Creating My Best Life: Surprise Island Getaway #Take12Trips

Trying out our new GoPro

The first day of November was the perfect chance to take my trip for the month for my #Take12Trips challenge. And what better trip to take than one I didn't have to plan and one that was a complete surprise.

Scotty had been planning all week and seemed to have everything under control. On Thursday night (31 October) he gave me a list of what I needed to pack. He had typed it up and included photos of us together - so much thought had gone into it, I was really impressed. It was hard packing without knowing where we were going, but Scotty told me what I did and didn't need.

He also gave me a list of food we'd need to take and I went to the shops to get everything on the Thursday.

On the Friday morning I finished packing and organised all the food into the esky. Scotty said we could only take the esky, our big dry bag and a backpack each. I started wondering where we must be going if we were restricted to what we could take - I thought maybe we had to carry our luggage but couldn't figure out what we'd be doing with the esky and everything he'd secretly put into the dry bag.

Scotty said we needed to leave by 10.15am so it was a busy morning of packing and then we were off.

When I got into the car there was an itinerary sitting on the dash that Scotty had made (he'd thought of everything!). I opened it with anticipation and saw that we were off to Rottnest. I was so excited because we'd never been before but have always wanted to go. Scotty had listed lots of places we could visit and things we could do. He'd packed our snorkels, fishing rod, bikes and everything we'd need for the weekend.

We drove to the B Shed in Fremantle where we were leaving from. It was hard trying to find a park that didn't restrict us to 3 hours. Scotty ended up dropping me off with our luggage and heading off to find a park. It was only $13 for the weekend which was great.

We handed over our luggage and paid the $2 per bag for them to take our big dry bag and esky to the campground for us once we arrived on the island. This is a great service, but keep in mind that it can take up to 2 hours for them to drop your things off to where you are staying.

The ferry ride was really quick, only 25 minutes (makes you wonder why they charge so much). But I must admit, it was a lot nicer than the ferry we'd caught in Thailand!!

The rest of the day was spent riding around and exploring the island. Scotty managed to get a puncture after about 5 minutes of being there which was less than ideal. Luckily they have a fantastic bike hire shop which also sell new tubes and have all the tools to change a tyre. I loved being able to ride around and not have to worry about cars.

Once our luggage was delivered we set up our tent at the campground. We had a great site looking out to the lighthouse. I was a bit paranoid about snakes after a friend had said there were heaps around, but luckily we didn't see any all weekend. We did see a few big lizards though!

It was really fun being able to ride our bikes to the pub and it was a cool sight seeing all the bikes lined up out the front. They have a fantastic alfresco area at the pub where you can enjoy a drink in the sunshine looking out to the ocean.

We cooked our meals on the BBQ at the campground. It was a really basic set-up with just a few BBQ's and sinks. They had power outlets which could be used for charging cameras etc or if you'd brought a toaster or anything like that from home you'd be able to plug it in. There were picnic tables to sit on that people could move around the campground if they wanted. There were only about 4 other tents on the Friday night but by Saturday afternoon there were about three times as many.

Saturday was spent running, exploring, snorkelling, swimming and fishing. It was so peaceful! I felt so relaxed that I fell asleep on the beach... twice! The whole weekend felt like we'd been away for ages and as though we were a million miles from home (until you looked out onto the horizon and saw Perth in the distance).

There are a few shops in a mall on the island, a bakery, general store, ice cream shop (my favourite!) and a couple of other cafes etc. They were always really busy during the day, but come 4pm it was all closed up and there wasn't a person in sight. By that stage most people were either hanging out at their accommodation or having a drink at the pub. The only shop still open was the general store which didn't close until 7pm.

After dinner that night we went back down to the pub for a few hours and were lucky enough to be there on a night when they had a fantastic soul band playing. There were heaps of people around and everyone was having a great time dancing to the music.

Sunday morning came around far too quickly and it was time to pack up. Our luggage was being collected at 8am so after a run we got everything organised.

As much as I don't like going to big franchise cafes I had to give in on the island and go to Dome - it was the only place open early in the morning and Scotty needed his coffee fix for the day.

The wind had picked up a lot so after coffee we just hung out on the grass in the sun waiting for the boat to arrive. We were leaving at 10.40am so we didn't have long to wait.

We were pleasantly surprised at how easy it was getting off the ferry back in Fremantle and getting all of our things. And the car was still where we'd parked it so that was a bonus!

Rottnest is a fantastic weekend destination and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a short trip away. A warm weekend is definitely the best time to go because the beaches are beautiful and the whole weekend will be spent outdoors. It's a pretty expensive place to visit, but you can do things a bit cheaper by taking your own food, and if possible taking your own bikes and snorkelling gear. If you don't have your own, the option is there to hire them, plus lots of other things to keep you entertained.

We loved camping, but if we were going to spend the extra money and stay in a cabin/chalet I would recommend Geordie Bay - it was stunning and the houses looked straight out onto the water, with the beach on your doorstep. In saying that, the beach was only 1 minute walk from our campsite too, so if you enjoy camping it's definitely the most economical way to go.

Well, that's my second trip down in my challenge to #Take12Trips and I can't wait for the next one! The next few months are going to be filled with trips which I'm very excited about and I'm looking forward to being able to share some of them with you.