MORE THAN QUOKKAS

Sure, you can't avoid those cute little marsupials that made Rottnest Island world-famous, but there's so much more to life on this ocean-ringed jewel off the Western Australian coast.

- SERENA COADY

ROTTNEST ISLAND RANGER Kaija Antipas stands vigilantly outside her home, a 19th-century lighthouse keeper's cottage. The midday sun beats down on the dry bushland and rugged coastline around her. Her eyes strain as she tries to detect movement on the rocky terrain. Every rustle of leaves or chirp of a seabird sends a jolt of energy through her.

Kaija is on what she calls "quokka watch". It's key to catch the creatures before they strike. With their cat-sized bodies, wild eyes, and permanently fixed smiles, quokkas are widely regarded as "cute". And yet this innocent facade belies a life of crime.

"We have to keep the quokkas out of the backyard because we're trying to grow vegies," Kajia says. "The second something green pops out of the ground, they nail it. So we're on quokka watch. But a big one slips in every night. It jumps over a five-foot-high fence to have a munch.".

There are currently nine quokkas wandering around her front yard. "Where we are, with plenty of natural habitat, they're healthy: gorgeous and fluffy," Kaija says.

"How crazy good are they?!" says Steve, Kaija's partner, as a quokka advances towards us. Is this the mastermind behind the vegie patch raids?

WADJEMUP IS THE Noongar name for Rottnest Island, a 19sq.km patch sitting 33km west of Perth in Western Australia. In 1696 Dutch explorer Willem de Vlamingh mistook the quokkas for giant rats and named the island 't Eylandt 't Rottenest, which translates to "Rats' Nest Island".