Shilli-Fully Travels

We drove over 3,000km, but still only covered a small corner of WA. It was very different driving to the UK or Europe – a lot of long straight roads, through nowhere, that look like the first Europeans in WA were the Romans, with road signs warning of the dangers of driving when tired. Other challenges include large areas with no phone coverage (but no need for map reading decisions), overtaking 42m road trains, carefully planning petrol stops and dealing with animals on the roads. We saw plenty of evidence of roadkill, mainly kangeroos which are a particular danger at dawn and dusk. At a petrol station in the middle of nowhere, we found ourselves comparing roadkill with a young French couple driving a campervan – ours was a group of malleefowl, theirs was red-breasted cockatoos. Driving any distance in WA, with a speed limit of 110km, near misses are likely – our path was crossed by one kangeroo, thankfully without incident. There are plenty of warning signs, invariably in the wrong places.

One of the benefits of a road trip is the things you see along the way and the encounters that are “day to day” in the context of the environment. We had a number of breaks for refreshments/petrol and took a number of detours, most of which were worthwhile and none felt like wasted time.

No, not the length of time we spent in WA (31 days), but a visa term we quickly became familiar with.

In the course of our travels we met a variety of other travellers and people working in hospitality, shops, petrol stations etc. Amongst other travellers and those working in hospitality, we came across a lot of foreigners in their 20’s. For many years, travelling/working in Australia has been popular. Similar to the UK, finding local hospitality staff in Australia is challenging, so hospitality businesses are staffed predominently by foreigners.

As a “young person” it is possible to get a one year work/travel visa, but to stay for a second year you need to have completed “prescribed work” in your first year – for a period of 88 days. Previously this time was a specified type of work, broadly agricultural. However, the roles now need to be in specified “rural” postcodes. Generally these are in agricultural areas, but places such as small islands are included, such as Rotto. Less surprising, Hyden was included; the manager of our motel said she gets 20 CVs a week, compared to almost none before the rule change.

In restaurants and hotels we came across staff, in no particular order, from Argentina, Ireland, UK, France, Spain, Italy, Estonia, Uruguay, Belgium, Sweden and Ecuador. Often they were in enclaves, such as the Irish in Hyden, due to employment by word of mouth. Many had come for shorter periods, but ended up staying longer, falling in love with the beaches, weather and culture, or in some cases obtaining visa extensions which were offered during the pandemic.

Rotto, as it is called locally, is a 19 sq km island, 18km from Fremantle reached by a 30 minute ferry ride from Fremantle, or a bit longer from Perth. It was named by a Dutch sailor in 1696, meaning “Rat’s Nest” island, mistaking the local marsupials, quokkas, for rats.

It is now a protected reserve and popular car-free tourist destination. Appromimately 80% of the tourists are day trippers, the remaining being predominently campers, or in our case “glampers”. Most of the overnight visitors are from the Perth area and bring all their gear on the ferry with them – from gazebos to bikes and cool boxes – “checked-in” to cages on the deck of the ferry and transported to/from your accommodation by the ferry operator.

Quokkas can be seen all over the island, especially in the evenings and have no real preditors on Rotto. They are small marsupials, only found in south western WA, mainly on islands with the largest number being on Rotto. They are about the size of a cat but with a commical hop. The females typically have two babies a year, becoming pregnant whilst the first baby is still in her pouch.

To protect its unique atmosphere as a relaxed family destination within a reserve, Rotto has quite a few rules for visitors. These include limited development – just a few restaurants/bars, one general store, some cabins and a few campsites – a few paths for bikes and pedestrians and “island quiet hours” between 10pm and 7pm. Restaurants have to be empty before 10pm so take dinner bookings for arrival 5.30-7.30pm. We gleaned the local dress code from a Perth uber driver who told Tim to “just pack your thongs (flip-flops to Brits) and a singlet mate”. The beaches were amazing, with one just a few steps from our “tent”, although the sea was colder than we were expecting; refreshing as we were there during a heatwave. We saw dolphins twice, only about 10m from the shore.

After over 3,000km on the roads of south west WA, we returned our hire car to Perth before heading to its harbour city Fremantle, or Freo as the locals call it. It was the first area settled by the Swan River colonists in 1829. The settlement initially struggled until agreement was reached for the transportation of male convicts in the 1850s to build the infrastructure needed for the colony.

The first thing the convicts built was their own prison, opened in 1855. It continued in use as a prison until 1991, when it became a UNESCO world herritage site. The prison was based on Pentonville prison with Royal Engineers responsible for the design, planning and overseeeing of the construction. During our tour we heard stories of prisioners, including the one successful escape by Irish political prisioners in 1876. Life was very tough for the initial prisioners who had to work hard for long hours to gain their freedom. Punishments were frequent which might include solitary confinement or flogging. If the prison doctor thought that a flogged prisioner was at risk of death, he could call a halt to the flogging; however once the wounds had been treated, the prisioner was subjected to any remaining lashes. On an interactive screen you could check your surname against a list of convicts. Neither of ours matched, but we did find matches for some of our relatives with different surnames and friends !

On the harbour front is the National Maritime Museum which covers the history of Frementle as a port and Australia as a maritime nation. During WW11 Fremantle was used as a submarine base by the US navy. More recently it was a base for Australia’s America’s Cup win in 1983 by Australia11. After the victory celebrations, the Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke said “Any boss who sacks anyone for not turning up today is a bum” !

Today, Fremantle is a busy commercial port and a trendy waterside suberb for Perth residents. For us, it was a great base for a “pit stop” after our road trip while enjoying the cafe and beach culture.

Returning to the Perth area, we had a stopover in Hyden. Throughout this area of WA, we drove through the Wheat Belt, which covers 155,000 sq km (a bit larger than England and Wales). As its name suggests, it comprises what seems like endless fields of wheat dotted with large grain silos and bins. The wheat is transported by road trains upto 42m in length carrying the wheat to railways and harbours.

Hyden, with a population of less than 400, has one motel (and a couple of campsites) supporting the tourists visiting nearby Wave Rock and passing truck drivers. At the motel reception we had a lesson on the local poisonous snakes and a request not to park in the truck park. Dinner comprised buying meat from a counter, cooking it yourself, a trip to a salad bar and BYO wine. A simple but very good arrangement.

Wave Rock is a geological formation of granite 15m high and 110m long on the edge of a solitary hill. Adjacent is Hippos Yawn, the name being evident from a visit.

In 2008 a wealthy man from Margaret River decided to build a replica of Stonhenge, as it is thought to have been originally built to the same scale, using pink granite from Esperance. The blocks, weighing upto 55 tonnes, were to be transported 711km by road. The quarrying completed and the money having run dry, it was then realised that this was a bad idea and the project was cancelled. In 2011 a local farmer took over the project and completed it 1km from the quarry and it has now become a local tourist attraction. It is just off the road to Lucky Bay, so the local government decided to build a fence along the road to prevent the dangers of “rubber necking” near the crest of a hill; maybe a solution for the A303.