Understanding Australian Wildlife Tour, Southeast Queensland - 3 Days

Leaving the city, we head straight to the eucalypt forests (typical 'Aussie bushland') of the Daisy Hill State Forest near the edge of Greater Brisbane. Here you are introduced to some of the important families of bushland plants and what they mean to wildlife, and see local bushbirds, arboreal and terrestrial termite mounds, and - if we are in luck - wild koalas or wallabies.

We then enter the Koala Information Centre for a close-up look at captive koalas in a walk-through enclosure (no touching), a native beehive and very informative displays on koala ecology, behaviour and conservation issues.

Waterbirds are generally abundant at our next stop, the Eagleby Wetlands (ducks, swamphens, swans, egrets, often kingfishers, grebes, stilts, spoonbills, herons, occasionally glossy ibis, magpie goose, black-necked stork, avocet) we head on for lunch in Beaudesert.

On the way to Kooralbyn (an Aboriginal name for a local snake) we talk about a couple of local Aboriginal legends involving wildlife. We check into what will be your accommodation for the next two nights at the Kooralbyn Valley Resort (each room has an ensuite bathroom and a balcony), give you a chance to freshen up and have a cuppa, then head out looking for wild kangaroos, wallabies and waterbirds: some excellent photo opportunities here, as the kangaroos and wallabies don't seem to mind us quietly driving quite close to them. Sometimes there are also a few thousand fruit bats hanging from the trees by the river.

On to the Araucaria property to visit the Scenic Rim Wildlife Ecology Centre (a walk through 500million years of history of Australia in general and the Scenic Rim in particular, habitats of Australia, wildlife of the Scenic Rim etc.), and sit and wait by the creek just before dusk in the hope of seeing wild platypus (and often seeing turtles, catfish, cuckoodoves, honeyeaters, kingfishers and other wildlife). The platypus are more predictable in the latter half of the year, when they are breeding and don't stray far from their nests, but they are around throughout the year.

Now we return to the vehicle looking for possums, owls and other nocturnal wildlife on our way back to Kooralbyn for dinner and bedtime. Some of the places we seek nocturnal animals form part of a citizen science project to ascertain the effectiveness of a wildlife corridors project

Rise early if you wish to do some birdwatching in the forests at Cougal Park or birding and platypus-spotting along the creek next to the campground. After breakfast we head to O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat at Lamington National Park, where we spend the morning exploring the World Heritage rainforests and seeking bowerbirds, whipbirds and many other forest birds. Pademelons (small wallabies) often make an appearance in the forest or the neghbouring campground. In warmer months me may also see carpet pythons, land mullets and other reptiles.

After lunch we visit a flying fox (fruitbat) colony, regarded as a major breeding ground for the grey-headed flying fox, whose numbers have been decreasing, and often also harbouring black flying foxes and little red flying foxes.

Then it's on to Binna Burra, on the eastern edge of Lamington National Park, nestled between raiforest and tall eucalypt forest. Campers will settle into permanent Safari tents, and others into comfortable log cabins before a short walk through the rainforest, again seeking birds and other wildlife.

After dinner we conduct a brief search for nocturnal animals before bed.

You may like to spend a bit of time birdwatching in the rainforest or eucalypt forest near the lodge before breakfast.

After breakfast we take a walk through both rainforest and eucalypt forest, occasionally seeing koalas in the eucalypt section, as well as goannas, land mullets and other reptiles.

We then drive to Fingal, where we walk through coastal banksia woodland, to a natural sandy beach with pounding surf, which we follow to the basalt cliffs, the easternmost flows of ancient lava. From the cliff-tops we often see dolphins and sometimes turtles and stingrays. We usually see terns, and sometimes gannets, ospreys or sea eagles. We also view basalt columns similar to (but smaller than) the Giant's Causeway of Ireland, and feature g in Aboriginal legend as a giant echidna.

The Wildlife Park we now visit was started by the zoologist David Fleay in the 1950'2. David was the first to ever breed the platypus in captivity, and one of the last people to interact with a living thylacine. He was successful in breeding many rare species and when in his 80's he handed his precious property over to National Parks for a low sum, and they continued to breed rare and endangered species for many years but are now concentrating more on wildlife interpretation. Here we see various rare mammal species, and it is also an opportunity to see northern species such as cassowaries and both Australian species of crocodile. It is one of the few places we can watch the platypus swimming under water, using its rubbery bill to seek electrical vibrations from its prey. Non-captive animals that bring themselves in from the surrounding bush and make the park their home, including eastern water dragons, nankeen night herons and magpie geese.

Our last stop is at Coombabah in the northern part of the Gold Coast, where we walk through eucaylpt forest and tea-tree wetlands, seeing many kangaroos, birds and more often than not a wild koala or two.

Remember it is possible from May to September to make this a 4-day tour by Starting on Tuesday instead of Wednesday and adding a half-day of whale-watching.