{"id":960,"date":"2016-09-22T02:08:02","date_gmt":"2016-09-22T02:08:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.adventuretours.com.au\/australia-outback-yarns\/?p=960"},"modified":"2016-09-22T02:08:02","modified_gmt":"2016-09-22T02:08:02","slug":"our-handy-guide-to-rottnest-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.adventuretours.com.au\/australia-outback-yarns\/our-handy-guide-to-rottnest-island\/","title":{"rendered":"Our handy guide to Rottnest Island"},"content":{"rendered":"

I won\u2019t lie: extensive travel has made me somewhat immune to the effects of seeing a remarkable location for the first time. I pinch myself less. My breath\u2019s hardly ever taken away.\u00a0Have our expectations of landscapes and their natural wonders heightened over time? Is photoshop and the good ol\u2019 photo colour-enhancing tool to blame? Maybe.<\/p>\n

One thing I do<\/em> know is when stepping onto \u2018Rotto\u2019 Island, I knew I was in for somewhere special. Its beauty hit a nerve. My eyes became glued – fixated on its beautiful and vast dramatic landscape. I knew there\u2019d be no post-production editing of any of my photos. For an instant I thought I could have been anywhere in the world – Corfu perhaps. Even in the dense vegetated east coast of Victoria. Then I saw two front paws, a round body and tiny snout. It was the island\u2019s native Quokka. I was definitely not in Greece or Victoria. This was Western Australia.<\/p>\n

A bit of history<\/h3>\n

Around 7000 years ago rising sea levels separated Rottnest Island from the mainland of Western Australia. Sound familiar?<\/p>\n

Back then, Indigenous people did not have the boats and means to make the crossing. It is believed that before European exploration in the 17th century, Rottnest had been uninhabited for several thousands of years.<\/p>\n

RELATED: CHECK OUT OUR SMALL GROUP TRIPS IN PERTH<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

This history is obvious and works in its favour. Rottnest Island is in pristine condition. Although it now has a permanent population of about 100, Rottnest has been awarded with the highest level of protection of any public land. Its sand is pure white, its waters transparent, and its wildlife unbearably cute.<\/p>\n

The Quokka Selfie Phenomenon<\/h3>\n
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Image c\/o Sam West, Flickr<\/p><\/div>\n

You can\u2019t touch a Quokka and you can\u2019t feed a Quokka (wildlife protection regulations apply). Kidnapping a quokka and raising it as an adorable pet is also frowned upon. But you can<\/em> take pictures of them. They\u2019re also almost always smiling. Quokkas are happy looking creatures and in 2015 #quokkaselfie was a thing. It generally still is. You only need to search it as a hashtag on Instagram to see. As you make your way around Rottnest Island you\u2019ll see nearly every traveler stop to observe these expressive looking things. But – you\u2019ll need to get to Rottnest Island first.<\/p>\n

Rottnest Island by sea, land and air<\/h3>\n
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Image c\/o Sam West, Flickr<\/p><\/div>\n

Rottnest Island is located 18km west of Fremantle. The most common and affordable way to get to Rottnest Island is to use the ferry service. Ferries from Fremantle, Hillarys Boat Harbour and Perth\u2019s Barrack Street Jetty. The quickest route is roughly 25 minutes from Fremantle. It\u2019s a 90 minute ride from Perth.<\/p>\n

Alternatively, tourists (and locals) can choose to travel to Rottnest by taking their own boats, or arriving the most scenic way – by air.<\/p>\n

If you do decide to by Ferry, I\u2019d suggest taking a early morning trip down to Freo. I can\u2019t get enough of the place. It\u2019s got the cool art\/deco-urban-hip vibes of Melbourne and Sydney but without the pretentiousness. Murals are being painted by resident artists on old impressive buildings. The Indian Ocean is only a step away the seriously good coffee is always a bonus to get your day started.<\/p>\n

How long to stay<\/h3>\n

The singular day I spent at Rottnest was not enough. Though if you\u2019re time poor and a day is all you can afford, it\u2019s worth it. Head over early morning and take one of the last ferries back. Take good walking shoes if you plan on making your own way around the island. I\u2019m lazy: I took a very efficient \u2018explorer\u2019 bus. This was also a great way to see the island quickly and be able to pick and choose the best spots to hop off at and invest some serious time swimming, snorkelling, surfing, and sunbathing.<\/p>\n

With these activities in mind, remember your swimmers. They\u2019re essential.<\/p>\n

Beaches by the (sort of) billions<\/h3>\n
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Image c\/o Robert Young, Flickr<\/p><\/div>\n

There are 63 beaches and 20 bays on Rottnest Island. That\u2019s a lot. Like – a lot<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Some are more secluded than others. Some are more crowded and offer easier access. If you\u2019re organised, have a squizz on the net of beaches that suit your fancy. Oh, and TAKE A MAP. Or be prepared to ask locals for directions. And don\u2019t stress if you don\u2019t find the exact beach you\u2019re looking for. You\u2019ll have 62 others to choose from. They\u2019re all equally pretty.<\/p>\n

Getting around<\/h3>\n

To make your way around the 50 kilometres of road on Rottnest Island, you can take guided hop-on hop-off buses, walk (it\u2019s a bit hard to get far), rent a bicycle or take a segway tour. You can also take a bike along on the ferry from the mainland too.<\/p>\n

Rottnest Island essentially has no cars. It also doesn\u2019t have flat roads winding throughout the whole island. If you decide to bike ride your way to desired locations, be sure to know the incline and burn you\u2019ll feel in doing so. I felt sorry for some tourists who were trying to reach coves where the roads were a little steep. (Remember – I was lazy and took the bus.\u00a0No regrets.)<\/p>\n

Things to see & do<\/h3>\n
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Image c\/o Sam West, Flickr<\/p><\/div>\n

Regardless of whether you\u2019re religious or a non-believer there is a beautiful, orange Holy Trinity Catholic and chapel quite close to the bus arrivals at the Thomson Bay settlement. They\u2019re both on top of a hill and host wedding ceremonies and church every Sunday morning at 9:30am.<\/p>\n

There are two lighthouses situated on Rottnest Island. The Wadjemup Lighthouse is in the centre of the island. You can travel through its walls and see what a lighthouse still in operation looks like. From the top, you get a magical 360 degree view of the Indian Ocean. The lighthouse tours costs less than $10 AUD per person and run every half hour, commencing at 11am daily. Alternatively, The Bathurst Lighthouse runs automatically and is not open to visitors. It is however located on the magical coastline of Pinky Beach which boasts beautiful pink sunsets and a perfect swimming spot.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a train service that runs throughout Rottnest Island. With a bit of research I\u2019ve found you can take this train from the Settlement Railway Station. It\u2019s called the \u201cCaptain Hussey Train\u201d – named after Frank Bertram Hussey from the Australian Staff Corps. The train is a 64-seater. It\u2019s seriously cool and old-school: half cream and half burgundy red. It takes you to the heritage site of Oliver Hill \u2013 here you can inspect the restored WWII 9.2 inch gun and maze of underground tunnels.<\/p>\n

While there are a multitude of activities you can do on Rottnest I haven\u2019t mentioned – museums, galleries, golf, archery tag, skydiving, shopping (now I have), in my opinion nothing is more rewarding than simply going to Rottnest Island for its natural landscape and the wildlife.<\/p>\n

Over\u00a035,000 migrating Humpback and Southern Right whales linger its waters each year. You can see them from the West End platforms in season.\u00a0Frogs, bats, native flowers, lakes, seals and 135 species of tropical fish also occupy Rottnest. If that isn\u2019t reason enough to get you camera out and flippers on, what is?<\/p>\n

Want to see Rottnest? Check out our small group trips through Perth<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I won\u2019t lie: extensive travel has made me somewhat immune to the effects of seeing a remarkable location for the first time. I pinch myself less. My breath\u2019s hardly ever…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":961,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[47,229,38],"class_list":["post-960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","tag-perth","tag-rottnest-island","tag-western-australia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adventuretours.com.au\/australia-outback-yarns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adventuretours.com.au\/australia-outback-yarns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adventuretours.com.au\/australia-outback-yarns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adventuretours.com.au\/australia-outback-yarns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adventuretours.com.au\/australia-outback-yarns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=960"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.adventuretours.com.au\/australia-outback-yarns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/960\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":967,"href":"https:\/\/www.adventuretours.com.au\/australia-outback-yarns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/960\/revisions\/967"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adventuretours.com.au\/australia-outback-yarns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adventuretours.com.au\/australia-outback-yarns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adventuretours.com.au\/australia-outback-yarns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adventuretours.com.au\/australia-outback-yarns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}