Things I’d do differently

Travel is never smooth sailing.

My trip to Western Australia went mainly to plan and was filled with things I would do exactly the same way next time. But there was also stuff I would do much differently.

I would not book standing tickets to a five-hour concert experience. My body is getting way too old for that. And I have a referral from the doctor for a hip X-ray to prove it.

But I would definitely get seated tickets to see Coldplay, their concert was filled with childlike wonder and joy – there isn’t enough of that in the world, so I want to savour every moment of it that comes my way.

While the youngest enjoyed Rottnest Island, she’s not eager to return. She found it too busy, filled with thousands of tourists.

I would definitely go back and cocoon myself at Samphire Resort. It was fabulous. I loved the stylish island vibe, the rooms were wonderful and the food at Isola restaurant was delicious.

I would go to Little Salmon Bay for another swim in a heartbeat and I am equally enthused by the idea of seeing another sunset at Pinky’s Beach. I regret not going snorkelling on the island and would definitely do that next time.

But many of the beaches and main square are crazy busy … though the square does contain divine crayfish burgers and a shop crammed with my kind of clothes (I would have bought so many things if they weren’t so expensive).

Next time I won’t be boasting about my secret place to find quokkas. I was totally misguided about how hard it is to get a quokka selfie because the first time I was on Rottnest it was just for the day. And quokkas sleep during the day. At night, on the other hand, the whole island is overrun with them.

If I had my time over I wouldn’t book a return ferry for 4.30pm when checking out of a hotel room at 11am. I think 2.30pm after a leisurely lunch would be much better. We sat around for hours waiting for the ferry. Our bellies were so full that we didn’t really feel like doing much else.

I will also be ordering my coffee with much more care in WA next time. It drove me crazy that they kept handing me milkshake-sized ones. I eventually learned to emphatically say … regular cup, three-quarter milk, double shot of coffee, half sugar.

As for Exmouth, I loved where we stayed – Mantarays – it was awesome. But I would hire a car next time because distances in that part of the country are VAST.

For example, I had no idea that the beach that my sister recommended going to snorkel was 65km away.

And I would stay longer than two nights, as I didn’t give myself any wriggle room on weather. I only had a single day for a snorkelling trip and the windy conditions meant I missed out on going to Murion Island, which my workmate Billy says has spectacular coral.

Ningaloo is a long way to go to miss out on seeing all the good stuff.

And my final thing I would do differently is not fly on a Jetstar red eye.

Our flight from Exmouth arrived in Perth at 5pm, too late to catch any Qantas flights home. We weren’t keen to trek into the city again so we booked the 10.45pm flight to Sydney on Jetstar.

Jetstar refused to check us in until 8.45pm and suggested we pay $50 to store our luggage. Uh, no.

The alternative was a luggage locker outside. So we stashed our luggage and went through security to sit in the Qantas lounge. One big problem. My complimentary pass had linked but the youngest’s had gone missing.

Luckily a lovely Qantas desk attendant called Kerry let us come in anyway, but said the lounge was closing at 8.30pm.

Damn, but at least we had two hours with free sparkling wine (me) and apple juice (the youngest) until we had to exit the airport and retrieve our luggage then wearily park ourselves in the cheap seats until boarding.

As for the red eye itself, it meant spending days afterward feeling like a zombie, which is the opposite of how you want to feel after an Aussie getaway.

But, all in all, it was a great break. It felt like much longer than a week and it was lovely to get all that time with the youngest, even though she can be harsh as hell sometimes!

She’s off to Schoolies week today and the apartment will be very quiet without her.

Thanks for listening to all my holiday tales and it’s back to normal programming on Monday.

Have a great weekend.