Experience the best of Rottnest Island

Rottnest Island, known to the Noongar people as Wadjemup, lies about 19 kilometres off the coast near Fremantle. Ordinary cars are not allowed, so people cycle, walk or ride the island bus across a flat landscape of low scrub, salt lakes and white beaches. The Dutch navigator Willem de Vlamingh named it Rotte nest, meaning rats' nest, in 1696, mistaking the quokkas for giant rats.

Quokkas, small marsupials with round faces that look as though they are smiling, are seen around the settlement at Thomson Bay and across the island. The Wadjemup and Bathurst lighthouses stand on the hills. The island is also a place of remembrance: from 1838 to 1931 it held Aboriginal men and boys as prisoners. Bays such as The Basin, Parakeet Bay and Little Salmon Bay have clear water for snorkelling.

Cafés and takeaway counters around Thomson Bay serve simple meals, and fresh fish is the usual order. Sea breezes keep the island mild in summer, and winter brings rain and rougher seas.