Happiest Animal on Earth (+ Vlog!)
I originally intended to write one blog for our Western Australia adventures, but the quokkas got a little out of hand :) So I present to you a post dedicated to the world's happiest animal. The quokka can be found in a handful of places in Australia, but the majority of the population lives on an island off the coast of Perth called Rottnest. The name actually means "rats nest" as the quokkas were originally mistaken as rats. They are definitely not rats! They are dubbed the world's happiest animal as their mouths actually do form a smile and they just seem so cheery. We loved the quokkas and the island so much we had to go twice!
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| Hello! |
My First Vlog
I made my first vlog about our day on Rotto!Rotto Round 1
The main way to get to Rottnest is to take a ferry either from the city, Freo, or Hilary's Boat Harbour. This first trip we took the ferry from Freo on the Quokka 1.
Rottnest is mostly a car-free island, only service vehicles and buses are allowed, so it really creates a relaxed vibe. To see the island you can do the hop-on, hop-off bus or hire a bike. We chose to bike, and ended up biking about 20k (12 miles)!
Rotto isn't just about the quokkas, the island itself is a stunner. Turquoise bays dot the coastline, and there are over 60 beaches to discover. Snorkeling is pretty popular, but we stuck to the biking and were on the lookout for our first quokka spotting :)
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| One of the 20 gorgeous bays |
The road cut inland and took us up to the lighthouse where we spotted our first quokka!
They were even cuter in person than we imagined! The little guys are so friendly and curious. All the signs said not to touch them but they literally would come right up to us, and they especially loved the camera gear haha.
From experience I can now confirm quokkas can mostly be found in the shade during the day. If you look underneath trees or bushes you'll usually spot them. We didn't see any near the beaches, though I think they do venture to those parts. The quokka is like all the other marsupials, nocturnal. There are thousands on the island and we probably saw like 15 or so.
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| Eastern views from the lighthouse on Rottnest |
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| How to get a quokka selfie lol |
The quokka selfie is harder to get than it seems! The quokka is super friendly but doesn't always want to pose for selfies...
Brittany pointed out that the baby in the photo above looks evil! It cracks me up now every time I look at it hahaha. The baby is not having it.
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| Green Island, is this real?? |
After seeing our first quokkas we could rest a little easier, and took a lunch break at Green Island.
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| Not a bad spot for lunch! |
After that it was more biking and looking for quokkas!
They really loved our bikes... we would get off to see them and they'd hop right under our bikes lol.
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| hmmmm? |
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| Attempting a two person selfie :) |
We saw most of the quokkas in the middle of the island, but eventually made our way to the opposite side of Rotto which is beautiful.
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| Perth in the distance |
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| Our ferry in the distance |
We had just an hour left before our ferry left so we decided to chill at Pinky Beach and relax. It was a long, hot day of biking!
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| Pinky Beach |
There's a little town area with a few stores so we looked at souvenirs.
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| gotta keep those critters out of the stores! |
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| We left with the real thing on our clothes lolol |
Rotto Round 2
We had such a great day on the island the first time, we knew we had to go back! We didn't make it to the end of the island the first time and of course we wanted to see more quokkas. I think Justin secretly wanted a selfie with the quokka after seeing mine :) hehe. This time we left from Hilary's Boat Harbour north of where we are staying in Scarborough Beach.
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| Learned this trick from Chris Hemsworth haha |
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| The water is seriously like glass |
We knew where to go this time! The smiling quokkas were there to greet us :)
Even the evil baby one... ok this probably isn't the same one lolol.
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| So happy! |
We explored more of the twenty some odd bays on Rotto, can you imagine being a local and coming over whenever you feel like it? It doesn't get any better than deserted beaches with white sand and clear water.
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| Mary Cove |
We made it to the end of the island! It was a tough bike ride since the bikes we had this time were not in as good of condition. Or maybe that's just an excuse? No seriously, my bike was making noises the whole time... I'm honestly surprised it survived the 20k loop!
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| Cape Vlamlingh |
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| We were wondering if these were quokka tracks... |
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| Do you even #fashun? |
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| Cathedral Rocks... hard to see the seals but you might see some shadows! |
Anyway, back to the quokkas - We found a bunch of them in one area on the way back... :)
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| The life of a content creator 😂 |
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| Nailed it! |
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| His quokka posed on a log haha |
All too soon our time on Rotto was over... we headed back to the town area. You can actually see a lot of quokkas in that area too, there are just more people trying to get pictures of them. This little guy below was sleeping in the middle of all the activity!
The day on Rotto really flies by, we spent about six hours there and I felt like we didn't stop moving! It was really fun to take some videos this second time around and learn to video edit. Check out the vlog at the beginning of the post :)
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| Am I doing it right? |
What do you think, are the quokkas the happiest animal on the planet? They sure seem like it to us! These two days on Rotto are definitely top highlights of this trip... we'll never forget our time in Western Australia. So far it's been up to the hype - less people, beaches for miles, quokkas, and supposedly whale sharks?!? WA is quickly becoming a favorite state for us! We'll confirm on the whale sharks next week :) Stay tuned!
We miss everyone!! Sending quokka hugs to you all :)
Sarah
“Sometimes, the smallest things
take up the most room in your heart."
take up the most room in your heart."
~ Winnie the Pooh
p.s. - I found this souvenir in Freo and just love it!! All my favorite marsupials eating my favorite treat... ice creams! :) It's on a coffee mug but that's the design. |
| Ice cream critters |
p.p.s - I know you wanted one more quokka pic :)
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| Thanks for readingggg!!! |