We travel to several lagoons and swamps and a tree-lined river, and enjoy a gentle walk through tea-tree wetland and open forest seeking waterbirds, bushbirds and raptors. Many of the birds are nomadic or seasonal, so we’re never quite sure which species we’ll encounter, but there is always a good variety. Birds often seen (no guarantees for any) include black swans, various ducks, spoonbills, egrets, darters, pelicans, cormorants, grebes, stilts, various honeyeaters, whistlers, fairy-wrens, cisticolas, cockatoos, eagles and kites. More rarely we see storks, magpie geese, snipes and various others.

Wild kangaroos and wallabies live in the open eucalyptus forest and come out to graze in the early morning and late afternoon, and koalas are occasionaly seen. They are not actually tame but accustomed to human presence, and often allow the tour vehicle to approach closely for photos. The birdlife includes bushbirds (honeyeaters, cuckooshrikes, lorikeets, kookaburras etc.) and waterbirds (swans, ducks, herons, egrets, darters and others).
We usually spend two nights at The Kooralbyn Valley Resort, each room with private bathroom and balcony overlooking trees, birds and often wild kangaroos (but there is an option with additional charge for one or two nights at O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat, often selected by birdwatchers).

A property adjacent to Mt Chinghee National Park seasonally-dry rainforest, open eucalypt forest and a tree-lined creek. There are no guarantees, but the platypus can often be seen in the creek in the late afternoon, especially in the latter half of the year when they are breeding. Many birds also live here (honeyeaters, doves, kookaburras, galahs, whipbirds, currawongs etc) and sometimes wallabies, turtles, lizards, catfish and eels may be seen. A wildlife ecology centre explains the geological and biographical history of Australia and of the landscapes and wildlife of our locality, the Scenic Rim, and the ecology and behaviour of some of our local wildlife. A butterfly walk show-cases Australia’s five major butterfly families, and some of the plants our local butterflies and their caterpillars feed on, with additional information on various local species.

An extensive area of lush subtropical rainforest and some open forest, with a high diversity of birds (bowerbirds, lyrebirds, parrots, log-runners, brush turkeys, many others), also pademelons (small wallabies), possums, pythons, lizards and other wildlife. There are any excellent walking tracks. Either Green Mountains (O’Reilly’s) or Binna Burra are visited on this tour for lunch and the entry to walking tracks. We can also include one of two nights here instead of Kooralbyn (additional charge)

A nationally significant breeding colony of grey-headed flying foxes (fruitbats) roost here, and usually also black flying foxes and occasionally little red flying foxes. They mostly sleep during daylight hours, looking like clusters of big black fruits in the trees. although there are usually a few that are awake, stretching their wings or grooming themselves or (in breeding season) their babies, and chattering to each other. We may also see colonies in Beaudesert or Kooralbyn (they move around a bit depending on fruiting and flowering seasons), and if it can be fitted into our schedule may be able to watch thousabds taking to the skies at dusk.

A nationally significant breeding colony of grey-headed flying foxes (fruitbats) roost here, and often also black flying foxes and little red flying foxes. There are also a couple of excellent restaurants for morning tea or for dinner if we are watching the bats flying out at dusk.

This sanctuary, surrounded by native bushland, was founded by zoologist David Fleay, the first person to breed platypus in captivity, last person to photograph Tasmanian Tiger before their extinction, and much success with breeding rare species and educating the pubic about our wildlife, partly through the Wildlife Preservation Society of Australia, the state’s longest running conservation society, which he co-founded. The sanctuary now belongs to National Parks, and our visit allows us to see rare species and species from the tropics (cassowaries, tree-kangaroos, crocodiles) and the outback that we won’t see on our other travels, as well as an additional chance to see platypus, pythons and gliding possums.

A wildlife park started by zoologist David Fleay and now run by National Parks, featuring Queensland wildlife including northern species such as cassowaries, crocodiles and tree kangaroos, rare and threatened species such as bibles, stickiest rats and bridled nail-tail wallabies, an aquarium where we watch platypus swimming underwater, and various other species such as emus, kangaroos, koalas. gliding possums and various reptiles and waterbirds.

A large reserve near the Gold Coast, it supports a population of wild koalas, as well as swamp wallabies, many eastern grey kangaroos and a good bird life. We always see large gatherings of kangaroos as they leave the forest to graze on the grasses in the late afternoon, and usually see at least one or two koalas.