The “Rats Nest”
Rottnest island apparently got its name from Dutch explorers who saw all the Quokkas, thought they were rats and that the place was infested. “Rottnest” is old Dutch, but the islands rats are actually the cutest little marsupials you are likely to meet.
We had booked the shuttle bus to the Rottnest Island Ferry meaning an early morning start, having tightly packed (2 suitcases, a pantry bag and an esky), we set off to the transfer rendezvous point in good time. At the ferry terminal we affixed ID labels with our Rotty cabin number on them to our 2 suitcases, pantry bag and esky bag (apparently they deliver them up to the cabin), handed them over then boarded the ferry to Fremantle. After an uneventful trip we had to transfer to “Quokka 1”, the Island ferry. The seas were big, it was a pretty rough trip out from Fremantle to the main harbour on the island. Thankfully the Kwells helped me not feel seasick.
We arrived on Rottnest Island fairly early, and knew our accommodation would not be available until around 2pm so we had time to kill. We did let the accomodation people know we were here, checked in etc so if things got going earlier then we were ready.
We checked out the main settlement briefly (mainly scoping where we would go for lunch later) before heading off for some diversionary walks around the immediate environs. We visited the General Store and found it very well stocked, a really decent range. Although you pay a premium we did not need to bring so much from the mainland, we could have easily provisioned from there. There was a range of eateries, cafes, an extensive bakery, this all surprised me as I thought we would be in the wilderness.
We headed towards Bathurst Lighthouse, the closest of the 2 lighthouses then on towards Pinky Beach, had a welcome island drink before heading back to main settlement for lunch. The overcast day turned to rain and fortunately we found a spot undercover to eat. I am not sure I like the main settlement that much. Apart from the large concentration of tourists, there are scrounging quokkas and mobs of aggressive seagulls and crows swooping for table snacks. Signs everywhere saying do not feed the animals seemed largely ineffective. We saw a number of quokkas here, mostly scrounging for snacks and digging into peoples bags. Some carried joeys, others had joeys following them, all very cute. All the shops have quokka-height barriers at the door to exclude the marsupials as I am sure they would make a mess if left unchecked.
After lunch we explored the local natural history Museum, learning a bit about the dark past of the island, and found the transport hub to get our accommodation shuttle passes and enquire about the hop on hop off service we would be using tomorrow. All that seemed pretty straightforward, which is always a good thing.
Fortunately we then got notice that our accommodation was ready for us, so we headed towards the General store for milk before returning to the accomodation shuttle and transit close to our cabin.
The cabin was a lovely surprise , having been recently renovated it was very clean, modern, well appointed and we found it very comfortable. After a brief settle in, and a cup of tea (interestingly usually our first activity in a new place), we decided to go for a brief walk to visit some of the coves and beaches nearby. Rotty has over 100 beaches, we were never going to see them all but thought it might be interesting to see what is around us even though the weather closing in and the wind was becoming relentless and cold.
After a brisk walk and sandy explore we retired to our cabin, warmed up and did dinner and lunch prep for the morrow, followed by a good night sleep.
Next morning we rugged up (the weather was overcast, cold and very windy) and we went to the shuttle bus stop. We were delighted to be joined by some wild quokkas that hopped in from the surrounding scrub. They were rooting around earring low vegetation on the road verge. They were curious and have the most enchanting faces they look like they are smiling. We caught the accomodation shuttle to coach hub. We headed for Bakery for morning tea treat, packed into backpack with our lunch and headed to the Hop on hop off bus stop, got our wristbands granting us day passage on the bus and headed off.
The bus does a circuit of the island, that circuit takes about an hour, there are multiple busses meaning you usually only have to wait 20 mins for the next bus. We followed along and first hopped off at Stop 5: Parker Point. We walked to the lookout, marvelled at the scenery, relatively low vegetation pruned by sea breezes, then decided to walk to Stop 7: Salmon Bay along rugged coastline. Stop 6 was Little Salmon Bay, another cove, another little beach today being hammered by rough seas and a blistering wind.
At Stop 7 we re-joined bus only to get off at Stop 8: Wadjemup Lighthouse. We knew we could tour the inside of this lighthouse but decided a cup of tea/coffee would warm us up so headed to a coffee caravan nearby. We sat and had our morning tea, noticing the ground seemed to be swarming with hundreds of millipedes. We later learned that the wet weather had triggered a breeding event, with orgies of millipedes in clumps on the ground and up walls – simultaneously fascinating and revolting.
Suitably refreshed, we walked up to Wadjemup Lighthouse, registered for the tour, learned a lot about the hard life of a lighthouse keeper, then climbed up the 155 steps, fortunately broken up into 3 floors, to the top. We had been informed it was too windy to go outside on observation platform, with wind gusts of up to 75km registered, but the views were pretty amazing from where we were. Back in the day, the old clockwork mechanism that rotated the light had to be rewound every 3hrs, making the night time intense and exhausting. Modern electric servos and LED lanterns now mean the lighthouse is unmanned and fully automatic.
Interestingly we learned that even though this lighthouse and the Bathurst lighthouse were operational on the island, there were dozens of shipwrecks along the Rottnest and Fremantle coastlines due to the labyrinth of reefs and rocks, and the stupidity/arrogance and impatience of inexperienced captains not wanting to have to wait for pilots to help them navigate the treacherous waters. (possibly my longest sentence to date)
We walked back down the hill to the bus stop only to encounter a nearly full bus – we were lucky to get on, others had to wait for the next one. I would guess in peak season this would happen a lot. We travelled along to Stop 11: West End, and walked out onto Cape Vlamingh, an exposed rocky promontory with a sandy top pockmarked by Sheerwater (a type of seabird that nests underground) burrows. Sheer cliffs, pounding waves, howling winds, yay.
We had seen a separate tour bus arrive and walked out to cathedral rocks, so we decided it must be worth an explore. After wending our way along a windy path through the wind-pruned heath we arrived at a viewing platform where we could see a large colony of fur seals lounging in the distant shallow water. In one of the rocky outcrops we could also see some large seals basking in the sun. The seafront here was a series of what looked like terraces of various depths, with jagged rocky outcrops emerging from the sea. It was relatively sheltered on the leeward side of the island and we could see Frigate birds roosting among the rocks also. Returning to the bus stop, we rejoined the bus.
We rode around a lot of the leeward side of the island and decided to get off at Stop 18: Small Parakeet Bay, a lovely little cove and beach within walking distance or our cabin. We chose this stop because it was the closest to one of the many salt lakes that perforate the island interior. Cold and worn out we returned to our cabin after what had actually been a brilliant day exploring Rotty. We had some prep to do as it would be an early start and we had to do a tight pack.
Next morning, after a good sleep we had our bags outside by 8am for them to be picked up for the 10am ferry. We were greeted by a pair of quokkas that were busily rooting through our neighbours bags looking for an easy snack I suspect. We then shuttled to the main settlement, returned our cabin keys and then joined a “Meet the Quokkas” walking tour which was very informative, and got us up close and personal with a bunch of the little critters, most of which were sleeping (as they are largely nocturnal).
Tour over, we leisurely headed to the ferry terminal, and enjoyed a (thankfully) smooth ride back to Fremantle. On the docks at Fremantle we were reunited with our bags, then caught an Uber to the Airport to collect our new hirecar- a charcoal Kia Cerento K4. After working out how the car works, and how to turn off the most annoying of the built-in “safety” features, it was all aboard as we headed off to Busselton – our next destination.