Rottnest Island, Western Australia

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One day on my trip, in the middle of a heat wave, we caught a ferry in Hillary's Harbour bound for beautiful Rottnest Island, 45 minutes away. There are shorter and longer trips depending on the ferry and from where it leaves; Perth, Fremantle or Hillary's harbour.

I was surprised to see visitors renting bicycles and loading them onto the ferry. The entire bow of the boat became full of them, and it was explained that although you can rent bikes on Rottnest Island, they might run out.

An island with no cars is great for biking and if you're not into that, there are 45 kms (28 miles) of walking trails and 63 gorgeous beaches.

Looking at that overcast sky, you might think it's not the nicest day for this trip but it was a relief from the heat we had experienced. The sky did get darker, we did get a sprinkling of rain and then it brightened up a little.

Around 1829, British settlers were receiving property grants on the mainland on land traditionally occupied by the indigenous Whadjuk people. This resulted in conflict. Whadjuk people were often given long prison sentences often related to defending their land and, in 1839, Rottnest Island became a penal settlement for Aboriginal people. The penal colony lasted until 1904 when it became a forced labour camp. Aboriginal labour built the roads and infrastructure on the island until 1931.

Many of the buildings you see were housing for the workers who ran the penal colony. Now, you can stay in them.

This year, when Covid-19 struck cruise ships, and Australian cities didn't want them docking, Rottnest Island played an important quarantine role.

We followed the road that skirted the shoreline to see where it went.

A gentle breeze blew over the water and the sea was full of small boats.

I was told that our destination was on the other side of that lighthouse.

Bathurst Lighthouse, one of two lighthouses on Rottnest, guides ships to Fremantle Harbour on the mainland.

This is the beautiful view from the lighthouse.

We made our way to the far end of the beach and chose a spot.

It was the most powdery sand I have ever seen. We decided to swim and sun bathe for awhile.

It was nice to see some native plant restoration happening in the dunes.

This is a wooden walkway covered with sand and the shortcut back to the town.

Time for lunch.

Dome is a well known Australian coffee chain.

We took a seat outside the old hotel.

You can eat your lunch and socialize overlooking the boats.

After lunch we took a bus tour around the island and then wandered around the town some more.

This is the little chapel for the penal colony and we also toured the museum.

Rottnest Island is famous for one particular creature. In fact, Dutch sailors had named the island after them, thinking they were rats. But it's not a rat -- this is a Quokka! We had spotted the first one within 5 minutes of arriving and they are everywhere with an estimated population of 10,000.

The Quokka is also known as a short-tailed scrub wallaby. Previously, I wrote this post about them.

There are rules about not feeding or touching the Quokkas because they are wild animals but they wander, unafraid, amongst the people and make it into many selfies! They go almost everywhere except the bakery where there are special Quokka barriers!