Spirited Away

A short trip from Perth, Rottnest Island offers a capsule version of the charms, and history, of Western Australia.

- Tom Otley

Empty beaches, unique flora and fauna and single-track roads from which motorised vehicles are banned are just a few of the attractions of Rottnest Island. This limestone based sandy island just off the coast of Western Australia is a mere 15km from Perth, and has an area of only 19 sq km. Yet, the island attracts 750,000 visitors each year, and even the least adventurous will find it a pleasant day trip. We’d only been there for 30 minutes when we saw our first bottle nose dolphin, rolling over just beyond the reef in one of the island’s 20 bays. There are also fur seals galore, a nest for the eastern osprey at Salmon Point and,just offshore, passing humpback whales followed by small boats full of sightseers.

Nevertheless, for a leisure destination billed as “Western Australia’s very own island paradise”, the name “Rottnest” could be more enticing. The title comes from Dutch sea captain Willem de Vlamingh, who in 1696 charted the uninhabited island while on a mission for the VOC (Dutch East India Company). De Vlamingh mistook the cat-sized mammal population – now known as quokkas, the Aboriginal name – to be rats, and so termed it “’t Eylandt ’t Rottenest” (Rats’ Nest Island). Today these tame, protected marsupials are deemed cuddly, and it seems just about every visitor has to get a selfie with one of the 8,000 or so population, as a quick search on the internet or Instagram will confirm. Luckily, there’s much more to do on the island than this activity.