Rottnest Island, Fremantle, and Kylie!!! (Perth 2025)
The next morning, after a wonderful breakfast buffet at the hotel, we took a taxi to the Fremantle B Shed ferry terminal for our quick boat ride to Rottnest Island to see some quokkas. I hadn’t really heard about them until fairly recently, when Chris Hemsworth posted a selfie with the cute little marsupial. They inhabit Rottnest Island and are known for looking like they’re smiling, which is why they’re so popular to take photos of.
We arrived about 25 minutes before departure, but we already noticed a line to board the ferry so we joined it, and about 10 minutes later, they started letting passengers on the boat. After waiting for a few passengers who showed up with a minute to spare, we set off for the 30 minute ferry to the nearby island. The weather was nice and sunny, giving us some nice views along the way:
After landing at the Rottnest Island dock, we made our way inland a bit and just meandered until we found some signs to a lighthouse. Because we had already booked our return ferry to Fremantle, we had just over two hours on the island before we needed to leave, so we didn’t have too much time to explore the entirety of the island. Soon after walking away from the busy port area, we saw our first quokkas, but didn’t have too much luck getting a good photo of and with them:
We continued onto Bathurst Lighthouse, where we had a wonderful view of Pinky Beach and the surrounding waters:
We soon realized that we spent a bit more time wandering around than we expected, so we needed to head back to give us some time to catch our return ferry. On the way there though, we saw a solo quokka munching on some grass under a tree, so we took this opportunity to take some photos. This one was much more photogenic:
But after taking a bunch of photos with this quokka, I was finally able to get the iconic smiling selfie with it:
A Quick Stroll in Fremantle
After disembarking the return ferry, we took a short walk to the center of Fremantle, which is known for its gold rush era buildings. It was also fascinating to see the juxtaposition of these older buildings abutting much newer looking structures:
Down one end of the main street is the Round House, which was used as a prison back in the early 1800s. When we arrived, we noticed a sign saying that there was a daily cannon fire demonstration in one minute. After asking the woman at the entrance where it was, we hurried over and made it there just in time:
We were only able to take a photo of the cannon post-firing, but it was cool to see an old cannon actually being used. And if you arrived at the Round House earlier, you could sign up to be the one to light the cannon—such a cool experience if you’re lucky!
Next, we headed inside the old prison, which was fairly small. There were some small rooms that you could walk inside, but there wasn’t too much to see. We also apparently never took any photos of the Round House itself, which probably indicates our level of interest in it. The exterior and the cannon fire was really cool though.
Our next destination was Fremantle Market, a large public market with various food and craft vendors. On the way there, we saw a sign that said ‘coffee and art’ with an arrow pointing down a side street. We were actually a bit thirsty, so a quick coffee break sounded wonderful, so off we went to DaRawNature Coffee Lounge. Immediately upon entering the alleyway leading to the cafe, the art aspect was evident:
There were some cool art on display around the cafe’s outdoor space, and the coffee was pretty good too:
After being rejuvenated with our coffee break, we made our way inside Fremantle Market, where it was quite crowded making it hard to take a photo:
We were more focused on trying to see the market without bumping into people or into the stalls. It appeared that one side was full of produce and food vendors, while the other side had craft vendors. We had planned on grabbing lunch at the market, but given how busy it was, we opted for the stall that didn’t have a long wait and ended up getting some amazing banh mi:
After checking out all of the vendors in the market, Nick bought a cool pen from one of the stores. I think if we lived in Perth, there would have been more items that I would have purchased there. Before leaving, we bought some delicious sliced mango from one of the produce vendors to take with us back to the hotel.
We took a short break to rest up before our last activity of the day, Kylie Minogue’s inaugural show of her Tension Tour!
Kylie Tension Tour (Perth, 2025)
Finally, we have made it to the day that this Australia trip was centered around: Kylie! The RAC Arena is a 30 minute-ish walk from our hotel, but we opted for an Uber (which is really easy to use in Perth). With our VIP tickets, we were able to use the VIP entrance to enter before general admission. After passing security, we were handed our VIP merch bag:
Inside was a lanyard with a Kylie badge, a luggage tag, pen, notebook, and an envelope with some picture postcards. We went to the VIP pavilion, where canapés and drinks were served. We started chatting with some other fans, and they were shocked that we came from the US to see Kylie. We were all excited to see what Kylie had for us, and being that we were all at the first show, it was going to be a surprise for everyone.
Before they opened the doors to the floor, I wanted to buy some merch and headed over to the booth:
I was a bit disappointed with the selection though. Besides a bunch of different shirts, there was a tote bag and maybe a CD (I can’t remember). I was hoping for other trinkets, like a keychain or the like, however I still got a shirt and the tote bag.
And then I saw a sign for the ‘glam garage,’ which was placed next to a Hyundai SUV, so I assumed it had to do with the car. However, someone else informed me that there was a sparkle bar nearby, where they were offering free body glitter application, and I couldn’t pass up that opportunity. They had many colors to choose from:
And soon, the makeup artist was applying the glitter to my face:
Nick even joined in on the fun! With some help, we found our seats and were thrilled with our view of the stage:
The opener was an Australian singer/rapper named Mallrat, who was accompanied by a DJ (named Denim, I think). For her first performance on this tour, she did a great job, and brought the energy to the crown to hype us up for Kylie:
After a short break, it was time for the main event. The lights went off and then the beat started. Soon, the lights started pulsing and Kylie started chanting ‘tension, I want to break the tension.’ The buildup was so exciting, and soon, mother appeared in the sky encased in a diamond:
We were told by email that she would be on stage at 8:30, and they were right. In the past, wewaited an hour for the Spice Girls to start, so we really appreciate Kylie being on time with her performance!
After the spectacular intro, we were treated to a two hour party of her recent songs as well as her classics, including Can’t Get You Out of My Head, The Locomotion, and Padam Padam. Nick appreciated that she sang All the Lovers, his favorite song, and she closed the concert with my favorite song, Love at First Sight.
We’ve seen Kylie in Manchester and in various cities in the US, but the energy in Australia is on a different level. You can definitely feel how loved Kylie is in Australia; everyone was on their feet the entire time cheering and singing along.
After the final bow, we made our way through the streamers and crowds and walked back to the hotel. It was a wonderful way to end our awesome day in Perth. Tomorrow, we head back to Seattle, but we’d love to come back to Australia again!