QUIET
SEASON
Come in winter, and the island gives you something the summer crowds never get: space, stillness, and the feeling that you’ve found a secret worth keeping. WORDS Ella Chronowski
Rottnest Island (Wadjemup) in summer belongs to everyone. Rottnest Island in winter belongs to you. The beaches are open, the paths are clear, and the island slows down in the best possible way, forcing you to slow down with it. The weather still averages 20 degrees, the water is still beautiful, and with fewer visitors around, it’ll feel like you have it all to yourself.
Just Ride
There is no better way to move around Rottnest than by bike, and in winter the roads offer a kind of freedom they simply can’t in the warmer months. No queues, no crowds threading through the paths to the bays, just open road and salt air and the particular pleasure of not knowing exactly where you’re going. Follow a path you haven’t taken before and see where it ends up.
Meet Rotto’s Residents
Quokkas are known for their seemingly permanent smile, and Rottnest Island is their most famous address. Cooler temperatures make them more active throughout the day, and you’ll find them around the settlement, along the paths and across the open grass. With fewer people around, they go about their business completely undisturbed, and if you’re lucky, you’ll see joey peering from a pouch.
Follow the Coastline
The beaches on Rottnest are extraordinary, and in winter you get them largely to yourself. The sand is just as white, the water just as clear, the light in the late afternoon golden. Walk the length of The Basin, where the calm water barely moves. Or make the trip around to Salmon Bay when the tide is low and the rocks emerge, and the whole coastline opens up in a way that feels like it was meant only for you.
look up
Perth’s (Boorloo) glow doesn’t reach Rottnest, which means the sky here at night is a different proposition entirely. Find somewhere away from the settlement, let your eyes adjust and wait. It takes longer than you expect, and then suddenly it doesn’t, the stars fill in from the edges, and the Milky Way arrives all at once, broad and bright and slightly disorienting in the best possible way.
scan the horizon
From late winter into spring, humpbacks move through the waters off Rottnest on their annual migration south, and the island’s western lookouts, Cape Vlamingh in particular, puts you directly in their path. A spout on the horizon is enough to stop a conversation mid-sentence, and a breach, all forty tonnes of it launching clear of the water, is the kind of thing you’ll still be talking about at dinner.