Australia is a vast continent harbouring many fabulous, endemic birds and bizarre wildlife found nowhere else on our planet. During this exciting trip, we will cover an incredible range of habitats ranging from lush expanses of dense tropical rainforest, tall and stunted (mallee) Eucalypt woodland and sclerophyll forest to coastal heath, mudflats, rocky shorelines, grassland, spinifex, Mulga woodland and saltmarsh near the edge of the desolate outback. We can therefore expect a fantastic collection of endemic birds and incredible mammals.
Exploring the east of this vast country, we begin in northern Queensland where highlights include Victoria’s Riflebird from the bird-of-paradise family, Golden and Tooth-billed Bowerbirds, Spotted Catbird, Chowchilla, Beach Stone-curlew and the outrageous Southern Cassowary among a suite of Atherton Tableland and wet tropic endemics. We then continue to the world-famous Lamington NP in search of rainforest specialties such as Albert’s Lyrebird, Australian King Parrot, the brilliant Regent and Satin Bowerbirds, Australian Logrunner, Paradise Riflebird and Noisy Pitta amongst numerous other potential highlights. Flying south, we then stop in at Sydney, birding into the interior through New South Wales and Victoria all the way to Melbourne. During this final week of the Eastern tour, we hope to find several wet and dry-country specialties like the spectacular Superb Lyrebird, unique Pilotbird and Rockwarbler, the strange Plains-wanderer, a plethora of colourful parrots and cockatoos, Chestnut Quail-thrush, Striated Grasswren, Mallee Emu-wren, Rufous and Eastern Bristlebirds and the endangered Hooded Plover among many other mouth-watering species. We’ll also no doubt encounter many of Australia’s bizarre and iconic mammals such as Koala, Wombat, Echidna, Platypus and a large selection of possums, gliders, kangaroos and wallabies.
Emu; Southern Cassowary; Black-necked Stork; Great-billed Heron; Wedge-tailed Eagle; Spotted Harrier; Black Falcon; Brolga; Sarus Crane; Pink-eared & Musk Ducks; Plainswanderer; Australian Bustard; Beach Stone-curlew; Hooded Plover; Red-necked Avocet; Banded Stilt; Inland Dotterel; Australian Pratincole; Victoria's & Paradise Riflebirds; Noisy Pitta; Superb & Alberts Lyrebirds; Rose-crowned, Wompoo & Superb Fruit Doves; Bar-shouldered Dove; Topknot & Squatter Pigeons; Torresian Imperial Pigeon; King Parrot; Eastern Ground Parrot; Powerful & Rufous Owl; Australian Owlet-nightjar; Yellow-tailed & Red-tailed Black Cockatoo; Major Mitchell's Cockatoo; Golden, Regent, Satin & Great Bowerbirds; Regents, Mangrove & Macleay’s Honeyeaters; Lovely, Superb & Splendid Fairywrens; Diamond Firetail.
Platypus; Short-beaked Echidna; Northern Brown & Long-nosed Bandicoots; Koala; Short-eared, Coppery & Common Brush-tailed Possums; Stiped Possum; Yellow-bellied & Sugar Gliders; Lemuroid, Common, Green & Herbert River Ringtail Possums; Musky Rat Kangaroo; Lumholtz's Tree-kangaroo; Agile, Whiptail, Red-necked, Mareeba Rock & Swamp Wallabies; Western Grey & Eastern Grey Kangaroos; Red-legged & Red-necked Pademelon; Spectacled Flying Fox.
woodland, tropical and temperate forest, swamps, riverine woodland, grasslands, coastal bush, estuaries and ocean
hot and humid in north, cooler in the interior mountains of the central areas
8 with 1 Rockjumper leader
easy going, short trails with some hills
comfortable throughout
mostly easy birding with a few tricky species
370-400
good to excellent
Erik Forsyth is a wonderful guy, so enjoyable to travel with. He is knowledgeable, down to earth and quite humorous! We did New Zealand with Erik a few years ago and would definitely go with him on other Rockjumper Trips in the future. Also, we would recommend Erik to others considering him as their leader.
Erik Forsyth went above and beyond to give personal attention to each participant. How does he do it? Lack of sleep and a packed itinerary would challenge the best guide, but he seems to always be positive and light-hearted. Cracking dry jokes and comments – loved it!
Glen was excellent at finding the birds and keeping track of who had not yet seen specific birds. By the end of the tour there were very few birds not seen by all in the group.
Erik Forsyth did a great job, and both his remarkable knowledge and his unflagging good humor were indispensable; I look forward to traveling with him again in the future.
It was a fantastic trip. Very satisfying and Angus did a great job : he really showed us the birds and took great care that we had everything we wanted and were able to enjoy our tour.
15 Sep 2024 - 06 Oct 2024 (22 days)
AUD14,695 - Spaces Available on this guaranteed departure
Tour Leader: Local Leader
Tour Leader: Erik Forsyth
Tour price (Per person): AUD14,695 * USD9,584 * GBP7,586 * EUR8,875
Single Supplement: AUD2,250 * USD1,467 * GBP1,162 * EUR1,359
Flight costs: AUD660 * USD430 * GBP341 * EUR399
Can be linked with: Australia - Tasmania Extension I 2024
Tour Leader: Steve Davidson
Tour price (Per person): AUD14,695 * USD9,584 * GBP7,586 * EUR8,875
Single Supplement: AUD2,250 * USD1,467 * GBP1,162 * EUR1,359
Flight costs: AUD660 * USD430 * GBP341 * EUR399
Can be linked with: Australia - Tasmania Extension II 2024
Tour Leader: Gregory de Klerk
Tour Leader: Local Leader
Pricing notes : *Prices are estimated and dates may change*
Tour price (Per person): AUD16,000 * USD10,435 * GBP8,260 * EUR9,663
Can be linked with: Australia - Tasmania Extension II 2025
Australia, New Zealand & New Caledonia - Bird Families of Australasia 2023 - November 2023
Australia - Tasmania Extension II 2023 - October 2023
Australia - East Coast II 2023 - September 2023
Australia - Southwest Extension II 2023 - September 2023
Australia - Cape York Extension 2023 - July 2023
Australia - The Queensland Outback 2023 - July 2023
Australia - Tasmania Extension I 2022 - October 2022
Australia - East Coast I 2022 - September 2022
Australia - Southwest Extension I 2022 - September 2022
Australia - Kakadu & the Top End 2022 - August 2022
Australia - East Coast II 2019 - September 2019
Australia - East Coast II 2018 - September 2018
Australia - East Coast I 2018 - September 2018
Australia - Southwest Extension I 2018 - September 2018
Australia - Kakadu & the Top End 2018 - July 2018
Australia - East Coast 2017 - September 2017
Australia - East Coast I 2016 - October 2016
Australia - Southwest Extension I 2016 - September 2016