Rottnest Island, one of Perth’s favorite playgrounds, features more than just soft sand and water-related fun. The car-free rocky island, which is 11 km long and 4.5 km wide, allows holiday seekers to spot rare animals and to ride a bike in a safe and environmentally friendly setting.

Rottnest Island, which is 18 kilometers off the coast of Western Australia, can be reached by ferry. It is a 25-minute ferry ride from Fremantle, 45 minute from Hillarys Boat Harbour in the northern suburbs of Perth, or 90 minutes from Perth's Barrack Street Jetty.

To travel to Rottnest Island from Indonesia, one needs to fly to Perth. National flag carrier Garuda Indonesia flies four times per week from Jakarta to Perth and seven times a week from Denpasar to Perth.

Garuda Indonesia is offering a special airfare from Jakarta to Perth starting from Rp 6.270.700 for economy class. The offer is available for immediate booking and travel period up to March 31, 2018. For more information, visit www.garuda-indonesia.com/australia.

Swimming, snorkeling and diving in Rottnest Island waters enables holidaymakers to enjoy the wonders of its underwater world, which is home to a wide and diverse array of fish, marine plants, colorful invertebrates, coral and mammals.

Visit Rottnest Island in September or October, and you may catch a glimpse of the whales and their newborn calves as they are most likely spend a significant amount of time in the island’s protected waters before heading South. You can view this great migration from the newly constructed West End Boardwalk, which is accessible by bike or the Island Explorer bus.

Also, explore some of the island's 63 beaches, many of which are good for surfing. For visiting parents who cannot swim but are fond of a coastal atmosphere, there is Just 4 Fun Aqua Park in Thomson Bay where they can go wild with their kids enjoying the inflatable floating rides, rock climbing walls, an obstacle course, paddleboards for hire and many more.

Getting around Rottnest Island is easy, thanks to the Island Explorer bus which will transport you between the beaches and the bays. Or you can also take the Discovery Rottnest Tour, which is a 90-minute road trip via a comfortable bus that stops at key vantage points around the island. A guide will also give you insights into the island's cultural and historical heritage, and of course its wildlife diversity.

Guided walking and Segway tours are also available. This adventure will take you to the Thomson Bay settlement and the island's World War II gun battery emplacements.

Trekking on the sunny island, which locals affectionately call "Rotto", allows you not only to revel in the island's scenic and peaceful spots but also to come face to face with a quokka, one of the cutest and most photogenic animals in the world.

Apart from a small colony on the mainland, quokkas are found nowhere else on Earth. These tiny animals, related to wallabies, are found in abundance on the island, and have no fear of humans so they will often come right up to visitors.

“Quokka, the furry creature, eats 100 percent vegan, preferring too much on leaves and grass.

“They already have an abundance of natural foods available on their little island of paradise, so the only thing they have to look for is the most shady spot to take a snooze on a warm day,” a visitor comments on Instagram.

Rottnest Island was named after these little animals by the first Dutch explorers to the region, and it is also home to Gilbert’s potoroo, or sometimes called the rat kangaroo, one of the world's most critically endangered mammals.

Rottnest Island is a pollution-free holiday destination as motorized vehicles are prohibited from operating on the island, except for the local tour busses.

Being free of motorized vehicles, visitors can safely get around the island by bicycles, and this explains partly why the island has become increasingly popular for cycling. Visitors can hire a bike through a ferry company or once they set foot on the island, where several bike and equipment hire facilities are readily on hand.

While exploring the northern area, brace yourself for delightful surprises where breathtaking scenic spots and rare animals await you. So don’t forget to bring your camera and a selfie stick!

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