Come on Rottnest. Seriously. Get. It. Together.

As if the holiday isle – as gorgeous as the beaches are – hasn’t received enough criticism lately. Dodgy accommodation. Expensive. 'Bali’s better'. A booking system that takes your money more than a year before you set foot on the ferry. Quokkas jumping on your pub table during dinner.

And now: a website that crashes on the day holidaymakers are told to 'book or miss out'. A phone line that crashes too. Hangs up on you when you try it. With an insanely annoying message that says, yeah, we’re busy. Call back later. And hangs up on you.

For years Rottnest Island has enjoyed the loyalty of families, including mine. Credit: Daile Cross.

I tried three times about 4pm today and was hung up on every time. Others have been trying all day. All day!

One woman told 9 News Perth she'd phoned 855 times. Another couple actually went so far as to take the ferry over to the island to book in its visitor centre.

Those of us loyal to the island, the cute little quokkas, the quaint freedom for kids, the crystal waters, are hanging on by a thread today.

Trying to book for January 2020 — by which time global warming might have the water lapping at the island’s signature pub bar — and being stuffed around like this isn’t good enough.

A comment on the island’s Facebook page described it quite poetically: “a day of blood-curdling frustration”.

On top of frustrating families whose 20-year traditions are to gather on the island during school holidays with these technical issues (and there have been ongoing technical issues with the booking system before this) the Rottnest Island Authority has not been clear about the problems with the phone line.

“Regrettably, we were advised our online booking provider suffered a global outage on the same day Rottnest Island Authority had its January 2020 Open Day,” Rottnest Island Authority executive director Michelle Reynolds said.

“This coupled with the record volume of bookings meant that the reservation phone line has had intermittent outages throughout the day.

“We had a contingency plan in place, with all available staff being deployed to take bookings”.

I love quokkas. Just not on my table. Credit: Daile Cross.

She said they had kept potential customers updated through social media and the website. But the website still said this as of 4.40pm.

“We are experiencing a high volume of bookings for January 2020 to be made on Wednesday 10 October from 8.30am. If you are having difficulties with making your booking, please contact Reservations on [phone] later today, or visit us at the E-Shed Markets Victoria Quay, Fremantle. The Rottnest Island Authority E-Shed offices will be open until 8pm to allow people to secure accommodation for January 2020. We apologise for the ongoing issues with online bookings and bookings by phone.”

She added that she had offered those who could make it to line up at the E-Shed Reception a light lunch.

Awesome. There were reports that the line went around the building. I’m sure people got hungry. And thirsty. And homicidal.

But it’s not really a fair system when people who don’t live near Fremantle, or work, or cannot travel, or live in the country, or interstate, or further away, don’t have that option. Aren’t we trying to attract more interstate and international visitors?

Why not cancel today and set another day where the line and website could be working properly to make it fair for everyone?

Someone else just wrote on Facebook, "Just saw the notice on the website advising that E-Shed will be open until 8pm. That is just so unfair ... those of us who cannot get there, after trying on the website and phone all day, will miss out. Rottnest, you need to do something to make it accessible to the rest of us!"

There was still a lot of accommodation available at 3.30pm, with only 40 per cent of serviced accommodation booked for January.

If you were among the 270 people who did manage to make a booking on the phone, go buy a Lotto ticket.

“We would like to reassure our loyal visitors that we are working hard to process bookings and we will keep the office and phone line open until 8.00pm to try to make sure that all those wishing to complete their booking today will have the opportunity to do so,” Ms Reynolds said.

How does the jingle go again? Oh that’s right. Rottnest. Take me to my island!