Travel Guide Rottnest Island

18 km off the coast of Fremantle, this 11 km long island is a perfect day trip from Perth. The island is a popular holiday destination for Perth residents, who travel there in their own boats. It's a beautiful place, with white sandy beaches, an interesting natural environment including flowers and birds, and turquoise waters rich in marine life to discover: sea lions and seals playing at Cathedral Rocks, or the wonders of the seabed to see by snorkeling, for example at Parker Point, Little Simon Bay and Parakeet Bay. But none of this beats the "world's smilingest animal", the quokka, known for its friendliness and tendency to be approached for a selfie! In fact, it's the quokka that gave the island its name: in 1696, Dutch explorers thought they had encountered rodents from the rat family(rotte). It was a unique experience: quokkas are now very rare in the wild. Apart from the 10,000 at Rottnest, there are around a thousand on Bald Island off Albany, as well as small populations in the forests between Perth and Albany.