Rottnest Island, West Australia and the Delightful Quokka

Rottnest Island (Aboriginal name Wadjemup) lies 19 kilometres off the coast of Perth. It is a sandy, low lying island so named by the Dutch explorer, De Vlamingh in 1696, who called it "Paradise on earth" but thought the adorable little quokka that inhabit the island looked like large rats. I was keen to visit the island I had heard so much about, and especially to see the quokka, so on a bright and sunny autumn day I set off with two travelling companions on the ferry from Perth.  We had all bought a package tour which included the ferry trip, admission to the island, lunch and a bus tour around the island.  The  trip down the Swan River was slow and scenic with just one stop at Fremantle to pick up more passengers and from there a high speed 30 minute trip to the island.

Thomson Bay

I was surprised to find the main town on the island, Thomson Bay, was a hive of activity, thronged with tourists with multiple restaurants, souvenir shops, bike hireage and accommodation.  For some reason I hadn't expected the island to have a resort feel about it although having a permanent population of only 300 it has annual visitor numbers of 780,000 so I shouldn't have been surprised.  We had been hoping we would be lucky enough to see at least one quokka, we shouldn't have worried, they were everywhere.  Very, very cute and harmless.

Quokka - about the size of a cat

The bus tour was worth its weight in gold covering a large part of the 19 kilometre square island.   In an hour and a half we got to see the stunning pure white, sandy beaches and clear turquoise waters fringing the shores, seals swimming in the sea, native birds and various other wild life.  We also learnt about the island's sad and colourful history.  At various times it has been used as a harsh prison for Aborigines, a reformatory school for offending youth, a military out post and even as a quarantine station during the covid epidemic of 2020.  Nowdays it has left that sad history behind and is a very popular holiday spot especially for divers and snorkelers searching for its delicious lobsters and scallops.

Although there are various bays with settlements and accommodation most of the island is scrubby and unspoilt and our tour driver told us the island is also infested with snakes.  I was so pleased I was on the bus!  The only vehicles permitted on the island are buses and official vehicles so the roads are largely free from traffic apart from masses of cyclists.  Hiring a bike seems to be the thing to do on Rottnest.  We passed many, many cyclists, some sunburnt from the sweltering sun, some having had accidents and most looking exhausted.  Cycling the island is not as easy as visitors seem to think, there is almost no shade and nowhere, apart from the main town, to buy drinks or refreshments. If you go to Rottnest I highly recommend taking the bus tour, a much easier, more comfortable way to see the island, that is, unless you really are a keen cyclist and well prepared, I suspect many we saw were not.

We had a delicious lunch and glass of wine at Freddies in Thomson Bay. All the restaurants and shops have small gates at the entry to prevent the quokka from entering. There are signs everywhere telling people not to feed them but there are always some stupid people who do.  Eating human food is very bad for their health.  After lunch we went in search of quokka in their natural environment and stumbled across one that was obviously ill. We like to think we did our bit by ringing the island's vet who  came quickly to take it away for treatment. Eventually we found a quokka in a quiet, bushy spot and spent some time photographing and observing it, then we went to the beach and sat in a shady shelter there admiring the view and waiting for the ferry to go home.  It had been a great day, we had seen as many quokka as we could possibly wish to and had learnt a lot about this interesting island.