Inala's South-eastern Queensland birds and wildlife
7-16 November 2024
This tour showcases the very best of south-eastern Queensland’s wildlife, with chances to see a large number of birds, mammals and reptiles. We also visit some stunningly scenic locations which include iconic places such as O’Reilly’s in Lamington National Park, and other areas renowned for their natural values but are not on many tour itineraries, such as the Bunya Mountains and the Great Sandy National Park.
ITINERARY OUTLINE FOR MAIN TOUR:
Day 1. Thu 7 Nov 24. Arrive Brisbane.
Day 2. Fri 8 Nov 24. Brisbane to Lamington National Park
Day 3. Sat 9 Nov 24. Lamington National Park & environs
Day 4. Sun 10 Nov 24. Lamington NP to Warwick
Day 5. Mon 11 Nov 24. Warwick to Bunya Mountains.
Day 6. Tue 12 Nov 24. Bunya Mountains- Brush-tailed Rock Wallaby
Day 7. Wed 13 Nov 24. Bunya Mountains to Rainbow Beach.
Day 8. Thu 14 Nov 24. Rainbow Beach/Cooloola area.
Day 9. Fri 15 Nov 24. Rainbow Beach to Brisbane.
Day 10. Sat 16 Nov 24. Depart Brisbane.
DETAILED ITINERARY: B- breakfast, L- lunch, D-dinner
Day 1. Thursday 7 November 2024. Arrive Brisbane.
Today has been set aside as an arrival day. Own arrangements for arrival at the hotel and meet this evening for a welcome dinner, where you will meet your Inala guide and have a chat about the tour itinerary.
Accommodation: Brisbane hotel (en suite room). Meals included: D.
Day 2. Friday 8 November 2024. Brisbane to Lamington National Park.
This morning we will make our way from the city of Brisbane to Lamington National Park (around 2 hours’ drive), which contains the largest tract of subtropical rainforest in Australia, including large stands of magnificent Antarctic Beech Nothofagus (Lophozonia) moorei that defines Australia’s connection with Gondwana. This 212km² UNESCO World Heritage site is extremely biologically diverse, with a rich assemblage of birds and mammals, and over 60 reptiles and 30 amphibians. We will spend the day walking around the tracks close to our accommodation which are full of birds and reptiles during the day.
Specialties of the park we should see today include Regent Bowerbird, Australian Logrunner, the amazing Paradise Riflebird, Green Catbird, Satin Bowerbird, Crimson Rosella, Australian King Parrot, Lewin’s Honeyeater, Red-browed Finch, Bassian Thrush, Eastern Whipbird, Large-billed Scrubwren & Wonga Pigeon. We will take a break in the late afternoon to watch Red-legged Pademelons, Red-necked Pademelons and Whiptail Wallabies feed on the lawns before an early dinner. After dark we’ll head out into the surrounding forest looking for nocturnal mammals including Short-eared Brushtails (Bobuck), Common Ringtail Possum, Sugar Glider and Central Greater Gliders, Brown Antechinus and Fawn-footed Melomys.
Accommodation: O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat (en suite rooms). Meals included: B, L, D.
Day 3. Saturday 9 November 2024. Lamington National Park.
Today we have a full day to explore the areas further from the lodge with chances of birds like Albert’s Lyrebird, White-eared & Black-faced Monarchs, Yellow-throated Scrubwren, Russet-tailed Thrush, Eastern Whipbird, Wonga, Topknot and White-headed Pigeons, Wompoo Fruit-dove, Rose, Pale Yellow & Eastern Yellow Robins and the stunning Noisy Pitta. In ridge-top woodland nearby we will hopefully connect with Glossy Black-cockatoo, Variegated Fairywren, Pacific Baza, Red-browed Treecreeper and Buff-rumped Thornbill as well as hopefully the shorter-furred, northern form of that most familiar of Australian animals, the Koala. After another early dinner we will spotlight for owls like Sooty Owl & Australian Boobook, as well as a good chance of the bizarre Marbled Frogmouth, and any mammals or other nocturnal fauna we missed the previous night.
Accommodation: O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat (en suite room) as for last night. Meals included: B, L, D.
Day 4. Sunday 10 November 2024. Lamington National Park) to Warwick.
This morning we will leave O’Reilly’s after another look around for anything we may have missed so far, and head out west of Warwick towards some more open, drier woodlands with a range of different birds. Here we will look for birds like Squatter Pigeon, Speckled Warbler, Black-eared Cuckoo, Turquoise Parrot, Little Lorikeet, Plum-headed Finch, Painted Button-quail, Hooded Robin, White-winged Fairywren, Diamond Firetail and a range of honeyeaters like Painted (rare), Striped, Black-chinned, Yellow-tufted & Fuscous. The critically endangered Regent Honeyeater is also a chance here. Mammals include the chance of Black-striped Wallaby, Red-necked Wallaby and Eastern Grey Kangaroo.
Accommodation: Warwick (en suite rooms). Meals included: B, L, D.
Day 5. Monday 11 November 2024. Warwick to Bunya Mountains.
After a little more birding in the morning we’ll head out past Toowoomba, birding along the way through the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range at a few places like Lake Broadwater Conservation Park where we should hopefully find a good range of waterbirds and waders including Red-kneed Dotterel, Pied Stilt, Pink-eared Duck & Musk Duck.
Dry woodland birds include Grey-crowned Babbler, Jacky Winter, Red-backed Kingfisher, Apostlebird, White-throated & Western Gerygone, Red-winged Parrot and Dusky Woodswallow. Spring migrants should hopefully include White-winged Triller, Pallid Cuckoo, Rufous Songlark and White-browed Woodswallow.
Accommodation: Bunya Mountains area Meals included: B, L, D.
Day 6. Tuesday 12 November 2024. Bunya Mountains.
In the morning we will drive up to the Bunya Mountains, an isolated patch of the South-east Queensland and the most westerly of its kind. This area is also one of the last refuges of the Bunya Pine, the last surviving species of the genus Araucaria in the Bunya group (fossils of this group can be found in South America and Europe). This group was diverse and widespread in the Mesozoic Era (particularly 150-200 million years ago). These trees grow to a height of around 45m and produce football-sized cones containing edible kernels which were used as a traditional indigenous food source. We’ll be looking for fruiting rainforest trees that hopefully bring in a range of pigeons like Superb, Rose-crowned & Wompoo Fruit-doves, Topknot Pigeon, Brown Cuckoo-dove, as well as Cicadabird, Spangled Drongo, Varied Triller and Australasian Figbird. Late afternoon we’ll head to a site near Crow’s Nest to search for Brush-tailed Rock Wallaby, keeping an eye out for birds like Channel-billed Cuckoo, Grey Goshawk, Leaden Flycatcher, Pale Yellow Robin, Azure Kingfisher and Scaly-breasted Lorikeet.
Accommodation: Bunya Mountains area Meals included. B, L, D
Day 7. Wednesday 13 November 2024. Bunya Mountains to Rainbow Beach.
We will leave early this morning and head north-east for the coast and the Great Sandy National Park. Recently classified as an Important Bird Area (IBA), we’ll explore the coastal heathlands and dry rainforest scrub of this world-renowned area and look for a few of the more difficult to find specialties like Black-breasted Button-quail, Southern Emu-wren, Lewin’s Rail, Brush Bronzewing, White-cheeked, Scarlet & Mangrove Honeyeaters, Red-backed Fairywren, Little Wattlebird, Tawny Grassbird, Rufous Shrike-thrush, Pheasant Coucal and King Quail. We can spotlight here after dark too and with a bit of luck might see Eastern Grass Owl.
Accommodation: Rainbow Beach. Meals Included: B, L, D.
Day 8. Thursday 14 November 2024. Rainbow Beach.
We will have a full day here to explore this region, visiting habitats ranging from shoreline and estuary, through dry littoral scrub, rainforest patches, woodland, and open heathland. Black-breasted Button-quail will be a major target this morning, as well as other species like Beach Stone-Curlew, Black-necked Stork, Pheasant Coucal, Fairy Gerygone, Spectacled Monarch, Emerald Dove and Brush Cuckoo, plus a range of terns and shorebirds at a nearby well-known landmark. In the afternoon we will explore the heathlands and edge habitats in the Great Sandy NP, looking for birds like Southern Emu-wren, King Quail, White-cheeked Honeyeater and Tawny Grassbird, as well as the rather tricky Eastern Ground Parrot; on dusk we should hear their beautiful piping song. With a bit of good fortune we may see Eastern Grass Owl quartering the heath before it gets dark, after which we’ll head back for a late dinner.
Accommodation: Rainbow Beach. Meals Included: B, L, D.
Day 9. Friday 15 November 2024. Rainbow Beach to Brisbane.
After another morning to explore the area if we still need birds like Black-breasted Button-quail, we’ll make our way south, stopping at various locations along the way for mangrove species like Mangrove Gerygone, Mangrove Honeyeater and Torresian Kingfisher, plus various waders and waterbirds, after which we can make our way back to Brisbane.
Accommodation: Brisbane (en suite rooms). Meals included: B, L, D.
Day 10. Saturday 16 November 2024. Depart Brisbane.
Those leaving us this morning will make their own arrangements to transfer to Brisbane Airport for their departure.
Accommodation: none. Meals included: B.
Group size: 6-8 people + specialist Inala guide.
2024 Tour Price: $5,895 per person twin share. Single supplement: $940
Discounts are available for joining two or more consecutive tours (ie NSW and SE Queensland). Please contact us for details.
Price includes: 9 nights’ accommodation, specialist guide and transport, meals, entrance fees and activities as mentioned in the itinerary and GST.
Price does not include: Airfares, gratuities, alcoholic beverages, snacks, internet, laundry, or other items of a personal nature.
Please click here to open a separate online doc which answers many of the questions you may have about joining an Inala small-group tour, from the structure of an average day to the pace, activity level, meals, rooms etc .......
