Rottnest Island Historical Train And Tunnel Tour From Hillarys Boat Harbour

Wow, what an experience Rottnest Island is!! We were so happy we organised to go across on the train to see the WW2 tunnels and our volunteer guide (Mike) was awesome! We got back to the main area around 1pm and had some lunch then walked around as much as we wanted to before heading back to the boat at 4pm. Highly recommend visiting the museum as it was incredibly informative about the dark past of the island (it is not all about Quokkas apparently!) and we learnt so much. Rottnest is a definite MUST DO but I think the island may benefit from restricting the amount of visitors per day as the way the Quokka's climb all over people and are disturbed in the main area is really sad.

A great day out, well worth going on the tour around the island

Get to the island to make the most of what's on offer, and maybe stay overnight. The quokas are pretty common I. The settlement

This experience is amazing! Free Perth Pick up to the Jetty is a bonus point! We had a wonderful day on the island!

The tour was called the Grand Island Tour - Full Day but the system will not let me name it . My small family group of four had two elderly family members whose mobility situation was limited to walking sticks and very slow pace. The only point to consider with this tour to not consider for elderly people who walk very slowly. The person at the ticket collection office at Hilarys advised that our elderly family members would cope and stated at the Rottnest Island information desk we could arrange a golf cart/buggy to assist with getting our family members to the train stop tour pick up. We were advised that there would be a fee. The information desk, looked at us weird and declared there is no such service. So if you have elderly members with walking frame or sticks, this may not be a suitable tour. So some misinformation about that. We were worried we would not make the tour on time. As you only have 15 minutes from the Ferry to the pick up area. There is bunker tour which a lso stops elderly members completing, but we knew about this, due to the information and our tour guide - Fiona. Besides this early situation, the tour was great, which is mainly due to Fiona who was very mindful of our limited mobile family members and advising what we need to be prepared at the different stops. What also made it interesting, Fiona was very informative about the different areas of the island and where the best photo shots. Thank you for an amazing day tour. The Ferry travel to and back from Rottnest Island was good. The train part was funny and great. The only other feedback, the small lunch is eaten on the bus while they are driving around the island. It is a shame there is not a rest area we could stop to eat the meal properly . Nice small light lunch. Thanks again Fiona for the quality and amazing service you provided.

Study the map before arriving to the island. Got lost trying to find where the train was from the jetty. Get the train and do the tunnel tour. The tour guide was very knowledgeable and train driver very funny. Great experience with the quokkas around you while having lunch. Ferry ride was great.

It was one of the best tours we have done .... thank you we have done tours all over Europe ... this tour was one of the best we have done

Watch out for the seagulls at lunch time. A very friendly island. The ferry and train tour was a great and the staff polite and knowledgeable.

No full dialogue on the website about what the trip entails. The reception where you get the map and tickets doesn’t explain anything, and the map that you get is confusing. Don’t get off at stop 4 on the hop on/ off bus-stop 4 on the map refers to a different service not noted on the map. Reception is slow and not extremely helpful. Please ask island staff well ahead of time👌

Our pic up was 1.5 miles from our hotel!At pickup hotel ,no description offered by company.Pickup was 1.5 hours before ferry sailed.The only guide on this “tour “ is a volunteer on the Guns experience,there are no other guides of any kind.Only return time offered was printed on the ticket that is given to you at Hillary’s office.Isalnd experience is as just OK,we would not book again!

The train ride was scenic and my son loved being able to drive and press the horn. The history tour of tunnels was informative.

Being interested in history this was a must for me. The train was not running so a bus replaced it; no issue really. We done the tour with Ian, it was very enlightening and comprehensive. You get to explore the full complex!

The island is beautiful. The train journey was fun. The tour of the gun and tunnels was very interesting and the guide extremely knowledgeable. Overall a great trip.

The admin staff for the tour were excellent, can’t fault their customer service. The train and tour was absolutely 5 star , very enjoyable and amazing guides. The ferry experience was ‘ mass transit’ nothing individual or special about it- think rush hour in a school bus out and a cackle of drunk pre-adults back. The transport to the ferry from the CBD was ok- the way back was terrible , took 90 mins , mostly with the brakes on maximum or jumping over speed bumps .

Train was overheating so did mot operate, bus replaced. Tour guide well knowledged and very interesting.

Loved seeing the Quokkas and visiting the historic gun emplacements. A really great experience and well worth it.

The tour of the tunnels and the gun emplacement was very well done. The weather was a bit rough but still a good trip. Would have been nice if the lighthouse was included as there's down time between drop off at the island the afternoon tour of the installation.

Informative guide, this site is fascinating what a wonderful history. To think all of this was achieved without modern equipment.

Ok what can be said that hasn’t already been covered, I guess not much. Ferry and crossing, faultless, comfortable boat, good seating, 45 min journey on a fast ferry. Historical train trip, well more like a tramway ! Noisy ! The driver wears earplugs ! But worth doing to get to the highest point on the island, gun emplacement was interesting to me but that’s my thing and I’m in my later years shall we say if I was 26 and not 66 I’d give it a miss ! Which would probably go for the whole rottnest thing, seems to be a party island especially as the evening approaches. A few bachelor/ hen parties, a wedding or two happening the next day. An enjoyable day trip. Lots of nice beaches and swim/ snorkel spots easy to get to by hop on hop off bus but be warned stops operating at 5:00 pm and there’s no printed time table only qr code. Half the island stops working late afternoon ! So you can find yourself with restaurants shut, no bus and the wrong end of the island ! It happened to a few, buses not frequent enough. Despite notices of not to feed/ touch the wild life it was difficult to ignore the fact that most people did, although there are rangers they seem to drive round in vehicles and not walk amongst the crowds ! The main area around the jetty and shops needs litter patrol, food and rubbish around despite lots of bins. But I have to say it’s not the ferry operators problem what happens on the island our ferry was fast efficient and clean, first class service from Hillary’s boat harbour

Well worth tour. Informative. Staff so friendly and welcoming. Another aspect of Rottnest Island. Great to do when taking a break from the sun. Something for the kids.

Tripadvisor advised us of an incorrect time for pickup. We got to the designated place at the advised time of 10.00am but the actual pickup time was 8.00am. We missed the tour. I was going to rebook the tour for 2 days later but when I asked the pickup time I was advised it was 10.00am, so I did not bother to rebook. Tripadvisor needs to get the correct information from the operator. I am waiting on my reimbursement for the missed tour.

We where not over impressed about the information received quite a walk from the ferry to the train station around 15 minutes. Train ride wasn't very interesting not over sure about the historical part other than it was built by the military for moving equipment around the island no real evidence the train was built by the railway enthusiasts. The tunnels are the base of the gun emplacement where shells where stored for the big gun. There was no information as to the number of steps or walking involved. The bus tour of the island was far from disabled friendly one lady had problems getting on the bus and had to stay on until the end of the tour because she had difficulties get on and off. The whole trip was not suitable for anyone with impaired walking even the ferry was not really suitable wheelchair access.

We had a nice afternoon trip on the train and the under water observerty. Very Very staff and well worth the trip.

<p>This was a really great day unfortunately we had very heavy rain so the ferry was rough and we were saturated.<br/> Or tour guide Ann was great, very informative and took us to all the places she could. The train ride was fun and the tunnels were fascinating, there was a feeling of what really went on waiting for the enemy. We will repeat this tour when return to Perth.</p>

<p>This was such a great tour and a good day out. A slow paced and easy going tour.</p>