Writing for you and writing for me
Enjoy the story above, published in the summer edition of Have A Go News Newspaper. Have A Go News has a circulation of more than 80,000 copies around Western Australia and is also available online and on your favourite social media platforms.
This story features a weekend adventure with my son Tom to do the stuff you might not know about. Some of it has always been there and some of it is new.
Next time you’re on this amazing island, do what you always like to do and do something new as well.
While our Hidden Treasures are traditionally within areas that maybe you haven’t considered visiting before, our next Hidden Treasure is all about what you might not know, or have experienced, at one of our most treasured destinations.
It’s not Broome, it’s not Margaret River and it’s not Three Springs or Narrogin.
It’s Wadjemup!
Enjoy listening to the broadcast – live from Wadjemup – on the link below and enjoy reading below, about a couple of days on Wadjemup with my Producer, Tom Parry.
I’ve done a few stories on Wadjemup over the years, including a rite of passage visit with Matilda which was all about snorkelling at the Basin, getting a cream bun and a choc milk from the bakery and riding a bike and only stopping for quokkas, dugites and Ashton Agar.
I’ve covered the island’s remarkable ANZAC Day Dawn service and more recently Tom and I jumped across to the island in a seaplane, lifting off from the Swan River and spending time on the island to help Tom find his spirit quokka.
This sand-in-your-toes destination has the effect on West Australians that I described in last weekends staycation discussion. You know you’re going to have fun but it’s the ability to relax and take on a pace of life far removed from your normal city life that is so appealing to us.
If you haven’t been to the island before you will typically hit the Basin, Geordie Bay, cycle around the island, hit the bakery three times a day and try desperately to remember what your Maths teacher taught you about angles when trying to capture a selfie with a quokka.
Interestingly, if you have been to the island before, you’ll probably still just do those same activities and experiences. As Jerry Seinfeld would say, “Not that there’s anything wrong with that.” but as I would say, “Let’s see what treasure is still to be discovered on our favourite island in the sun.”
Let’s discover a few of the experiences that those who work on Wadjemup wish visitors spent some time doing … just for fun and just for a bit of understanding.
A cultural tour is where a Wadjemup rite of passage should begin. Before you put the flippers on or hop on a bike, put your cultural curiosity into gear.
Enjoy a walking tour of the island that’s much more than a tour, it’s an experience that enriches your understanding of the island from an Aboriginal perspective.
Some of it is devastating and notorious but there’s also the beauty of a dreamtime story that describes how important the west end of the island is to Aboriginal people. There are traditional songs and a very special sand ceremony that reminds you of a time when Wadjemup was connected to the mainland.
The Wadjemup Museum has been recently renovated and full of new displays and new stories and ways of interpreting old stories through touchscreens and audio experiences. Also, out the front is a new engaging space with a mini amphitheatre and installation of sculptures with interpretations of the island.
A military maze of tunnels that take you underground and give you an understanding of the importance of Wadjemup during World War II. You descend down steep stairs into the bowels of Wadjemup and from there the artillery shells for the big guns on Oliver Hill were stored and plotting rooms calculated the required trajectory of the big guns that protected the sea lane approaches to Fremantle. Make sure you ask lots of questions because your guides know more than Google. It’s a well paced tour with lots of opportunities to learn and even more opportunities to go ‘Wow!’.
If you don’t have a boat when you’re at Wadjemup there are a few ways to get on the water and see the island from a different perspective. This summer there are fishing trips for kids to catch some herring and whiting and there are whale watching tours which mean you’re right in the middle of the action rather than departing from the mainland. If you don’t mind getting completely drenched, try the Rottnest Express Adventure Tour which races around the island but slows down and gives way to seals and whales.
Wadjemup sits in the middle of the Leeuwin Current and this explains why the waters around Wadjemup are always a bit warmer. As I said to Tom, “You can’t blame the seals for the water being warm.”
The Thompson Bay Jetty is perfect for catching a squid in the evening. Cast a line with your mate, hold the torch light on the jig as it floats in the water looking like a prawn on its way to a nightclub and wait for a Kraken from the deep to slide its tentacles over the jig and then pull him in and try and avoid the spray of black ink as he leaves the water.
Geocaching is modern day treasure hunting that gets kids outside while using their devices! How cool is that? Across more than 190 countries there are more than 3 million geocaches and a sneaky number of these little hidden stores are on Wadjemup.
As part of your geochaching expedition, or to see Quokkas in the wild and not just outside the shops or inside your cottage, try one of the walking trails that criss-cross the island. The trails are a favourite hangout for the rangers who love sitting quietly and seeing what Quokkas do when they’re aren’t cake crumbs around.
The path well-travelled on Wadjemup inevitably leads to the bakery. While the bakery is a wonderful rite of passage in its own right and eating a cream bun in the shade of a big old Moreton Bay Fig tree is a real treat, try a road less travelled and grab a felafel wrap loaded with jalepenos from the Lane Café, on the other side of the mall. Actually, even better than the felafel wrap is the Cray Dog. I’m no food reviewer but I know the words to use; succulent, dreamy, fresh, indulgent and joyful.
Wadjemup is a hidden treasure because there are tours and opportunities to get a better understanding of the Aboriginal experience and stories of Wadjemup … and because you can still snorkel and ride your bike but there’s time to explore bunkers and tunnels … and you can still have a cream bun and a choc milk but you can enjoy a felafel wrap as well. Or a Cray Dog. Or two.
So next time you’re on Wadjemup, think about how you can discover some hidden treasure.
But the band plays Waltzing Matilda, and the old men still answer the call,
but as year follows year, more old men disappear, someday no one will march there at all.
The line above is taken from the Eric Bogle song, ‘And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda’.
I remember a time in the 1980’s when there seemed to be a popular sentiment that ANZAC
Day would fade away when there were no more old Diggers to march.
It didn’t work out that way. Across Australia, ANZAC ceremonies continue to grow and the
sense of importance it has in our communities is encouraging people to travel to ANZAC
services in communities abroad.
Maybe not quite ‘abroad’ but one of the dawn services in Western Australia that is increasingly
resonating as a remarkable experience, beyond just the significance of the event, is the
Rottnest Island ANZAC Day Dawn Service.
One of the best characteristics of a dawn service is that it takes a small level of commitment
to get up at a time when you would rather be sleeping. There’s a feeling that the small effort
you have to make to attend the service is part of the respect you are paying.
As a family, we arrive at Hillarys at 4:00am for the departure of the 4:30am ferry. The queue
is noticeably different for a Rottnest bound ferry. There is no tangled pile of bikes being hoisted
in cages aboard the boat. There are no fishing rods, eskies and towels slung over shoulders.
It is also very quiet.
Speaking to people on board, it’s apparent that most of us are attending the Rottnest Dawn
Service for the first time. Dawn, a rather apt name, remembers her father who had been in
the merchant navy always saying he would have liked to have been out at sea and seen the
sun come up over Australia on ANZAC Day. Merv, a Rottnest Volunteer Guide, is looking
forward to preparing our Gunfire Breakfast after the service.
I haven’t been on a sea in darkness for many years. Standing at the stern of the ferry and
looking down at the churning white wake and then looking up at the stars I thought I was about
to reminisce about my younger days on sailing ships but with the moment at hand and on my
mind I thought about the ANZAC’s making their way ashore in a variety of small craft, ill
designed for the landing. At that moment, I thought what it must have been like to be heading
towards an enemy shore, not just running around Blackboy Hill at the foot of the Darling
Ranges.
It is the first time Rottnest Fast Ferries have taken a ferry from Hillarys for the Rottnest Dawn
Service. Up in the wheelhouse I meet James, the skipper, and in between safely navigating
in the darkness around bulk cargo carriers and cruise ships we talk about the appropriateness
of Rottnest Island for a Dawn Service. In 1915, the first ships from the first convoy from
Australia left Fremantle a day before the ships in Albany. Their last look at Australia was
Rottnest Island.
Arriving at Rottnest just before 5:30am, we were directed to Thomson Bay beach where the
service was due to commence. On cue, the first hues of orange began to rise from the east,
backlighting the Perth city skyline, across the sea and land, 30km away.
While the roar of a crowd can be uplifting, the silence of a crowd can be more inspiring. I
remember as a kid the Narrogin ANZAC Day Dawn Service, dark and cold, frost crackling
under feet as we would make our way across the grass to the memorial, towards the orange
glow of cigarettes being drawn on by old diggers, followed by a few raking coughs up and
down the line.
The lack of banter, the lack of chat. The will to gather in a silence that says so
much.
All over the world, as the sun rises, those of us at ANZAC Day Dawn Services are quiet.
The service is held under the protection of flights of pelicans that glide overhead. The wreath
laying includes representation from the Beaconsfield Primary School Rottnest Island Campus,
9 students who attend school on the island and who have also made a paper poppy display
in the Old Salt Store.
With the growing light I am able to look around at the crowd and I am stunned. I had thought
that gathered around my family was about 500 people but clearly there is a crowd of at least
1500.
After the service I speak to Penni Fletcher-Hughes from the Rottnest Island Authority. We
stand in the Gunfire Breakfast queue and after discussing the numbers of people who have
attended we both agree to just enjoy what is unfolding around us. People are standing at the
shore of Thomson Bay, hugging each other and looking out to the rising sun over Perth, others
are capturing photos of the Australian flag with the dawn sky behind and in the long breakfast
queue a bracing breeze passes over us, carrying with it on the air the promise of bacon, eggs
and onion in a warm roll.
I also speak to the Chairman of the Rottnest Island Authority Board, John Driscoll, who was
the Master of Ceremonies for the service. John makes the comment that the wreath laying in
particular is an example of the deep and broad community feeling for ANZAC Day on Rottnest
with a wide variety of government agencies and volunteer groups represented.
We depart the island for the trip back to the mainland at midday. As always, when it’s time to
leave Rottnest it’s not the happiest trudge down the jetty to board the ferry. This time it’s a bit
different. I feel connected to a new story, a new perspective and a new community of people
so passionate about this remarkable event.
Rottnest has given my family an engaging and enduring experience. It always does, but this is different. We are all a bit tired but more than a bit proud to have been a part of a spectacular Centenary ANZAC Day Dawn Service that the Rottnest community made a lot of effort to deliver.
Also from ‘And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda’;
And the young people ask, what are they marching for? And I ask myself the same question.
I think we’re all marching. We’re all marching to ANZAC services all over the world. We’re all
marching to remember.
A recent conversation with the ever bubbly Andrea Gibbs on ABC Perth Saturday Breakfast explored some destinations that took us around Western Australia, over the border to some of my favourite states and finally overseas to a destination that’s just so cool to say and even better to experience.
Firstly, with ABC Producer Molly Schmidt firmly twisting my arm, we explored her hometown and holiday hangout, the Porongurups and Albany. Then we ventured across the coastline with some descriptions of Elephant Rocks, Greens Pool, a bit of beach driving at Peaceful Bay and the discovery of giants in the forests around Walpole.
ABOVE: WALPOLE TREETOP WALK
Then we had a chat about new ways to see new destinations and Rottnest is a great example of this. This familiar destination is a rite of passage for Western Australians and a bucket list item for most tourists to the state. With the new seaplane service taking off from the Swan River in front of the city you’re on Rotto in 20 minutes and can explore this incredible island, both on land and beneath the waves, before making your way back on one of the many ferry services available.
ABOVE: SWAN RIVER SEAPLANES TAKE OFF ON WATER AND LAND ON … LAND.
ABOVE: THE BASIN AT ROTTNEST ISLAND, MORE THAN A FAVOURITE, IT’S A RITE OF PASSAGE.
Next we took a trip to Tasmania and Andrea got very excited by my descriptions of the more than 20 gin distilleries to be found on the island and various DIY gin courses that are available. We then came back to the mainland and to our great neighbour, South Australia. There’s so much to see and there’s more to see than amazing wineries. There’s some cage diving with Great White Sharks and a slightly more sedate wildlife encounter at Whyalla in the Spencer Gulf you’ll find the opportunity to snorkel with giant cuttlefish.
To finish our travel tour we hopped on a plane to Malaysia and visited Malacca. I love just saying it. Malacca. The Straits of Malacca have been an important sea trading route for centuries and led to an influence in this gorgeous town of food, culture and architecture in the styles of the Portugese, Dutch and British. Interestingly, as well as having world heritage significance, funky hidden bars, evening river cruises and smiling faces everywhere, it is also one of the first large towns anywhere in the world to ban smoking in public. Malacca. Say it with me. Malacca.
ABOVE: AN EVENING CRUISE IN MALACCA
ABOVE: MALACCA, OR MELAKA.
Travel discussions can lead you down a rabbit hole of inspiration. This year try and think a little bit about trying to benefit the destination you’re going to. Consider, for example, amazing destinations like South Australia who need our help as tourists to recover from the bushfires, particularly on Kangaroo Island. In Western Australia, try a road trip to a country town you haven’t visited before or find a new way to visit a familiar destination, like a seaplane ride to Rotto.
Enjoy your travels, don’t be put off travelling, just try and contribute with your travelling.
There’s a little island off the coast that for quite some time now has attracted Western Australians, other Australians and increasingly the international traveller seeking a genuine sand-in-your-toes destination or maybe just an insta-worthy-pic with the worlds cutest animal.
Wadjemup (Rottnest) has just taken a couple of Red Bulls and is revved up for a summer that can still remain laid back or it can put you on your back with exhaustion.
Skydiving, fishing tours for kids, water parks, walking tours and new facilities like refreshment vans on the west end of the island now mean you don’t need to carry litres of water on your bike (plus, always remember that the various tour sites with volunteer guides carry lots of water that you can use to top up your water bottle ….. for free).
Tom and I began our day a bit differently for a trip to Wadjemup. Rather than Barrack Street, Freo or Hillarys, we head to the South Perth foreshore. Within minutes of our arrival, the Cessna Caravan from Swan River Seaplanes comes diving out of the morning sun and lands smoothly on the water in front of us.
Above: From South Perth to Wadjemup
The take off was more graceful than my graceless body surfing at City Beach. The aircrafts pontoons lift off the water in the direction of Crown Casino and the Optus Stadium before banking to the west.
There was time to take in the view of the city, the coast, the ocean and then Wajemup came in sight.
I was scheduled to go live on air, in the air, with 6PR radio to describe the experience but the flight was so fast we’d landed at Wadjemup before they could cross to me. Even with two laps of the island to take in the view the flight was only 20 minutes.
Above: Wadjemup from the air with Swan River Seaplanes
Meeting us on the island is the Rottnest Island Authority Executive Director, Michelle Reynolds, who has very generously accepted the challenge of showing us around the island. For the next few hours we are regaled with historical stories, modern day plans and have the opportunity to learn and experience the island like I have never done before.
A climb of the Wadjemup Lighthouse is 155 steps and because I’m a father I’m allowed to generate the odd dad joke or two so I asked Tom how many steps it was coming down. Easy. Remember he’s only ten.
Above: Wadjemup Lighthouse and one of the new refreshment vans
We visit the bays, inspect the beaches, salt lakes and tuart groves and watch as ospreys nest and seals bask and loll. We buy refreshments from the new vans and felt a bit guilty, as we entered Michelle’s airconditioned car, that we were possibly depriving a thirsty cyclist of a much needed peach iced tea.
Above: Refreshments from the van at Fish Hook Bay
When we parted ways with Michelle it was with a new appreciation for the work that is going into making Wadjemup better but also for acknowledging what people love most about the island experience, a laid back lifestyle where even sunburn and grazed knees just don’t seem to hurt as much as they do on the mainland.
Tom and I headed to the bakery to get a well deserved cream bun and a choc milk before making the ten minute walk to The Basin for a well anticipated swim. Along the way Tom met his spirit quokka. We didn’t attempt a selfie but first contact was made as Tom got down to eyelevel with a quokka and his outstretched finger was sniffed and touched by this amazing little animals nose.
At The Basin, a Christmas choir was singing from the waters edge and even the fish were joining in. As carols reverberated off the limestone cliffs Tom and I swam along the reef edge and spotted all sorts of fish that were bigger than my foot, in fact both feet put together! Bream, Trevally, Snapper and even a couple of retired old cods, just hanging out by a weed bank discussing the latest flotsam, jetsam and tidal trends.
The fast and comfortable journey back to Perth by SeaLink ferry was made even better by the opportunity for Tom to take the captains chair on the bridge and monitor the compass as we made our way into Fremantle Harbour. He was in his element, scanning from river bank to river bank and warning pelicans to get out of the way.
Above: Tom gets instructions from the SeaLink Skipper
What a way to spend a day in WA!
Need to know more?
http://www.swanriverseaplanes.com.au
http://www.westernaustralia.com
http://www.sealinkrottnest.com.au
For information on my day with Tom on Rottnest have a look at my Instagram account @chrisparrywritesforus
On the ABC Perth Radio Breakfast Show we recently discussed the continued popularity of dark tourism.
It doesn’t have to be morbid but it does have to involve death in wars, disasters, murders, terrorism or assassinations.
The darker side of history has meat on the bone and the gristle as well. We try to put ourselves in the shoes of the fallen and maybe sometimes in the shoes of those responsible.
It’s about confirming our fears, confronting the reality of the history books we grew up with and perhaps providing closure on those images we’ve seen on tv’s in our own lounge room, like that Paris tunnel in 1997 or the New York City skyline in 2001.
The rise in tourist numbers at destinations such as Chernobyl, Fukushima, the concentration camps of World War II, prisoner of war camps in Sandakan and Ranau and the killing fields of Cambodia are all examples of a phenomenon that is attracting those seeking a broader understanding of the events that took place at those sites.
In Australia, many events and sites may be seen as dark tourism. Off the Western Australian coast on the Abrolhos Islands in 1629 the Dutch East India Company ship Batavia ran aground and the ensuing mutiny saw 125 men, women and children brutally slaughtered. The islands can be visited for an understanding of these events and there are also museum exhibitions in Geraldton and Fremantle, displaying grisly skulls marked with the slashes of the mutineers swords.
In Snowtown, South Australia, the little bank where the bodies in the barrels were discovered in the late 1990’s is a popular stop for people wanting to take a quick pic.
Most issues in our lives have a line that we decide we will or won’t cross. Dark tourism has many lines that cross in different directions, challenging our sense of morbidity, appropriateness and thresholds of respect.
It’s a great topic for publication and radio and sure to get you thinking about your own dark tourism bucket list.
Please enjoy the discussion below on ANZAC Travels, particularly to Western Australian memorial services on Rottnest Island, at Geraldton, Albany, Boyup Brook and Grass Patch.
From ‘And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda’;
“And the young people ask, what are they marching for? And I ask myself the same question.”
I think we’re all marching. We’re all marching to ANZAC services all over the world. We’re all marching to remember.
Picture Above: Rottnest Island Dawn Service
Picture Above: A hot Rottnest Island Dawn Service Gunfire Breakfast made by the Rottnest Island Volunteer Guides
Enjoy listening to my story below about what do on WA’s most popular island destination; Rotto!
Written for the Rottnest Island Authority and Rottnest Fast Ferries.
“But the band plays Waltzing Matilda, and the old men still answer the call, but as year follows year, more old men disappear, someday no one will march there at all.”
The line above is taken from the Eric Bogle song, ‘And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda’. I remember a time in the 1980’s when there seemed to be a popular sentiment that ANZAC Day would fade away when there were no more old Diggers to march.
It didn’t work out that way. Across Australia, ANZAC ceremonies continue to grow and the sense of importance it has in our communities is encouraging people to travel to ANZAC services in communities abroad.
Maybe not quite ‘abroad’ but one of the dawn services in Western Australia that is increasingly resonating as a remarkable experience, beyond just the significance of the event, is the Rottnest Island ANZAC Day Dawn Service.
One of the best characteristics of a dawn service is that it takes a small level of commitment to get up at a time when you would rather be sleeping. There’s a feeling that the small effort you have to make to attend the service is part of the respect you are paying.
As a family, we arrive at Hillarys at 4:00am for the departure of the 4:30am ferry. The queue is noticeably different for a Rottnest bound ferry. There is no tangled pile of bikes being hoisted in cages aboard the boat. There are no fishing rods, eskies and towels slung over shoulders. It is also very quiet.
Speaking to people on board, it’s apparent that most of us are attending the Rottnest Dawn Service for the first time. Dawn, a rather apt name, remembers her father who had been in the merchant navy always saying he would have liked to have been out at sea and seen the sun come up over Australia on ANZAC Day. Merv, a Rottnest Volunteer Guide, is looking forward to preparing our Gunfire Breakfast after the service.
I haven’t been on a sea in darkness for many years. Standing at the stern of the ferry and looking down at the churning white wake and then looking up at the stars I thought I was about to reminisce about my younger days on sailing ships but with the moment at hand and on my mind I thought about the ANZAC’s making their way ashore in a variety of small craft, ill designed for the landing. At that moment, I thought what it must have been like to be heading towards an enemy shore, not just running around Blackboy Hill at the foot of the Darling Ranges.
It is the first time Rottnest Fast Ferries have taken a ferry from Hillarys for the Rottnest Dawn Service. Up in the wheelhouse I meet James, the skipper, and in between navigating in the darkness around bulk cargo carriers and cruise ships we talk about the appropriateness of Rottnest Island for a Dawn Service. In 1915, the first ships from the first convoy from Australia left Fremantle a day before the ships in Albany. Their last look at Australia was Rottnest Island.
Arriving at Rottnest just before 5:30am, we were directed to Thomson Bay beach where the service was due to commence. On cue, the first hues of orange began to rise from the east, backlighting the Perth city skyline, across the sea and land, 30km away.
While the roar of a crowd can be uplifting, the silence of a crowd can be more inspiring. I remember as a kid the Narrogin ANZAC Day Dawn Service, dark and cold, frost crackling under feet as we would make our way across the grass to the memorial, towards the orange glow of cigarettes being drawn on by old diggers, followed by a few raking coughs up and down the line. The lack of banter, the lack of chat. The will to gather in a silence that says so much.
All over the world, as the sun rises, those of us at ANZAC Day Dawn Services are quiet.
The service is held under the protection of flights of pelicans that glide overhead. The wreath laying includes representation from the Beaconsfield Primary School Rottnest Island Campus, 9 students who attend school on the island and who have also made a paper poppy display in the Old Salt Store.
With the growing light I am able to look around at the crowd and I am stunned. I had thought that gathered around my family was about 500 people but clearly there is a crowd of at least 1500.
After the service I speak to Penni Fetcher-Hughes from the Rottnest Island Authority. We stand in the Gunfire Breakfast queue and after discussing the numbers of people who have attended we both agree to just enjoy what is unfolding around us. People are standing at the shore of Thomson Bay, hugging each other and looking out to the rising sun over Perth, others are capturing photos of the Australian flag with the dawn sky behind and in the long breakfast queue a bracing breeze passed over us, carrying with it on the air the promise of bacon, eggs and onion in a warm roll.
I also speak to the Chairman of the Rottnest Island Authority Board, John Driscoll, who was the Master of Ceremonies for the service. John makes the comment that the wreath laying in particular is an example of the deep and broad community feeling for ANZAC Day on Rottnest with a wide variety of government agencies and volunteer groups represented.
We depart the island for the trip back to the mainland at midday. As always, when it’s time to leave Rottnest it’s not the happiest trudge down the jetty to board the ferry. This time it’s a bit different. I feel connected to a new story, a new perspective and a new community of people so passionate about this remarkable event. Rottnest has given my family an engaging and enduring experience. We are all a bit tired but more than a bit proud to have been a part of a spectacular Centenary ANZAC Day Dawn Service that the Rottnest community made a lot of effort to deliver.
Also from ‘And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda’;
“And the young people ask, what are they marching for? And I ask myself the same question.”
I think we’re all marching. We’re all marching to ANZAC services all over the world. We’re all marching to remember.”
Originally published by the West Australian Newspaper and on the Rottnest Island Authority website http://www.ria.wa.gov.au.
Do you remember as a kid going to a classmate’s birthday party and as an outdoor activity, because they were all outdoor activities, being given a treasure map? Was it tea stained, burnt around the edges and perhaps missing an entire corner because whoever had used the match lost their concentration for a second?
The best maps were those of fictional islands. What’s not to love about islands with small coves and sweeping bays all ringed by a vicious ship eating reef with only one small, deep passage through? On the island would be palm trees laden with coconuts, a mountain or volcano and lots of sneaky quicksand. It’s possible I’m now channelling the old television program, Danger Island, so I’ll leave it there for island descriptions.
Surely I’m not alone in finding all maps exciting but it’s the hunt that is even more exciting. The competitive challenge to outwit your friends was always more rewarding than a shoebox full of musk sticks and clinkers.
Back to channelling television programs, I have recently discovered an activity that closely resembles the immunity idol searches on Survivor. That frustration of knowing you’re in the right area but can’t pin down the location of an object you know must be there but you don’t know what it looks like.
Geocaching. It’s a great name for the modern day treasure hunting activity. The worldwide geocaching mantra seems spot on; if you hide it, they will come.
It’s more than treasure hunting though. There’s a different reward at the end which brings me back to the hunt being almost more fun than the find. With geocaching you find something but it’s not valuable and you needn’t take anything from it. In fact, you’re invited to contribute something to it.
Geocaching is the search for registered small stores of items or written notes that are generally very well hidden or where they’re not hidden may be very tricky to open. Using a smart phone or GPS (Global Positioning Satellite) device, geocaches can be found worldwide and registered through Geocaching.com which is managed by Groundspeak. The goal of Groundspeak is to ‘make everyone an explorer and to put an adventure in every location’ and ensure caches are appropriate and safe for people to search for.
It’s the ideal activity for anyone who likes the outdoors and their smartphone but especially for a family whose young members have an insatiable appetite for technology and whose older members love the outdoors.
Think about the line in ‘What A Wonderful World’ where Louis Armstrong sings, “I hear babies cry, I watch them grow, they’ll learn much more than I’ll ever know”.
I know what he means. My kids, Matilda 11 and Tom 5, are so adroit with technology and the absorption of information.
With that memory of the best treasure maps being islands and wanting to get really stuck into geocaching, what better opportunity could there be than to explore Rottnest Island and its trail of registered geocache sites?
While Rottnest has become renowned for its snorkelling and dive trails, embarking on the geocache trail is a land based adventure that gets you exploring the island and seeing things like you’ve never seen them before.
Before we travel to Rottnest I catch up with Griffin Longley from Nature Play WA. Despite Tom’s reluctance to accept Griffin’s invitation to make a cubby by the river’s edge near Nature Play WA headquarters, the CEO of Nature Play WA accepts my declaration that my kids really do enjoy the outdoors.
Griffin explains that geocaching is supported by Nature Play WA because of the benefits that align with so many of the activities they promote and undertake across Western Australia.
What I’m really taken with is his description of community awareness and connection. By geocaching you gain a greater understanding of what’s in your community and a greater connection to your community by knowing more about it, including of course where things are hidden.
GPS units are available for hire from Nature Play WA. While a smart phone has the capability of locating geocaches, a GPS unit has many advantages; they’re straightforward with easy to navigate menus, they are rugged, splash proof (some are even waterproof) and, particularly for children, they represent yet another technological device that they can master quicker than I could manage to open the battery compartment.
Our first search is out near Kingston Barracks and the swinging arrow on the compass of the GPS directs us to the coordinates of a geocache and then it’s up to us to scramble, peek, prod and scrape for an object that fits the description on the Rottnest Geocache Register.
We find what we’re looking for and it’s exhilarating! While the cache itself is not remarkably exciting I come back yet again to the hunt being more fun than the find.
One thing that is clearly apparent even at this early stage of our weekend but we keep coming back to in our observations is that it’s so important to remember that when you’re searching for caches in bush locations you need to be careful about where you put your hands and feet. Geocaching heightens your awareness of your location, particularly the beauty of the bush, so making sure you don’t damage flora and fauna is important.
It can be tough though. Some of those caches just about demand whoops for joy and jumps of elation. I’m being very mindful in this article not to give spoilers but when an online hint suggests that a cache is located at waist height and ends up being found on the ground I’m just glad Matilda didn’t log my comments on the accredited geocache website.
The geocaches I most enjoy are the ones where we all search and then one by one our enthusiasm falters as we reach our point of perplexion. Tom is always the first, particularly when we explain the geocache is never found on bugs, or in bugs.
I’m normally next, I like to have a quick squirrel about and then under the guise of, “Best I leave it for the kids!” I back away to observe proceedings as Matilda and her mother stoop low, stretch high, check coordinates on their GPS’s, look around and then start the routine all over again. I think there’s an opportunity to label this the ‘Geocache Dance’.
At last count over two million geocaches have been hidden all over the world. Wherever you travel, just search online for geocaches in your location and see what you can find. In Western Australia there are hundreds of registered geocaches in the Perth metropolitan area and throughout the state; from Rottnest Island to Quairading, Busselton to Denmark, Wedge Island to Grass Patch, Corrigin to Karajini and Kununurra to Exmouth. Here’s one to look for this weekend if you happen to be in the area; Mount Archie in the Little Sandy Desert at GPS coordinates S25, 33.915 E123, 14.331 (WGS 84) and it’s at an elevation of 471m.
There are a number of geocache types you can search for. The traditional cache is a container of some type with a log sheet and maybe a few items left by previous geocachers. Some of the traditional cache containers found by my family across the state include plastic containers, old ammunition tins, mint tins and handcrafted wooden boxes.
Mystery or puzzle caches can involve complicated hints to determine the coordinates or maybe a cache that is easy to locate but difficult to open. Earth caches are geological formations of interest that you can locate and learn about as the required coordinates are usually accompanied by some educational notes.
As an activity, geocaching is intriguing. While you can pack up the family and friends and travel for the purpose of geocaching it’s also possible to search for geocaches in any location you find yourself. Next time you have to travel to far flung sporting fields on a weekend or attend a wedding in the hills, do a search on a smart phone (or GPS if you happen to have one of those) and see what’s in your location. There might be a geocache hiding in the fork of that tree you can see, just over there.
Geocaching is a special way to use technology to have a lot of fun on your own, with friends, competitive teams or with your family. I’m surprised my family enjoys geocaching. It seems that every time a favourite item is lost in the house and desperate searches ensue, it brings out nothing but bitter recriminations and declarations of war on the state of bedroom clutter. Yet somehow, being outdoors together, consulting technology and hunting together for an unidentified object brings out laughter, support, a gentle sense of competition and a great sense of adventure.
The writer and his family were guests of the Rottnest Island Authority.
To learn more about geocaching go to the Groundspeak website at www.groundspeak.com, www.geocaching.com or Nature Play WA on www.natureplaywa.org.au
Chris Parry Writes For Us 