Just over a week ago I returned home from visiting a land that I now have much love for: Rottnest Island. This island has water so clean that you can see right thought it, as well as lovely forestry and greenery. It is rich with bittersweet history with marks of slavery, now serving as a resort island in present day. This land is home to yes, the adorable quokkas, and these quokkas are exactly what my 20 hour flight from Portland Oregon was for.
With traveling, my main goal is always to see wildlife as well as the local animals that reside in a town. Meeting quokkas was something that I had always wished to do, and this year I was lucky to make it happen. These creatures are known for their absolutely charming smiles that is hidden under their cute little nose. You don't see it until either a quokka gets up on its hind legs, or you get low to the ground and look under their nose. Being protected creatures, we are specifically asked not to feed them, not to reach out to them, and of course not to hurt them.
Are quokkas really as friendly as often exclaimed? From my experience, I would say yes they are. It didn't take long to find out either. As an animal lover and having flown hours for this experience, I wanted to see if I can get close to the quokkas without scaring the little guys. What I did to get close to the quokkas was walk up near them and either sit or lay down, allowing the quokkas space to approach me if they showed interest. About half to two thirds of the quokkas came up to me (I should more say hopped over) as soon as they noticed me sitting or laying down and either came into contact or came very close to my body. None of them showed any sign of aggression. If anything, being scavengers they were looking to see if I had any food to share in a very friendly manner.
Quokkas are surprisingly tiny, perhaps maybe a foot tall? Their tails look a bit like a rat's tail (or maybe a kangaroo's, but I've never come too close to a kangaroo) and fur, cute and scruffy. Being nocturnal you can imagine how more quokkas were around during the afternoon and morning. If you look on the last photo that is on this post, you can see orange leaf-looking things on the ground. Basically throughout the entire day I saw them searching for those & consuming those.
Until the film scans come in I will hold back from showing you more of the beautiful island. In the meantime enjoy these beautiful creatures. Let us love these adorable creatures regardless of where we are and make decisions that protect them by making more environmentally smart choices. Maybe we can do better with recycling, maybe we can consume products that don't use palm oil, maybe we can try using public transit or biking instead of driving. May we remember the faces of these cute guys and envision them hanging out on the bottom half of the globe smiling at us as we try to live more sustainable lives.
See you next week!
M Kat