Rottnest Island, Western Australia

Karlinyah Bidi (Northern Beaches)

Distance5.5 km

Elevation gain34 m

DifficultyEasy

Estimated time1 h 9 min

Overview

A waymarked coastal walk along the northern shore of Rottnest Island, 5.48 km one way from Little Parakeet Bay westward. It keeps close to the sea nearly the whole way, passing from one sandy bay to the next. The waymarks are green; the signs on the ground give the distance as 5.7 km.

Points of interest

City of York Bay — A sand beach at km 2.33, 50 m off the path and close to the midpoint of the walk. It is the first of the bays the route passes within reach of.
Stark Bay — A beach at km 3.67 where the path runs along the back of the sand, 12 m from it — nearer than the route comes to any other bay on the walk.
Mamong Djoororts — A public artwork 335 m off the trail, close to the finish. A path leads to it and back, 489 m in all, so it is a short detour rather than something seen from the route. The map records its Noongar name and nothing further about it.

Trail alerts

651 m of the walk runs on sealed road, and for 167 m of that there is no pavement — walkers share the carriageway with whatever traffic is on it.
The walk is a line and not a circuit: it finishes west of where it starts, 5.5 km away, with the Rocky Bay bus stop 27 m from the finish. Getting off the island depends on a scheduled ferry, and the last sailing of the day closes the walk — fix the return before setting out.
Seasonal closures and access bans on this trail have not been checked. No closure or access-ban dataset for Western Australia is available to us, so treat this as unknown rather than as clear.

Trail character

Almost flat: 34 m of ascent across the whole walk, and the high point is 22 m above the sea.
Underfoot it changes often — about 2,236 m of soft sand, 2,566 m of formed path, 651 m of sealed road and a 23 m stretch of boardwalk. The sand is two-fifths of the distance and it is the slow part.
The trail passes within 95 m of Bare Hill, at 41 m the highest of the named tops along the walk. No path runs to the top from the route.

Access & rules

Rottnest Island is reached by ferry, with services from Fremantle, Perth and Hillarys.
Private cars are not allowed on the island: the only motor vehicles permitted are emergency and service vehicles, alongside an island bus service. The start is reached by bus, by bicycle or on foot, and it lies 204 m from the Little Parakeet Bay stop.
The western end is not a marked trailhead, but the Rocky Bay bus stop stands 27 m from where the walk finishes, so the island bus is the way back.
Whether dogs are permitted has not been confirmed against any official source.

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