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Perth’s Getaway Islands
Perth has a well-deserved reputation as one of the easiest cities in the world to live in, with its friendly people, charming city scenes and the laid-back lifestyle. Thousands of tourists drop in each year to experience Western Australia.
Even with all of this easy living, however, a visitor sometimes just wants to get away from the hustle and bustle of a big city. For the traveller looking for an out-of-city experience, Perth can provide that too, as there are a number of islands, each with unique attractions and excellent facilities, right at the doorsteps of the metropolis — charming spots such as the Rottnest, Carnac, Penguin and Garden Islands.
The island of quokkas
Probably the most famous of these getaway islands is Rottnest, barely 17 km off the Western Australian coast. The island is a popular weekend getaway for both locals and visitors, chalking up a respectable tourism statistic of about 500,000 visitors a year. Many of these visitors reach the island on a cruise ship that departs from the bustling port town of Fremantle, 19 km south of Perth.
The first documented visitors to the island, however, came from much further away in the year 1610, when Dutch sailors exploring the Australian continent came upon the island and gave it the name rottnest as a result of a case of mistaken identity: they confused the quokka, an indigenous marsupial, with a large rat — thus christening the place Rottnest Island, or Rat’s Nest Island when translated into English.
What the native Aborigines, who had been living on the island for the past 30,000 years, thought of the name was never recorded. The island is mentioned in Nyoongar Aboriginal mythology, but unfortunately for the Aborigines, when the British colony at Perth was established in 1829, the island was also mentioned in the legislation as a prison colony for Aboriginal convicts.
Happily, the islands’ fortune soon turned for the better. After various stints as a recreational getaway and a wartime base in the early part of the twentieth century, the island has since become a well-traveled holiday destination, particularly by university students enthusiastically celebrating their graduations, as well as more sedate family outings. All the travelers congregate on Thomson’s Bay, Geordie Bay and Longreach, the three settlements scattered around the island.
For the more academically inclined tourist, there are a number of historic buildings scattered around the island, as well as cannon batteries and camouflaged sites, relics of the island’s World War II history. For the more active tourist, the biggest attractions here are the beautiful beaches, and all the associated water sports. The island holds particular attraction for divers, who can explore the spectacular coral reefs and the numerous wrecks scattered just beyond the reefs lying off the island coast.
Beautiful Carnac island
The wrecks are a result of the island’s location just off the deep shipping channel known as Gages Road, which separates Perth from the islands, and was the site of the America’s Cup Yachting Challenge in 1983. The channel also carries cruise ships, the most frequent of which run daily to the islands, particularly the beautiful Carnac Island.
Classified as a Class A nature reserve and located approximately 10 km south west of Fremantle, Carnac is well known for its abundance of wildlife, particularly the rare Australian sea lions and bottlenose dolphins. It is also an important breeding ground far a number of migrating sea birds. Many of the cruises that head for this island are ecological trips, combining educational environmental talks with a pleasant sightseeing boat trip to the reserve.
See the penguins!
Another charming nature-based destination is Penguin Island, home to largest colony of fairy penguins in Western Australia. Located 42 km from Perth, visitors can disembark and enjoy themselves on the pristine beaches and picnic grounds of the island. They can also explore the coral reefs ringing the island.
Visitors can also have an up close and personal experience with the penguins at the Island Discovery Centre. The facility cares for chicks that had been rejected by their parents, or were seriously injured. Many of the penguins under the wildlife officers’ care have become so used to human presence that they are unable to survive in the wild, and spend their lives in the Centre. There are also a number of other bird species living on the island, including the Australian pelican, which are recent settlers to the island — they only began their colony in 1998.
Here comes the Navy
For the more adventurous island traveler there is Garden Island, only 15 km from Fremantle and known for its beautiful beaches, the surfing — and the HMAS Stirling Naval Base, also known as Fleet Base West. Mass tourism isn’t encouraged here for security reasons; only private boats are permitted in the area and visitors must leave by nightfall. For a traveler who wants an outing with just a hint of adventure, however, a pleasant boat excursion to the island for a picnic, swimming, surfing, diving or just plain lazing around, all under the noses of the Australian Navy, might just be the right day trip to give a little spice to their visit.
There are many other islands scattered off the Western Australian coast. Some of them are inhabited, while others are deserted, but each offers unique and exciting adventures to the intrepid traveler. For those who want a change from the thrills of the big city, these islands might just be the right place to go.
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