Rottnest Island - the land of quokka

Rottnest Island, viewed from The Bathurst Lighthouse

The first European explorers who stopped at this island in the Indian ocean located off the coast of Fremantle, observed that the place was infested with rats, so they named it "Rattenest", which in Dutch means "rat's nest"[1]. What they didn't know then was that there were hardly any rats living on the island, and the animal they mistook for a rat was, in fact, a marsupial called "quokka".

Rottenest Lighthouse

This historical lighthouse, situated in the Northeast section of the Rottenest island, has been named Bathurst Lighthouse. It was constructed as a response to a series of shipping disasters in the area. The light house was activated for the first time in 1900. For tourists, it is a popular place on the island to do some photo shoots. The Small cove, with shallow water, at the foot of the staircase shown on the picture, is a good place to have a dip in the sea.