Penguin Island ..... but without Morgan Freeman's soothing voice

Today I made my first trip down to Rockingham with the plan of visiting Penguin Island. WA's largest penguin colony. The penguins located there are the smallest in the world. And yes, not all penguins live in Antarctica. Originally I wanted to bike there and back (2x 45km), but since I'm not used to going more than 20km at a time (and my knee hurts), I decided to take my bike on the new Mandurah Line train. It took about 1 hour from leaving my station to get to Rockingham. Since Transperth was so clever as to not provide a map of the Mandurah Line, I had no idea where I would be getting off the train. Rockingham also has bike paths that disappear and go in wonky directions .... something I would come to realize on the way home. The highlight of the initial visit through Rockingham townsite was seeing K-mart .... unfortunately, no Blue Light Specials.

The waters in Rockingham are crystal clear and very very calm. The above photo was taken near John Point .... renamed Jon Point .... by me. Can you say .... good for snorkelling!!!! I could have spent the day just hanging out here. But continued my trip towards Penguin Island.

As there are no stores on Penguin Island, I was advised to buy lunch beforehand and take it on the ferry over. Forgot to mention that one. You can actually walk along a sandbar for the 1km to Penguin Island. However, you have walk at least chest deep, so it's tough to take stuff over, and rogue waves can sweep you way. So instead I took the ferry. Oh yah, so I went for lunch and saw Hot Dog on the menu!!!!! WOW, they are not common here. And I even got some real ketchup too..... even less common .... ugh vegemite *shudder* *shudder*

Penguin Island is really small and you can easily walk around it in 45 minutes or less. You are not allowed on the vegetation as the penguins (and other birds) use this for their nesting sites. Instead, you walk along a wooden pathway built above the vegetation.

One of the many cool birds located on the island. My favourite was Jimmy with a mohawk. These birds sorta looked like penguins but were very small and could fly. Not penguins, but you could get right up to them, this photo was taken about 6 inches from the bird. Sweet as.

This was a cave that was home to Seaforth McKenzie, the first resident of Penguin Island. He was Canadian. This brought a tear to my eye. "Oh Canada, Our Home and Penguin I-Land"

There were pelicans EVERYWHERE. This is one of 9 pelican mating sites in all of Western Australia. It's a VERY VERY big state. Something about Penguin Island gets these guys going. I probably saw about 100 Pelicans in that area.

Jonny Enjoying the water. It was awesome to swim. Because it was so shallow, it was really really warm. I ended up going in swimming for 30 minutes.... with an ear plug. So far things are ok on that front.

Actually finding penguins is a little saddening. I had the option of paying $6.50 to see the Penguin exhibit and feeding. But I've already seen them up close at Perth Zoo, and saw a live feeding at Taronga Zoo (remember March of the Babes) and (2), so I wanted to focus my attention on seeing them in their natural habitat. Turns out their natural habitat is underneath wooden walkways. And the vision you have of them marching around jumping in the water disappears, and you are left with the sight of them sprawled out, not moving, except for the odd twitch. Supposedly they are nocturnal, but you aren't allowed on the island after sundown. They probably throw a party when everyone leaves. Just like my family did after I went to bed when I was a kid (I had to go to bed first cause I was the youngest).

I think I'm now going to name my first kid Seaforth .... Boy or Girl ..... Seaforth Boyd .... it has a good ring to it!

Part of the reason I decided to train there, and bike back was because the winds come from the hills in the northeast in the morning, and switch to strong winds from the southwest in the afternoon. Theoretically that means downwind both ways, but I wanted that strong wind on the way home. Surprise, surprise, the winds didn't change today. That meant a fun filled bike ride. My plan was to go to Freo (35km away) and if things went well, all the way home (45km).

There were some memorable moments. There was the Grain Processing Transport Plant, Sewage Treatment Centres (thought I was going to die), Oil Refineries, Large Trucks dropping gravel on me as they flew by. But the real highlight was ambiguouty in the Bike Trails. I made the mistake of deciding to wing it and not look up a bike route map. How hard could it be. You just go north and keep the ocean on your left. There were signs that pointed the direction of the Bike Route, however, the genius who put them up seems not to realize the #1 most important part of directions. You DON'T have to point the bike arrow straight in the middle of a road (no intersections). You DO have to point the bike arrow to the left or right for a turn. You can't assume people just know when to turn.

Some of the lanes on the highways were really good, (2 metres wide), some weren't (2cm wide). The roads were actually the best part, the problem was when I would find an actual bike lane. Enter the trouble.

This lane was only 30 to 40 metres long and went nowhere. I was dumbfounded for a good 10 minutes. Why would they put the effort to build something so small. I could just pick up my bike and walk that (foreshadowing). Whenever I would end up on a bike line, it twisted and turned more than a strand of DNA (token genetic comment of the day). I probably would bike twice the distance than if I stayed on the road. At one point, near South Beach in Fremantle, on a bike path right near the beach I hit about 3 detour signs all pointing in different directions. The only open lane (and where the last detour sign was pointing) went straight onto the beach. The bike detour is on the beach?????? I pick up my bike and start trekking. I make it about 50 meters and realize there is still another 450 to go. Not going to make it. Back track again. Yeah!!!! After 2 hours of hardcore biking I make the Freo Train line and make it home!

Nature's Beauty - Limestone cliffs and Oil Refineries

Lesson's Learnt -

1. ALWAYS have at least 3 litres of water with you! Thank goodness for being prepared. I probably went through 15 litres of fluid for the whole day. That's a lot of drinks!
2. Don't Order Hot Dogs in Australia, they are weird looking
3. A hurt knee stops hurting when you absolutely have no choice but to keep going
4. Pelicans are making a comeback as Jonny's fave Aussie Bird. Look out Kookaburra.
5. Watching Penguins without Morgan Freeman's voice is just plain boring ..... is Morgan Freeman ever in a movie where they don't use his voice as the story teller (March of the Penguins, Million Dollar Baby, Shawshank Redemption). I wish he we would read to me as I go to bed tonight.

More Exciting fotos from the day click here