Rockin' Rottnest

David and I have had quite the busy past four days! Saturday and Sunday we did two markets. We did not do as well at these markets than the other one. Tough Crowds. The first market was at Hillary's Harbour. Just five minutes from Catherine's house. It was a beautiful area. The second day was in the city area of Perth. It was a hotter day. In the morning David and I took time to go to the Art Gallery and in the afternoon we popped into the Museum. They were both really interesting. In the museum, they had a room dedicated to The Lost Generation of the Aboriginals here in Australia. I found it fasinating. They pretty much have the same history as our Aboriginals. The white people came over and tried to assimilate the kids out of their culture and other nasty stuff. This happened up until the 70s. There actually wasn't a formal apology until last year. The prime minister before the current one refused to apoligize and the government agreed.

On Monday we spent the day in Fremantle. This day was much better than the other day that we went when it was pouring rain. It was nice and hot. In the afternoon we went to the Fremantle Prison and did a few tours. This prison had been running up until 1991. The second tour we did there was only David, Juli and I so we got some special treatment and went to some of the places that larger groups do not get to see. When we eventually get caught up with photos you will get to hear some pretty crazy stories about the prison.

Today, was a hot 35 degrees..But this is nothing compared to the heat wave that Eastern Australia has been having. We got up early in the morning to catch a ferry to Rottnest Island. There ended up being construction on the highway and what was only supposed to be a 35 minute drive ended up being an hour drive and we almost missed our ferry. We caught it will 2 minutes to spare. Yikes. Now, Rottnest. This island is probably one of my favourite things that I have seen in all of Australia so far. David and I rented a snorkel and a bike and we biked around the whole island and snorkelled a only a few of the 63 beaches!! I only had to get off my bike and walk up a couple hills. I think this is pretty good for not having ridden a bike for quite a few years. But going uphill and down hill was ALOT of work! We are definitely pooped now. The water is beautiful and the snorkelling was fun. It was not quite as good as the Whitsundays but still pretty fascinating. The pictures we took are wonderful...But they still do not do justice to the real thing. We also saw some dolphins swimming along the island a few times as well!

Along the coastal drive home we decided to stop at a few beaches along the way. Cottesloe is one of Perth's bigger beaches. It is actually a pretty nice beach. We were spoiled up north by the farm with all of these secluded beaches. Cottlesloe is busy. Not close to as busy as Bondi though. We stopped at a couple others and then pulled into one to see the sunset. It was a dog beach... there were dogs every where... But the sunset.... it was sooooo beautiful.. Probably one of the first times we have seen a sunset over the ocean without clouds(and we have seen our fair share of them since Catherine has a fish tank of a living room overlooking the ocean.) AND to top it off..There were dolphins playing right close to shore, right in front of the sunset. Awesome!!

Anyways, we are now at Catherine's and are about to watch a movie and then call it a night since we are back out at the farm working tomorrow!

tata,

Holly and David