo compound last night, when we came home to our bumf.

The night before we came home to bumf, too. The nice RIA people sent it twice - no matter.

Inside the envelope were 12 luggage stickers, a flyer for the general store, the remittance advice, arrival and departure information, maps, the list of what's in the accommodation, and a list of stuff we can hire (a pack of two tea towels is obly $6.50 for six or more nights).

There was also a Rottnest postcard. Rottnest island - Open for Business - One of the 5 Wonders of the Indian Ocean. The other four, according to the card, are Seychelles, Mauritius, Maldives, and Sri Lanka (especially since they've stopped waging war with each other).

"I'd forgotten what a pristine paradise this is," says the pretend text on the back of the card. We haven't forgotten.

green daylight

Never mind the Rottnest Orange on the buildings or the blue of the water - the beautiful island turned Green on the weekend.

Voters at the picture hall in the Freo by-election were solidly behind Adele Carles: she scored 49 out of 88.

Others: Peter Tagliaferri 21, informal six, Sam Wainwright four, and two each to Nik Varga, Jan ter Horst, Carmelo Zagami and Rosemary Lorrimar.

Rob Totten, Steve Boni, Andriette du Plessis, and Julie Hollett scored exactly null points.

The ABC's psephologist Antony Green had a bit of a tanty on Saturday night, wondering why the results from the hall weren't available, but we can't see it on his page today.

It was also a comfortable win for right-thinking daylight-saving aficionados, with 51 for and 37 against.

The latest rumours sweeping 'round the beautiful island after the weekend's voting:

A green latte-sipping quokka will be Carles' electorate officer...

Peter Tagliaferri is opening up an Interfoods branch at Geordie...

Jim McGinty will find the soul of the Labor Party at the bottom of the Rottnest trench...

Rotto is so fabulous it will still be OK even with no daylight saving later this year.

teaching Thomson

Rotto Bloggo became rebarbative this week upon hearing of a primary school in the western suburbs that took its kids on an excursion to Maylands.

"Did they have innoculations?" a bystander inquired.

It was an incredible revelation. We had laboured under the misapprehension these students stayed in the bucolic western suburbs.

Today's image was snapped at a western suburbs primary school that stays safely within the Golden Triangle. A school excursion to Rottnest: wonderful.

Rotto Bloggo has been racking its brains to try and remember where it went on school excursions. In primary school there was one to Kalgoorlie, during which we encountered grilled tomato for the first time. Hideous.

In high school there were camping trips out of Port Hedland, and an end-of-year trip out of Rossmoyne to some dank spot down south. Ghastly. The strongest memory is of watching kids lighting their farts.

picture perfect

Only 17 sleeps until we're on the beautiful island: what photos are we going to take while we're there?

Like notorious blogger The Worst of Perth, we like taking photo photos. Except we're not very artistic, and we don't out much effort into the process. We have a folder bulging with Rottnest pix, but they're pretty run-of-the-mill.

We don't really need magnificent works of art. But it's nice to take a nice photo.

Rotto is like the Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal, the Royal Show, Hanouma Bay, Masada: there are set photos everyone takes. It can be hard to come up with an original pic.

Think of the Thomson Bay jetty that points to the CBD. Riding a bike. Quokkas. Been there taken that.

The challenge is on. In the meantime we can take inspiration from people like 1 thousand words on Flickr. He has some excellent Rotto pics. The jetty fishing one is Geordie Bay, and the lighthouse one is fresh and well-composed.

rotto revenue

Good to see the beautiful island is doing its bit for the GFC (global financial crisis).

After yesterday's Budget 99,000 public servants are worried about losing their jobs, you'll have to get a bank loan to heat the house this winter - and the cost of time on Rottnest is going up.

After we saw the Perth Now headline Rotto Bloggo's heart hammered - but then we saw the hikes apply from July 1. Our 13-day retreat is still within budget (and, if today's Inside Cover is right, we may bump into Tourism Minister Liz Constable while we're over there).

"Fees for an extended stay will rise by $5.10 for adults (to $18) and by $5.50 for children aged 4-12 (to $6.50)," Perth Now reports. (Hikes of nearly 40 per cent and 650 per cent).

"Day tripper adults will be charged an extra $1.60 (to $14.50), while the day fare for children will rise by $4 (rising from $1 to $5). (Smaller hikes).

"Admission fees are normally included in the price of ferry tickets, which can be expected to rise to cover the increases.

"Seniors' fees will also rise for extended stays, by $2.40 (to $15.30), but will fall slightly for day trippers (down 60 cents to $12.30). (More for seniors: hike of around 18 per cent).

"However a new two-adults, two-children discount tariff for extended stays of $41.75 will be introduced."

Postscript: As usual, we should have looked at the source material before posting. This isn’t the end: there will be “CPI” hikes for the next five years. The cost of staying at the youth hostel steeples by about 30 per cent (from $26 to $35), and rugby teams will have to find about 25 per cent more for their 18-bed cottages at Governor’s Circle (from $430 to $525).

everywhere

And quite often
Water around the ferry
But not potable.

Island discontent
In winter: wet wet wet and
Even more water.

Turtles on order,
As quite often no turtles
Populate the depths.

Blue swimmer dreaming,
Her ring around the autumn
Of a fantasy.

'building a house from the top down'

We're not often first with the news on Rotto Bloggo, but a media release has been fired moments ago from the Rottnest Society cannon.

The Society has asked Tourism Minister Liz Constable to delay the Island Management Plan "until building blocks are in place".

"The draft Rottnest Island Management Plan 2009-2014 (RIMP) attempts to have us believe that a local holiday and recreational island is the same as an ecotourism destination. This is, in our view, at odds with Sections 11 and 12 of the Rottnest Island Authority Act 1987 – to say nothing of the often-expressed wishes of the Western Australian community. This tension needs to be resolved before proceeding further," RS covenor Sue Folks said.

"the draft RIMP proposes the development of a number of strategies and plans which, when completed, should be building blocks on which the management plan is based - but which as yet are only sketchy outlines. Since these strategies and plans largely appear to support a divergence from the Act they should be developed after the Act is reviewed, and the purpose for which the island is managed is clarified."

Sue wants you to bone up on the Plan and - if you're concerned - contact Minister Constable and your local MP and support the Society’s position on this.

More information at www.rottnestsociety.org.au or phone 9438 1413.

Pic is the logo of the Rottnest Society. We haven't got the all-clear from Sue but we're sure she won't mind.

best job

The winner of that dream job has been announced. Rotto Bloggo has been chosen from 2.7 billion applicants to be the live-in model on Rottnest. Our every stroke on the putt-putt course at the Brett Heady Family Fun Centre, every wetting of a line, every page turned in books we read will be broadcast live on Teh Interwebs to show people what a paradise Rottnest is...

Oops. Sorry about that. We were fantasising about what could have been after reading stories on the Brit who's got that Hamilton Island job. Ben Southall will get $150,000 for having to snorkel, blog and swim. His Canadian girlfriend will be joining him.

"I hope I can sell the reef as much as everybody is expecting," Southall said after he was crowned the winner at a ceremony on Hamilton Island. "My swimming hopefully is up to standard."

What would we have said if we got an equivalent gig on Rotto? "I hope I can smoke herring to the quality everyone is expecting," Rotto Bloggo said after they were crowned Momentous Ambassador For Life For Rottnest. "My Scrabble tiles are stained with the tears of illiterate quokkas."

bits and blogs

Did you get your submission in to the Rottnest Island Authority about the management plan? It was due today. The Rottnest Society had around 100 people at their East Freo meeting last week. Nice Beatrice Thomas story in the West here on the Society's views.

After last week's welter of grumpy students, some positive views of the beautiful island: Shawn Freeman says Rotto is "awesome". He has some nice photos on his blog. He calls Freo 'Fremo' but.

And Paul at fremantle biz is always perceptive and writes well about the island. Here he's on the natural jetty.

no turtles

The beautiful island got both barrels on the weekend.

First there was gloomy Murdoch-studying Swede Jesper Degerman saying Rottnest was “totally overrated” and had “almost nothing of interest”.

Now we have another Murdoch student saying the 63 beaches and 20 bays “all looked pretty much the same to me”.

Angelina Ho also says the submarine trip was a fizzer: “All we got to see were the boring fishes, ugly weeds, remains of shipwreck and the waters that were not even clear. Where are the dolphins and turtles?”

Shame on you, Rottnest Island Authority: you don’t have the decency to provide dolphins and turtles on tap. We call for Paolo Amaranti’s head. And the Tourism Minister’s. Those heads must roll. Hawaii has turtles galore.

“Its a pity we don’t get many pit stops to take pictures”, Angelina says of the Bayseeker (although the driver was good). Her summary: “The whole island looked very dull, yellow and brown and I actually like that”. Riiiight.

She’s posted lots of photos on her blog. There’s one of Jesper looking disconsolate (surprise!) because his name was spelt Jasper on his coffee receipt.

scan pan

A Scandinavian named Jesper Degerman wasn't impressed by the beautiful island: he says, like nearly everything else in this country, Rotto is "totally overrated".

Don’t go there, you’ll find almost nothing of interest there and the ferry trip over is painfully boring since there is nothing to see (although the sights from Perth city to Freo are quite alright, what remains from then onwards is just water and more water)."

Harsh! Don't go to Rotto! The Rottnest Island Authority and the ferry companies need rockets up their arses: how dare they just have views of water in between the happening port city and Rotto.

Jesper continues: "However, despite the extreme “averageness” and plainness and costliness we still had quite a fun time I believe. The highlight I suppose was meeting Mr. Barry Quokka in person, even though he did not say very much."

These gloomy Scandinavians. Their idea of a funster is Edvard Munch, of course, and Ibsen was their version of a stand-up comedian. That Hedda Gabler! She was a handful.

On his blog Jesper has cheery posts like 'Murdoch University smells like an old turd' and 'Dull'. Love to be in his dorm.

bubbles

We wish we were more adept with Photoshop: today's post would be easier to read.

Our Isle of Wight operative has sent us some candid pics of the men on board HMS Trenchant, the British sub that ran aground near Rottnest some years ago (see previous post Up Periscope).

Would you believe the pic shown here was taken only moments after the Trafalgar-class tin can nearly beached itself on one of the beautiful island's 63 bays?

The bloke with the notebook is saying: "So that's four jam doughnuts, six snotblocks and lattes all round?"

The bloke with the headphones is thinking: "Hey! I hear we can get some bikes for spare parts!"

The worried-looking bloke on the right is thinking: "At this rate we're not going to be at Pinky's for leavers."

The Royal Navy said in a statement to Rotto Bloggo: 'HMS Trenchant is now even better equipped to continue the finest traditions of the Submarine Service of being the silent masters of the deep.'

all must go

A mere $39 per person per night.

Did you see the RIA’s advertising blitz (a double-page spread in West Travel) on the weekend?

They’re trying to plug some gaps in winter accommodation: the various packages are on Sunday to Thursday, June to August, but not during school holidays.

We’d be spewing if it was cheaper than our looming 13 days in South Thomson: we paid $1860 about a year ago for 13 nights in a six bed: about $24 per person per night.

The $39pppn doesn’t say where it is, but extras have been thrown in during the five night stay for four people: Rottnest Express ferry travel (we assume return), bikes and a bus or train tour.

The most expensive option is $66pppn for three nights for two people.

There’s still quite a bit available. We just had a look for a four-bed villa in Geordie/Longreach/Fay’s anytime in June: 935, 936, 939 and 941 are up for grabs for fortnightly stretches. Lots of other options too.

The copy in the spread is pedestrian at best. The island is “steeped in history”, the Wadjemup bus tour is “unique and purely Western Australian”, “steep yourself in history” at the museum: “Rottnest Island really is a treasure trove of history and culture”. Really! “Booking is easy!”

cray day

It's a monster: here are Peter and Carol Beck of the western suburbs with a monster cray they nabbed near the beautiful island.

This was in the Post yesterday, but is also deserving of niche publication: they netted this beauty in their pot not a million miles from Thomson Bay, and got stuck into some serious eating.

(Cheaper than half a cray at Aristos', on the other side of the bay.)

Alas, some slimeball nicked their pot (cost: $229) the next day.

Nice flag.

rotto timeshare?

Plain-speaking from the Rottnest Society this week: the watchdog is worried about a possible system that smaks of time-share.

The Society has perused the RIMP - Rottnest Island Management Plan - and says there's a proposal to "review visitor accommodation management options" (not so plain-speaking from the Rottnest Island Authority).

"...which apparently means forward-selling some RIA–operated accommodation for a number of years (you might buy a villa for a week per year for a number of years). This would be something like a ‘time-share’ – and would most certainly favour the rich. Very little detail is given," the Society says.

We'll be frank: having a lock on Colebatch for the next 30 years is attractive. Not sure how we'd pay for it in advance, as is the go when you book for the beautiful island - we'd have to come up with a wildly popular iPhone app.

More RotSoc concerns:

'A proposed expansion of ‘guest accommodation’ on a site next to Hotel Rottnest will apparently be hotel units. Will this be a new hotel, or will the Hotel Rottnest build new units there? How many units – ten, or one hundred and ten?

'An eco-tourism development is proposed for South Thomson – no location or number of units given. Could this be ten units – or one hundred and ten?

'Then there is the 120-room Mt Herschel hotel – currently without a proponent but likely to go ahead.'

They're having a public meeting in East Freo later this month - will invitee Laurie O'Meara be pelted with stale vanilla slices from the bakery?

bites

A mere seven weeks until we're on the beautiful island again. Colleagues, acquaintances and sources are beginning to tire of this being mentioned.

However: an operative did share her impressions of island life after returning from a week of bliss. In a word, costly.

The new seafood restaurant by Aristos is, it seems, pricey. Our operative says $43 for half a crayfish with salad; $16 for a smallish serve of fish and chips; the same for a portion of squid and chips.

We wonder if Aristos has kept those buzzing devices that go bananas when your order is ready.

"Aristos in Bunbury is much cheaper," our operative said. She ate in while on Rottnest, and had a $9 cray when she got back to the mainland.

fog of war

There's always a Rottnest connection somewhere. We've been reading Neville Green's excellent new book Western Australian Teacher Soldiers of World War I 1914-1918. As you'd expect, there are many sad stories among the 172 men and one woman who were at Claremont Teachers' College and at the war.

Some of the entries are very brief, but there's this in Gordon Gemmell's entry: his friend Marcus Anderson recalls staying with his freind at York in 1912. The next time Anderson sees him is in 1918, on the Somme:

"I looked at Gordon's body. His skin was as fair in death as in life. He had been killed by a bullet through the forehead between the eyes. I gazed at his body and my thoughts ran to the past, to those very happy days I spent with him and his family at York in Western Australia. I grieved sorely for his mother and family. Again I express my horror and repugnance of this cruel and senseless slaughter of innocent victims, whether they be friend or foe."

One who came back alive was Thomas Sten. We're surprised a cottage on Rotto isn't named for him. He enlisted 21 June 1916, wounded in France 10 February 1917, back in Australia 6 September 1919. By 1951, as well as being state president of the RSL, he was the president of the Australian Associated Youth Committee, Royal Perth Hospital chairman, and chairman of the Rottnest Island Board.

Nice Lincoln Baker photo in the weekend's story about the beach fog here. Best quote in the story: "I thought Rotto was on fire."

up the periscope

Pinnnng. Doooo. Pshhh.

An associate has a special ring tone on his phone when Rotto Bloggo calls: it's the sounds submarines make. We like being associated with these underwater noises.

Hopefully we don't sound like HMS Trenchant, though. In the Rottnest news of the month, the 5200-tonne British tin can became grounded off the beautiful island a dozen years ago.

See The Australian for the full marvellous story. But essentially the crew were stunned (like a dim herring) when they got far closer to the bakery than planned.

"They basically kept 200m depth and were on their way to Fremantle and were surprised when they ran into the continental shelf," says a quote in the story.

'Another former submariner said the British crew had no idea what had happened until they heard a loud scraping noise.

"The submarine was travelling at depth when it rubbed a sloping patch of sea floor," he said. "The crew took some time to actually work out what was going on."

Das Boot nearly became Das Rooted. Imagine if a nuclear sub sailed into Thomson Bay. Or beached itself next to the army jetty. If HMS Trenchant had been wrecked it would have become a marvellous dive site.

"Of all the branches of men in the forces there is none which shows more devotion and faces grimmer perils than the submariners." - supposedly Sir Winston Churchill.

fingers glued to nipples

Mysterious goings-on on the beautiful island on the weekend from a crowd called Team Core.

Team stands for Triathlon, Endurance and Multisport, and their activities are vastly different to Rotto Bloggo's: brick sessions, ocean swims and running. Ye gods.

There was also trouble with Rottnest Island Authority rangers. On Saturday "...Paul was handcuffed and faced eviction from the island by the Rottnest Island authority* for apparently not having warned them in advance that we would be over doing the session (despite several months of written communication to the contrary). Paul was soon released and sent on his merry way when they realized that our gang weren't the hooligans that they were initially believed to be!"

More details: "On the run it was hot, hot, hot and a run-in with the Rottnest Ranger over marking the course with three removal red cones resulted in variable lap distances for some of the earlier runners..."

There are some excellent photos with amusing captions: Karl super-glued his fingers to his nipples, a pair are on the run from predatory Bayseekers, and there's a woman wearing only a tarpaulin.

Team Core is "Bespoke Coaching in a Motivating Squad Environment".

("* this is of course "tongue in cheek" - we'd like to thank the Rottnest Island Authority for their help and support following explanation of the session to the Head Ranger later that day.")

save us all

A very important vote coming up in six weeks: the daylight saving referendum. Will we vote for civilisation, or opt for barbarism?

There’s also a by-election for Fremantle: will the seat turn green?

Rottnest is strong on the issue. We saw Antony Green’s blog where he looks at the booths from the last DSR. As you would expect, the anti-daylight saving mob – fearful farmers and sundry yokels – were in places like Beacon, Dale and Muradup (Wagin).

But Rotto went for enlightenment: 120 votes in 1992, 72 for, which was 60 per cent.

The highest in the metro area was Connolly PS in Wanneroo: 884 votes out of 1275, or 69.3 per cent.

Daylight saving on Rotto: more fishing time, more mini-golf rounds, more marvellousness.

Rotto is for lovers (and lobbers)

There’s been some media excitement over the very naughty Lovers and Lobbers. Who is Michael Hunt? The world – certainly Perth – is agog at his/her quality reporting and photography on the blog.

But even notorious bloggers need some rest and relaxation. We were disappointed this week’s coverage of L&L didn’t include their Rottnest trip last month.

L&L spent three glorious nights “marooned” on the beautiful island: “We road a total of 50km, which is a lot when you don't exercise regularly. We had many splendid adventures, many do not contain lovers or lobbers but are totally awesome so I'm posting them anyway.”

The photos are excellent. Mr & Mrs Hunt stayed at Tentland, swam in bays, appropriated a boat, had a wild party at the sizzling Hot Showers and observed the quokkas.

“We meet a shit load of mad cunts and toasted marshmallows and ate mi goreng sandwiches with them!”

* Excellent photo taken from the Lovers and Lobbers blog

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).