Rottnest Island
A car-free island with sixty-three beaches and quokkas, the marsupials that are not afraid of you.
Duration
8 hrs – 10 hrs
Best time
First ferry of the day
Open
Every day
Entry price
To confirm
The name comes from the Dutch rattennest, rat's nest: Willem de Vlamingh took the quokkas for large rodents in 1696. They are in fact small marsupials, endemic, with no predators on the island and therefore no fear of people.
The island is car-free and has sixty-three beaches and some twenty bays, served by a twenty-two-kilometre ring road you ride by bike. It also has a heavy past: it served as a prison for Aboriginal prisoners from 1838 to 1931, and around three hundred and seventy men died and are buried there.
Getting there
Ferry from Fremantle, thirty minutes, or from Perth, an hour and a half. Bikes are hired on the island or taken on the ferry.
What the price covers
paid ferry and an island admission fee; bikes are hired on site
What to bring
- 1.5 L of water
- Cap
Rules on site
Touching or feeding a quokka is banned and fined: they come to you of their own accord, which does not make handling them acceptable. There is no shade on the ring road and few water points: two litres a person.
