SPECTACULAR BEACHES, PINK LAKES AND FLUFFY ANIMALS. BUT IS IT WORTH IT? (Rottnest Island)

Member Name: purplegirl1989

Product:	Rottnest Island
Date:	15/06/09 (22 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Scenery, beaches, quokkas, cliff tops.

Disadvantages: Too much to do on a day trip, too many people, rather expensive.

Whilst on our recent trip to Australia, my cousin and I decided we'd go with the advice everyone had continued to give us "Go to Rottnest Island! Go to Rottnest Island..."

And so we got ourselves down to the ferry terminal on the Swan River, just a few minutes from the centre of Perth to the Rottnest Express Office. This is located on Barrack Street. We've now learnt that you can also book this on the internet or with a few other companies in Perth/ Fremantle. Since we had got a job cleaning at a backpackers and rarely had one full day off (like two full days in just under two months...) we decided to make the most of it, and book the package that included the cruise down the Swan River to Fremantle and on to Rottnest Island. This cost us about $90AUD each, including bike hire. You can also hire snorkel gear, at an extra cost of course.

The day started fairly early at 8:45 (if I remember correctly) and the journey right up to Rottnest Island took about an hour and a half from Perth (about 40 minutes from Fremantle.) We were pleased with the boat as we got to sit on the outside deck and have our hair blowing in the breeze as the boat moved through the river's waters. The river cruise itself was nice, although in my opinion the commentary all the way up it was rather annoying and full of useless facts "over there you'll see a big house where such-and-such millionaires live..." We got a nice cup of tea and biscuits included within the price though, which was good. I was rather disappointed with the journey over the sea as we had been told that it was likely we'd see dolphins and we didn't. Then again, it's not like people can control nature.

By the time we got to Rottnest and had got our bikes, it was 11:30am and the only ferry we could catch back was at 4pm, so we were rather annoyed at the little time we got to spend there. We were even more annoyed when our friend told us that it was cheaper to stay at the backpacker's hostel for a night.

Anyway, my first impression of the island was that it was very pretty and clearly man had tried to minimise the impact it was having on nature but it was extremely busy. We had tried to avoid this by coming on a weekday, when it wasn't the school holiday but somehow it didn't seem to work. We had a wonder through the little shopping quarter which was next to the docks. From memory, it had a few gift shops, a supermarket and various food outlets. Since we had already spent a lot (for backpackers like us) we stuck to Subway to take away and try to make the most of the little time we had. Warning though, everything's more expensive in Rottnest, even Subway, so I'd take lunch with you if you're poor like we were! This is also where we caught sight of the first quokka. Quokka's are exclusive to Rottnest and are the reason behind the name of the Island, the first people to discover them thought they were huge rats.

We set off on our bikes and discovered that they were rather uncomfortable to say the least! Our aim was to find a beach to ourselves, which we were told was easy enough to do, although every beach (however beautiful it was) had a handful of people on it. In the end, irritated by the constant growls of our stomachs, we decided to stop at these cliffs overlooking the sea. It worked out well, because it was a gorgeous site and we were surrounded by natural caves.

After lunch, we set off again, pushing our bikes up those hills and continued north-west around the Island. The scenery we encountered was splendid, and it seemed to be like a movie scene where one minute we were cycling around lush green lands, then through forest, past swampland, past areas of vast wilderness and even a naturally pink lake. It was definitely hard work though, as we constantly had to climb huge hills- but then of course we were rewarded with the opportunity to go zooming back down them again! We also came across a fortress point, which was interesting if you're into that thing. They ran free guided tours which would have been useful, should we have actually had time! We then had about 1 hour left before we would have to cycle back to the jetty. I had one last place in mind to visit, the lighthouse, but after constant riding and still not getting anywhere we concluded that actually it was much further than it looked and not worth being stuck on the Island for.

That was basically our day, and we had only covered the west of the Island. I would definitely recommend staying for longer than a day if you want to get your full moneys worth and see the whole island. There is much more to see than we did, including points to snorkel amongst the reefs and whale-watching areas. Overall though, even though it was beautiful if you are stuck for money/time I would suggest that actually book yourself a kayaking tour to Penguin/Seal Island which is just off Rockingham, south of Perth. It was as beautiful as Rottnest (perhaps more) and didn't feel so much of a tourist trap.

Summary: Awesome place but perhaps should not be so high on your priorities as some people say.