Rottnest Island Trip

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We caught the 10.00H ferry to Rottnest Island which lies some 12km off the coast and is very much a holiday resort destination for the people of Perth. Perth is visible on the horizon but the island is a world away from the hussel and bussel of Perth. It's a haven of tranquillity and calm. The island has many sandy bays, no major hotels or development and the majority of the accommodation comprises simple apartments/chalets. No motor cars or dogs are allowed and most people travel around the island on bicycle.

One of the charms of the island is the lack of fear that the wildlife has of people. Whilst magpies and crows hang about the cafes, the most endearing animals are the quokkas which can be found sleeping in the sun, resting around the cafes or accepting tit-bits from the tourists. They are happy to be stroked and photographed but are not encouraged to enter the buildings. To save a long description, I've plagiarised a section from the Rottnest Island website ( http://www.rottnestisland.com/about/flora-fauna/quokkas )

The quokka is possibly the most well known animal on Rottnest Island. It was first observed by a European in 1658 when the Dutchman, Volkersen, wrote that it resembled an Asian civet cat, but with brown hair. In 1696 de Vlamingh described the quokka as "a kind of rat as big as a common cat". He named the Island 'Rotte nest' (meaning 'rat's nest'😉 and the name of the Island was eventually adapted to 'Rottnest'.

A marsupial the size of a hare or domestic cat, the quokka is the sole representative of the genus Setonix. As with other marsupials, such as the kangaroo, wallaby, wallaroo, bettong and potoroo, the females suckle their young in a pouch. Quokkas congregate under dense shrubs for shelter, and are less active during the day. They give birth in late summer, after a gestation period of twenty-seven days, and the young quokka remains in the pouch until August or September, and is then suckled for a further two months. The quokka reaches maturity at about one-and-a-half to two years of age, and lives to be ten years old.

The quokka is extremely adaptable. At the western end of the Island, Cape Vlamingh, there is no fresh water in summer but the quokkas are able to survive by obtaining water from plant life, particularly succulent plants such as the Pigface. This marsupial is a herbivore, capable of stripping most species of small trees and shrubs of their leaves and bark. They also eat grasses and succulent plants.

We also saw pelicans close-up.

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