Rottnest Island Ferry: Roundtrip from Hillarys with Free Parking

4.66

(126 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

I’ll admit, I didn’t expect the ride out from Hillarys Boat Harbour to feel so quick — or so loud. The engine kicked up and suddenly we were slicing through the Indian Ocean, spray hitting the windows while someone’s toddler squealed every time we bounced over a wave. I just watched Perth fade behind us, coffee in hand, trying not to spill it. Forty minutes went by faster than I thought. Then there it was: Rottnest Island, all pale sand and that weird blue water you only see in Western Australia.

The first thing that hit me when we got off the ferry was this mix of eucalyptus and seaweed — sharp but kind of fresh? A local guy unloading crates near the jetty nodded at us (I think he clocked our “first-timer” faces). We wandered past old limestone cottages and found a map near the Settlement, but honestly just followed the sound of bikes whirring by and kids laughing somewhere down towards Thomson Bay. There are 63 beaches here — I lost count after three. We found one with barely anyone around except two sunburnt teenagers tossing a frisbee and a quokka sniffing at my backpack. Those things really do smile back at you, by the way.

Lunch was nothing fancy — fish and chips from a café where the woman behind the counter called everyone “love” (I liked her immediately). My friend Li tried to order in her best Aussie accent; it didn’t go well but made everyone laugh. After that we just sat on a bench watching boats bob in the bay, salt drying on our skin. I kept thinking about how different this felt from Perth — slower somehow, like nobody’s in a hurry for anything out here.

We caught the afternoon ferry back (don’t miss it — they’re serious about leaving on time) and I watched Rottnest shrink into a smudge on the horizon. Still thinking about that empty stretch of beach and how quiet it got when the wind dropped for a second. If you’re after something simple but real — just ocean air, sand between your toes, maybe a quokka selfie if you’re lucky — this day trip to Rottnest Island is pretty hard to forget.