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Australia's Remarkable Wildlife
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| September 22 - 23 | Fly to Brisbane, arrive by mid-afternoon September 24 (cross Intl Dateline from US). |
| September 24 | Meet Tonia upon arrival and drive to Lamington NP. 3 nights at O'Reilly's Mountain Resort. |
| September 25 - 26 | Explore the special habitats of Lamington NP for amazing animals, plants, and scenery. |
| September 27 | Drive to Brisbane for flight to Adelaide. Overnight near Adelaide Airport. |
| September 28 | Fly to Kangaroo Island. Visit Flinders Chase NP and other reserves. Night at Ozone Hotel. |
| September 29 | Full day on Kangaroo Island before return flight to Adelaide. Overnight near Airport. |
| September 30 | Fly to Devonport for Tasmania's endemic wildlife. Overnight in Wynyard. |
| October 1 - 2 | West Wynyard Reserve. NW Coast with Tasmanian Devils. 2 nights in Arthur River. |
| October 3 | Seal Cruise at Stanley and Platypus at Latrobe. Narawntapu NP. Night at Hawley House. |
| October 4 | Hawley Beach, Evercreech Forest, and other reserves. Overnight in Campbelltown. |
| October 5 | Drive to Bruny Island and Inala. Night spotting around Bruny. Night in cottages on Bruny. |
| October 6 | From Bruny Island to Hobart and surrounding reserves. Overnight in Hobart. |
| October 7 | Early flight from Hobart, Tasmania to Melbourne and points homeward. |
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Meals included are indicated by B = Breakfast, L = Lunch, D = Dinner, * = meal on flight.
September 22 - 24, Wednesday - Friday Flights to Brisbane, Brisbane to Lamington National Park
Qantas, Air New Zealand, United, and other airlines have daily flights to Brisbane, either via Sydney or Auckland. If you are crossing the International Dateline flying west, you will lose one day. Arrive at the Brisbane Airport by midday on Friday, September 24 for the airport transfer with Tonia Cochran to Lamington National Park. Perhaps depart a day or two earlier to have time on your own in Sydney or Brisbane and to adjust to the time change. If continuing from Cairns with Tonia, plan to leave our hotel for the Cairns Airport on Friday morning and arrive in Brisbane at midday. From the Brisbane Airport, you'll board a bus for the ride to O'Reilly's, located 75 miles southeast of Brisbane in Lamington National Park on the border of Queensland and New South Wales. Stop for a quick lunch in the town of Canungra, at the foot of the Lamington plateau. Ascend the Lamington eucalypt plateau to 3,000 feet, keeping watch for Eastern Grey Kangaroos and Pretty-faced Wallabies as they become active in mid-afternoon. On the edge of the plateau inside Lamington National Park, where the dry eucalypt habitat changes to rainforest, you'll find the famous O'Reilly's Mountain Resort. The O'Reilly family runs this beautiful resort, creating an atmosphere that is as wonderful as the wildlife. We'll check in before gathering for a walk out to the canopy walkway and around the grounds with the amazing resident fauna. Dinner will be together in the O'Reilly's dining room this evening. (L.D. on Sep 24.)
September 25 - 26, Saturday - Sunday: Lamington National Park and O'Reilly's Mountain Resort
Before breakfast both days, enjoy the wildlife that appears each morning along the trails and at the feeding stations on the lodge grounds. The mound-building Brush Turkey, bowerbirds, parrots, and Red-shouldered Pademelons are all easily photographed. Seek out the more secretive birds such as Owlet-nightjar, Eastern Whipbird, Southern Logrunner, and Albert's Lyrebird in the prime forest at the edge of the lodge, where excellent walking tracks offer many choices. With two full days at O'Reilly's Mountain Resort, enjoy the unique forest trails with Glen Threlfo, a wonderful photographer and long-time naturalist at O'Reilly's, and with naturalist Tim O'Reilly and other great personalities at the lodge. Walk an excellent track to the edge of the Antarctic Beech forest to experience this unique habitat of ancient nothofagus draped with beautiful epiphytes. Evening spotlighting is optional but is an excellent chance to see marsupials, Tawny Frogmouth and possibly even Marbled Frogmouth. Mountain Brushtail Possums (Bobuck) and other nocturnal wildlife visit O'Reilly's fruit table adjoining the dining room after dark. (B.L.D. both days.)
September 27, Monday: From Lamington National Park to Adelaide
On our last morning in Lamington National Park, we'll still have time for more great photos as we watch the fascinating interactions of the birds. By mid-morning, depart the plateau with a picnic lunch for the ride back down to the Brisbane Airport for our afternoon flight to Adelaide. On arrival in Adelaide, we will transfer to the Comfort Inn Aviators Hotel near the airport. (This may be done in two trips due to the small size of the shuttle bus, but it is only a short distance and will not take long.) Dine together at the hotel, then return to your room to prepare for the overnight on Kangaroo Island. The flight to the island is on a smaller plane with a strict baggage limit of 14 kilo or 30 pounds, so you will need to pack just one small bag to take for the two day, one night stay on Kangaroo Island. The rest of our luggage will be stored safely at the Aviators Hotel and picked up upon our return. (B.LD.)
Koala Bear
September 28 - 29, Tuesday - Wednesday: Kangaroo Island
After an early breakfast, we will transfer back to the Adelaide Airport for our REX flight to Kangaroo Island. It is a 35-minute flight and is included in the cost of the trip. On our arrival, we will meet Craig Wickham, our excellent guide from Kangaroo Island. We'll drive to Flinders Chase National Park, which covers the entire west end of the island and is a breeding site for the rare Cape Barren Goose. Along the beautiful coastal landscapes, a New Zealand Fur Seal colony is doing well at Cape du Couedic. The colony can be observed from the rocks at Admirals Arch, a spectacular coastal grotto. Flinders is also famous for an abundance of Koalas, which were introduced on Kangaroo Island. Late in the day we will walk into "Grassdale" to look for wild kangaroos.
The best place to see waterbirds is at Duck Lagoon with Musk Duck, Black Swan, Australian Shelduck, Pacific Black Duck, Australasian Shoveler, Chestnut Teal, Hoary-headed Grebe, Australasian Grebe, White-faced Heron, and Purple Swamphen. We'll seek out the Kangaroo Island subspecies of the Glossy Black Cockatoo at Latham Conservation Park, where biologists have taken steps to expand the breeding opportunities of this endangered species. This is also an excellent area to see Tammar Wallabies and Grey Kangaroos. The coast here has a protected beach site for Australian Sea Lions coming ashore to rest, along with several species of cormorants and possibly Hooded Plovers. There are also great habitats for possible encounters with Superb Blue Wren, Dusky Woodswallows, Striated Pardalote, Purple-crowned Lorikeet and a range of honeyeaters.
We'll stay one night at the Ozone Seafront Hotel on the ocean in the small town of Kingscote. The hotel was named back in 1920s when Ozone meant fresh air and has been rebuilt more than once, but the name has stayed the same! Across the street from the Ozone, there are very vocal Little Penguins that come into their burrows along the edge of the sea after dark and during the day dolphins are sometimes seen cruising by. Note: Tonia will be night spotting for Little Penguins while on Bruny Island, in Tasmania, but you may want to visit this colony also (optional but highly recommended; cost is about $20 each). People are not allowed to access the colony without one of the guides in charge of protecting the colony. Little Penguins are very shy, especially as they come out of the ocean and are easily frightened back into the water. Once Little Penguins reach their burrows without any disturbance, they do not run back into the sea. They rest and relax at the burrow entrance. Flash photography is not allowed and visitors to the colony must be escorted by one of the resident Little Penguin tour guides. Both on Kangaroo Island and in Tasmania, Little Penguins are fully protected to help increase their numbers.
We'll have a delicious seafood Aussie barbecue lunch one day in Kangaroo Island bush (woodland) and a picnic lunch on the other day. Dinner on our own for the first night at a restaurant close by, the closest being the Ozone's Bistro. Farewell dinner together with Craig at the Ozone Hotel on the second night before departing on the last flight back to Adelaide for the evening. Transfer back to Aviators Hotel near Adelaide Airport for overnight. (B.L. on both days. D. on Sep 29.)
September 30, Thursday: Adelaide to northern Tasmania
This morning, we take an early flight via Melbourne to Devonport on Tasmania's northern coastline. We'll arrive in Devonport early afternoon and meet Nick Mooney, our outstanding guide, who will join Tonia for the week. Nick is directly involved with promoting and protecting the Tasmanian Devil and works fulltime for the Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service to increase protection for all Tasmanian native species. His specialties are raptors and Dasyurids (carnivorous marsupials). We have been very fortunate to have him as our guide on many tours in Tasmania. Visit Nick's favorite reserves around the Devonport area and stay at the nearby town of Wynyard overnight. Group dinner in Wynyard. (B*.L*.D.)
October 1 - 2, Friday - Saturday: West Wynyard Reserve, NW Coast with Tassie Devils
On Friday we will travel along the northern coast of Tasmania on the Tasman Sea. Stop at West Wynyard Reserve in a beautiful gum forest, an excellent place to look for the endangered White Goshawk (the white morph of the Grey Goshawk) and for Brush Bronzewing. During our week in Tasmania, we'll encounter many raptors, including Wedge-tailed Eagle (endangered Tasmanian subspecies), White-bellied Sea-Eagle, Swamp Harrier, Brown Falcon, and two species of accipiters. By late afternoon, check in to your accommodation in the small, west coast town of Arthur River.
In the evening, we will meet up with Marrawah resident Geoff King on his property nearby. On both nights, Geoff will be setting up a Devil smorgasbord outside his ocean-side hide or shack, which provides amazing views of this rare and elusive species. Devils are now listed as endangered due to a cancer that has killed many of them in the southern part of Tasmania. Fortunately, the Devils here in the northwest are still healthy. Interactions between Tasmanian Devils are very interesting, especially at a feeding site. Half of us will be Devil watching with Geoff and the other half spotlighting with Nick each of these two evenings. With Nick we could also see Wombat, Brushtail Possum, and two species of macropods, Bennett's Wallaby (a sub-species of the Red-necked Wallaby) and Tasmanian Pademelon (also called Red-bellied Pademelon or Rufous Wallaby). There is also a good chance of seeing Southern Boobook, a small owl that calls out its name "boo-book", and Tawny Frogmouth. We will have one evening dinner at the Marrawah Tavern with Tonia and one in the shack with Geoff and Nick.
On Saturday we will take a full day Arthur River cruise for the chance of seeing many species, including White-bellied Sea Eagles and Azure Kingfishers, which are rarely seen in Tasmania. The cruise includes a delicious picnic lunch in the rainforest. Return late afternoon and get ready for another evening of night viewing. (B.L.D. both days.)
October 3, Sunday: Stanley Australian Fur Seal Boat Trip and Narawntapu National Park
We will travel to Stanley this morning and join a boat trip to visit and photograph a very active Australian Fur Seal colony. Travel back along the coast to Latrobe, "Platypus capital of the world", with a beautiful meandering stream in a well-protected native gum forest. In addition to Platypus, we'll also look for some of the birds not yet seen. Check in at delightful Hawley House at Hawley Beach near Devonport by mid-afternoon and take some time to enjoy this splendid setting, as it will be dark when we return. We'll head to Narawntapu National Park in the late afternoon, when an amazing number of Wombats come out to graze before dark. We have wonderful photos from past trips of wombat babies poking their heads out or feet dangling out of a mother's pouch just under her tail. Narawntapu National Park also has good numbers of waterfowl on a large lagoon, plus many Bennett's Wallaby and Forester Kangaroo appear around dusk. Return to Hawley House for a delicious dinner and a chance for more night spotting on a nearby track where Little Penguins may be nesting. Overnight at Hawley House. (B.L.D.)
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October 4, Monday: Hawley Beach to Evercreech Forest and overnight in Campbelltown
Depart the picturesque Hawley Beach this morning and seek out nature's paradise in Evercreech Forest Reserve, one of Nick and Tonia's favorite places in Tasmania. This is an unforgettably peaceful place on the planet and a great location to see the lovely Pink Robin and other Tasmanian forest birds. Explore among giant White Gums, called "White Knights", as they are the tallest While Gums existing. Later today head south down the Midlands Highway to a lovely B&B in Campbelltown for dinner and overnight. (B.L.D.)
October 5, Tuesday: Bruny Island
After breakfast, we'll travel down past Hobart to board the Bruny Island Ferry. All twelve of the endemic Tasmanian birds are found in these southern regions of Hobart and Bruny Island in surrounding native vegetation, plus the Short-beaked Echidna. We'll be looking for Scrubtit, Yellow Wattlebird and other honeyeaters, Yellow-rumped Thornbill, and Forty-spotted Pardalote. This evening enjoy a range of mammals while night spotting, including Eastern Quoll, Tasmanian Pademelon, Bennett's Wallaby, and Brushtail Possum, plus Little Penguins as they come in from the ocean to their burrows. We'll overnight in self-contained cottages near Tonia's property on Bruny. Each of the six cottages has two bedrooms and one bathroom, and every effort will be made for each couple/twin to have their own cottage to avoid the use of shared bathrooms. (B.L.D.)
October 6, Wednesday: Hobart, Tasmania
This morning, enjoy the bird activity on Bruny Island before breakfast, then travel to areas near Hobart, where a number of special reserves will produce more interesting bird and mammal species, as well as very unique habitats. We'll transfer to a hotel in a great location by Hobart's Fisherman's Wharf and have our farewell dinner together. Depending on energy levels this evening, join Nick and Tonia night spotting for an hour or so with the hope of finding Eastern Barred Bandicoots, Tasmanian Bettongs, and possibly even the shy Long-nosed Potoroo. Sometimes the Masked Owl is also found hunting in this area. (B.L.D.)
October 7, Thursday: Flight from Hobart to Melbourne and homeward
Our Hobart hotel is not far from the airport. An early morning flight from Hobart to Melbourne will arrive in time to connect with flights homeward via Los Angeles, or other connecting locations. If traveling to the USA, you will arrive on the same day, gaining back the day lost crossing the International Dateline on the way to Australia. (B*.)
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Costs, Payments and Cancellations: Upon receiving your deposit, we will send trip materials, including a travel guide with trip essentials, reading list, species lists, and maps. Deposits are refundable before the final payment date, except for $150. The $150 may go toward another tour if a reservation is made within six months of the departure date of this trip. There are no refunds given after the final payment date. Trip cancellation insurance applications are available. Trip options, if any, and singles are extra.
| Cost per Person | |
| Trip cost, double occupancy | $6,2001 |
| Single supplement | $1,175 |
| Payment Schedule | |
| Deposit - to reserve your space | $500 |
| September 30, 2009 - second payment | $2,000 |
| May 31, 2010 - final payment | remaining balance |
| 1Note: this price is based on a rate of exchange of US$0.77 = AUS$1.00. We reserve the right to charge for cost increases, including those due to exchange rate change, that occur between now and the date of travel. | |
Save $300 when booking this trip along with Australia North; book both trips for $12,300!
Not Included:
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Reservations: Please contact us to assure space availability and to let us answer your questions. Then, print our reservation form, fill it out, and post it to us in the mail with your deposit:
Cheesemans' Ecology Safaris
20800 Kittredge Road
Saratoga, CA 95070
Toll Free: (800) 527-5330
Local: (408) 741-5330
Fax: (408) 741-0358
Email: info@cheesemans.com
Flights: Arrive in Brisbane by midday on September 24 to meet Tonia and participants continuing from our Northern Australia safari. They will be arriving on flight QF 709 from Cairns at 12:10pm.
All domestic flights within Australia are on Qantas. You should book domestic with international flights when ticketing. Note: The Qantas Aussie AirPass includes flights from New York, Los Angeles, or Honolulu that are packaged with domestic flights in Australia. The domestic flights are discounted using the Qantas AirPass, an incentive to fly Qantas on the international flights. Flight times and numbers below are based on current schedule for November 2008. Please check with us before booking the Qantas domestic flights through your international airline if any flight schedules have changed substantially.
| Date | Flight | Depart | Time | Arrive | Time |
| Sept 27 | QF 663 | Brisbane | 3:35 pm | Adelaide | 5:55 pm |
| Sept 30 | QF 670 | Adelaide | 6:05 am | Melbourne | 7:50 am |
| Sept 30 | QF 2053 | Melbourne | 11:40 am | Davonport | 12:55 pm |
| Oct 7 | QF 1010 | Hobart | 6:05 am | Melbourne | 7:15 am |
| Note: Round trip flights Adelaide to Kangaroo Island are included in tour price and arranged by Cheesemans' Ecology Safaris for all participants. | |||||
Travel Insurance: There are many types of travel insurance, including emergency medical and evacuation insurance, and also trip cancellation insurance. Unless you specifically decline it, Cheesemans' Ecology Safaris requires, at a minimum, insurance to cover emergency medical care and evacuation for the duration of the tour. We have had good experience with Access America. Visit their website for complete details and we will also send you their brochure with your trip materials. You can purchase a policy via their website, phone or by mail. If you choose, separate trip cancellation insurance to cover trip costs is also available. Whatever insurance you purchase, be sure to review the terms of all available policies carefully in order to buy the policy that you need.
Tonia Cochran
Leaders: Tonia Cochran Cochran is a wonderful naturalist, guide, and conservationist. Since 1988, Tonia has lived at Inala, a 500-acre private wildlife reserve on Bruny Island in Tasmania. She has a wide range of experience in Australian marine and terrestrial fauna and flora, and has led a varied professional biological career. She has a Bachelor of Science degree (with a double major in Zoology and Botany), a BSc (Honors) degree, and a PhD in Zoology from the University of Melbourne. She has also gained extensive teaching experience (including a lecturing position in one of the top universities in Victoria), and has worked in close association with the Invertebrate Zoology Department at the Museum of Victoria. She was involved in sub-Antarctic and Antarctic research from 1985 to 1996, and has undertaken consulting and contract work for the Australian Antarctic Division in Tasmania since 1990, including participation in several Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition Marine Science voyages. Tonia works as an environmental consultant on a number of projects. She is also a member of the national recovery team for two endangered birds, the Forty-spotted Pardalote and the Wedge-tailed Eagle, and is a participant in the Swift Parrot Recovery program. Tonia is committed to promoting tourism that is ecologically sustainable and educational, and has been active in establishing such a venture in Tasmania and promoting this philosophy in her position as founding Chair of the organization, Wildlife Tourism Australia. Tonia is well organized, caring, and professional, a superb leader with a great personality and sense of humor. Tonia and the Cheesemans have hand selected exceptional resident guides to compliment and add to her expertise in each region. These guides have all worked with Doug and Gail Cheeseman and/or Tonia on many safaris in Australia.
Mailing List: If you would like to be on our mailing list or request information, please use our online request form or send us your name, address, email address and phone number. Please note we will never share your personal information with anybody!
Responsibility: Cheesemans' Ecology Safaris, Saratoga, California, act only as agents and shall not be responsible or become liable for any delay incurred by any person in connection with any means of transportation, nor for the loss, damage, or injury to person or property by reason of any event beyond the control of the agency or default of such agency suppliers. We reserve the right to cancel the tour prior to departure in which case full refund will constitute full settlement to the passenger. No refund will be made for any unused portion of the tour unless arrangements are made at the time of booking. All rates are based on current tariffs, exchange rates and fuel prices and are subject to adjustment in the event of any change therein. By sending your initial deposit, you agree to accept our payment schedule as a contract. If payments are still outstanding two weeks after the due date, your space may be forfeited. Baggage is at the owner's risk.
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