Are you looking for the perfect, family-friendly addition to your trip to Western Australia? Do you love gorgeous beaches and cute wildlife? Who doesn’t?! Welcome to Rottnest Island where all your beachy quokka dreams come true. At this point, if you haven’t seen # quokka selfie on your social channels then maybe you’re still using MySpace and we need to have a separate conversation.
Rottnest Island is located off the coast of Western Australia (WA as Aussies seem to call it), near Perth, and is famously home to the quokka. The quokka is a marsupial about the size of a small dog that is well known for its resting cute face. The little rodents look like they are smiling almost all the time, it’s freakin adorable.
As you may have seen, it’s possible to get them to take a selfie with you making for perhaps the most perfect Instagram content your feed has ever seen.For your trip to Rottnest Island, you’ll really only need a few things, a ride there, a way to get around the island, and your camera. This island is so much more than cute critters and we will lay out some good starting points for a perfect day trip, including how to get a quokka selfie.
How To Get To Rottnest Island (Ferry Pricing and Option)
Technically you have several options in getting to Rottnest Island. You can take a ride on one of three ferry operators, you can drive your own boat there, or you can fly there. Public ferries are by far the most popular choice for tourists and locals.
FERRY: Depending on where you’re staying you will want to choose your ferry accordingly. Rottnest ferries take about 25 minutes from Fremantle, 45 minutes from Hillarys Boat Harbour, or 90 minutes from Perth’s Barrack Street Jetty.
- SeaLink Rottnest Island – Departing from Perth City and B Shed Fremantle with prices starting at $34 USD for a round trip adult fare. We went with SeaLink because we were staying in Fremantle and had a great ride.
- Rottnest Fast Ferries – Departing from Hillary’s Ferry Terminal with prices starting at $57 USD for adult round trip fares.
- Rottnest Express – Departing from Fremantle and Perth City with prices starting at $46 USD for adult round trip fares.
FLY: As I mentioned you can also fly to the island. This could be a killer way to make your holiday even more special, the views of the island are surely spectacular. You have a couple of options for flights.
- Rottnest Air Taxi ($85pp)
- Ozwest Aviation
- Corsaire Aviation (helicopter)
- Swan River Seaplanes
Getting Around Rottnest Island (Bike Rentals)
You really have two options for getting around Rottnest Island, by bike or on foot. There are almost zero cars on the island. If you want to see more than the area just around the harbor, you will need to rent (or bring) a bike.
The only game in town for equipment rental is Pedal and Flipper. Once you disembark your ferry (or airplane, bougie!) simply follow the signs towards your left and you’ll find them. You can book in advance online or when you arrive. I recommend booking online if you can or risk them running out of whatever you need. You can rent adult and kids bikes, e-bikes, sporting equipment, and more. Prices for bike rentals vary depending on how long you rent for and what time your rental begins. Generally, a 1 day rental for an adult bike is $20 USD, kids bikes go for $10 USD and electric bikes for the day run you $40 USD. Our strong suggestion, if you can swing it, is to go for the electric bikes. Rottnest Island is small but still sizable with dozens of beaches to explore and you’ll want to make the most of your time and energy. We rented e-bikes and had a total ball. You can zip around in no time and see far more of Rottnest without totally killing yourself.
The Best Beaches on Rottnest Island
Now that you’ve gotten acquainted with Rottnest you are ready to enjoy some of its gorgeous beaches and landscape. Rottnest Island has over 60 beaches! Unless you’re staying overnight (there are campsites and cabins and they look so fun, stay forever!) you will need to prioritize your beach selection. You will likely have time to really enjoy 3 or 4 in a single day. We spent a lot of our time riding around on the hunt for quokkas and made it to 3 beaches, each being a quick stop. Our recommendation is to pick a route and go from there.
Northern beaches route:
- The Basin (where we got our best quokka shots)
- Geordie Bay
- Little Parakeet Bay
- Parakeet Bay
- Little Armstrong Bay
- Ricey Beach
Southern beaches route:
- Parker Point
- Little Salmon Bay (our favorite)
- Salmon Bay
- Strickland Bay
Where and How To Get A Quokka Selfie
I think the most important question about how to get a quokka selfie is actually “when can you get a quokka selfie?”. Quokkas are nocturnal so you need to be on the island around Golden Hour for the best chances. We did see them earlier in the afternoon but it was only one or two here and there. Once the sun began to set they were literally everywhere. Plan to take the last ferry of the day for your best shot. Now for the where; you can find them all over the island. We had our best luck at The Basin around sunset. We were able to get the most adorable beach shot of a smiling quokka right there. Really though, they don’t call it Rottnest (meaning ‘rat’s nest’) for nothing. These rodents are everywhere.
Now for how to get the selfie. Everyone wants a selfie. There’s no shame in that game, I myself was consumed with the idea of a perfect smiling quokka right next to me. The number one tip I have for you is patience. You cannot touch the quokkas, you cannot feed the quokkas. It’s illegal and frankly rude to the quokkas. Leave them be, you won’t need to touch or entice them, I promise. Quokkas are a bit curious by nature and if you sit still near them, they will come up to you. I recommend laying on your belly maybe with a twig in your hand. They will almost certainly come to investigate and you can snap away. Getting them right next to your face could take a while, like an hour or more. You truly have to be prepared to wait for that perfect shot. I found that once a quokka came up to you and decided you were boring, it was hard to get that same quokka near you again. I would go and find another one to befriend and try again.
Maybe a camera with a remote would be helpful because sometimes framing the shot with both me and the quokka was a challenge. They move around and need to be facing the camera for the ‘smile’ to be seen. Nonetheless, it isn’t too hard to get the shot you’re after. Once you do, your Instagram followers will be amazed! Good luck and happy snapping!
Western Australia is an incredible corner of the world and one we hope to return to again soon. We loved the people and the culture and we especially loved the quokkas. Definitely add Rottnest Island to your Western Australia itinerary.
I hope this post was helpful in planning your next trip to Australia and for snapping the perfect quokka selfie. If you enjoyed this content and want to support us in creating more like it, consider subscribing to our YouTube channel.
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