Shoalwater Islands Marine Park

West Coast Australia

LoginSave

Just a few minutes' paddle, swim or boat ride away from the shore 5km south of Rockingham is strictly protected Penguin Island, home to penguins, silver gulls, boardwalks, beaches and picnic tables. Apart from birdwatching (pied cormorants, pelicans, crested and bridled terns, oystercatchers), day visitors can also swim, paddle in the rock pools and snorkel.

It's free to wade the few hundred metres out to the island across the sandbar at low tide, but make sure you keep one eye on the sea – people have drowned here after being washed off the bar during strong winds and high tides. Otherwise, the Penguin Island Ferry can chug you out there and back: fares can include a penguin-feeding session at the Discovery Centre on the island, run by Rockingham Wild Encounters. Sea-kayaking tours with Capricorn Seakayaking explore the marine park in more depth.

Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

  • Kings Park Bridge

    Kings Park & Botanic Garden

    25.24 MILES

    The 400-hectare, bush-filled expanse of Kings Park, smack in the city centre and enjoying epic views, is Perth's pride and joy. The Botanic Garden…

  • Fremantle Prison, Fremantle, Australia

    Fremantle Prison

    17.62 MILES

    With its forbidding 5m-high walls, the old convict-era prison dominates Fremantle. Various daytime tours explore the jail's maximum-security past, give…

  • Part of the wreck of the Batavia at the Shipwreck Galleries.

    WA Shipwrecks Museum

    17.36 MILES

    Located within an 1852 commissariat store, the Shipwrecks Museum is considered the finest display of maritime archaeology in the southern hemisphere. The…

  • Western Australian Maritime Museum

    Western Australian Museum – Maritime

    17.46 MILES

    Significant West Australian boats are suspended from the rafters of this sail-shaped museum building. There's the yacht that won the America's Cup race in…

  • Australia, Perth, Exterior

    Art Gallery of Western Australia

    26.37 MILES

    Founded in 1895, this excellent gallery houses the state's preeminent art collection as well as regular international exhibitions that, increasingly, have…

  • The Basin

    The Basin

    23.6 MILES

    The Basin is Rotto's top family swim spot – a sheltered, natural sandy-floored pool, fringed by reefs to keep the waves at bay. It's a short cycle from…

  • Millbrook Winery

    Millbrook Winery

    21.12 MILES

    Millbrook's lush vine rows and ponds come a a total surprise, nooked into the dry jarrah-clad hillsides the middle of somewhere close to nowhere…

  • Nostalgia Box

    Nostalgia Box

    26.6 MILES

    Ease into poignant, low-pixel childhood memories of Atari, Nintendo and Super Mario at this surprisingly interesting collection of retro 1970s and '80s…

View more attractions

Nearby West Coast Australia attractions

1. Rockingham Museum

3.17 MILES

Run by the local historical society, Rockingham's dinky little art-deco museum (a former library, built in 1947) has plenty of old photos, maps and rusty…

2. Doddi's Beach

14.93 MILES

West of the mouth of the estuary is family-friendly Doddi's Beach, facing the ocean. It's far enough from the main town to sidestep the glitz and cultural…

3. Town Beach

15.01 MILES

Just across from the human-made Ocean Marina, Town Beach delivers some natural respite, with a gentle swell surging in and out and locals basking on the…

4. Swimming Beach

15.26 MILES

If you're not keen on the surf or have little kids in tow, there's a designated, boat-free swimming beach near the footbridge across from Ocean Marina…

5. Hall's Cottage

15.81 MILES

Tiny by modern Mandurah standards (check out the McMansions around this part of town), this whitewashed stone, shingle-roofed cottage was one of the first…

6. Mandurah Museum

15.92 MILES

Mandurah's community-run museum is an engaging little repository of all things aged and olden – it's one of WA's better regional collections. Unless you…

7. South Beach

16.14 MILES

Sheltered, swimmable, only 1.5km from the city centre and on the free CAT bus route.

8. To the Fishermen

17.24 MILES

Poignant bronze by sculptor Greg James of fishermen landing their catch.

  • placement: superzone
  • path: Destinations/POIs/superzone
  • possible size: [970, 250], [970, 90], [728, 90], [1, 1],
  • targeting: 
    {
  "url": "australia/western-australia/rockingham/attractions/shoalwater-islands-marine-park/a/poi-sig/1294801/1294960",
  "destination": "West-Coast-Australia",
  "continent": "Australia-&-Pacific",
  "country": "Australia",
  "region": "West-Coast-Australia",
  "position": "superzone"
}