The youngest was super keen to visit Rottnest Island after seeing Coldplay in Perth.
And it wasn’t because of the island’s infamous quokkas. I’m not exactly sure what sparked her interest, but we had a wonderful two-day getaway there.
Rottnest is an unusual place in terms of accommodation. There are lots of older-style apartments and little houses on the island that look like school camp accommodation from my childhood, there’s an expensive glamping place and there’s also a fancy hotel called Samphire.
Can you guess which one I chose?
Yep, Samphire. It came highly recommended by my sister and I figured that since we were only there for two nights we might as well treat ourselves.
We caught a Rottnest Express ferry from Perth for a picturesque 90-minute trip along the Swan River and out to sea.
It was a gorgeous, sunny day when we arrived in Rottnest and a blessed few degrees cooler than on the mainland, which was predicted to hit the high 30s.
We checked out the resort and the youngest convinced me to order a Pineapple Margarita from the bar to celebrate our arrival … well, I didn’t take much convincing.
We shared a Chicken Swarma from the pub next door for our lunch then relaxed in our room for a few hours to escape the heat.
Later in the afternoon, I took the youngest to a quokka-filled clearing DD and I discovered on a day trip to Rottnest a few years back. It once again delivered a bonanza of mummy and daddy quokkas with the cutest little baby quokkas.
Cue photo fiesta.
The island’s habitat supports the largest known quokka population – there are around 10,000-12,000 of them living on Rottnest.
Quokkas are ADORABLE and often look like they’re smiling in selfies.
After taking 50 million photos we headed to Pinky’s Beach, overlooked by the lighthouse.
Our goal was to watch the sunset, so we went for a dip in the sparkling water, then settled into the beachside bar for an Aperol Spritz for me and the most delicious mocktail for the youngest. Then we shared a serve of buffalo wings, carefully protecting them from the seagulls, who are terrors. We watched one steal a man’s $48 steak when he took his eyes off it for a split second.
I would have been sooooo furious, but he stayed surprisingly chilled out about it.
There were also quokkas EVERYWHERE at dusk -!the youngest even accidentally kicking one under the table.
After sunset, we wandered back to the resort along the beach and a baby quokka joined the youngest for stroll. So cute! Then we shared a prawn pizza at the pub for dinner.
On day two we caught the hop-on-hop-off bus around the island, scoping out our favourite spots. We chose Little Salmon Beach for a swim, which had the most incredibly white sand and turquoise water.
It was also really cool to see a 75 year old osprey nest still in use at Salmon Point.
My sister had recommended the Cray Dog from The Lane cafe for our lunch and she was spot on – it was pricey but delicious – grilled crayfish marinated in garlic and olive oil topped off with jalapeno mayo.
Yum!
We returned to the shopping area later in the afternoon so I could try a scoop of honeycomb Simmos Ice Cream. The local Western Australian ice creamery was recently voted one of The Top 15 Ice Creameries in the World by USA Today.
Mmmmmmm!
Our last night on Rottnest was spent going for a beach walk and swim, followed by another dinner at the pub.
Then we treated ourselves the next day to the most delicious farewell lunch at an Italian restaurant called Isola.
We kicked off with wood-grilled whole Exmouth prawns with crayfish butter, capers and lemon, followed by taglierini pasta with Shark Bay crab, tomato, chilli, garlic, basil and cream. Both dishes were sensational and we devoured them with an incredible view of the beach. I also ordered a refreshing Limoncello Spritz.
The lunch was an amazing – and delicious – way to end our stay.
I loved our two nights together at Rottnest. Two thumbs up!
Song of the day: Christine Anu “My island home”
housegoeshome 
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