Itinerary

Fri., Feb. 15, 2013* Arrive in Hobart, Tasmania
Arrive Sydney in the morning and transfer to a flight to Hobart late afternoon (we recommend that you would connect with Qantas flight QF1019 SYD-HBA 14:15-16:05 – but upon booking we will update these details). Tonia Cochran will meet you at the airport and transfer you to your accommodation. Enjoy a welcome dinner with the group at the lovely hotel Lenna.
Accommodations: Lenna of Hobart (D)

NOTE:  You will need to leave the USA at least by Wednesday February 13, 2013 to arrive in time for the tour start, with one full calendar day in transit due to crossing the dateline.  You may wish to stop en route to enjoy some time in Sydney, a lovely and easy city to explore at your leisure.

Sat., Feb. 16 Salamanca Market/Mount Wellington / Bruny Island / Little penguins
This morning we have allowed time to visit Salamanca Market on Hobart’s waterfront, which is held here every Saturday. This is a great start to the tour and a good way to cope with jet-lag. The historic Georgian warehouses that line Salamanca Place are Hobart’s cultural hub; home to galleries and theatres, craft shops, cafes and restaurants, and this is one of the few places where you actually meet the people who create, make or grow what they sell. A range of products, from locally-grown organic fruit and vegetables and freshly cut flowers to fine Tasmanian arts and crafts, can be purchased here.

Wake up at the time you choose, and you can purchase breakfast either at the hotel or at one of several restaurants, market vendors or bakeries in and around the Salamanca area. At 10:30am, return to the hotel and be ready to start the Tasmanian part of your trip at 11:00am.  As a group we will drive to visit Mount Wellington where we hope to have spectacular aerial views (weather permitting) and some good birding there and en route, in forests and on trails. Some of the specialty species include Black Currawong, Scarlet Robin, and Flame Robin.

Enjoy a picnic lunch, and then travel to Kettering to connect with the vehicle ferry to Bruny Island, home of our guide, Dr. Tonia Cochran. At Adventure Bay, one of Australia’s most important historic places, we learn about the historic significance of the area, both Aboriginal and early European.  At several places on this lovely island, we find a number of species while birding in coastal and cool temperate rainforest:  Scrubtit, Tasmanian Scrubwren, and Tasmanian Thornbill.  We also have a chance to see a range of Tasmanian endemic flora including, Gondwanan relics such as Antarctic or Copper Beech (Nothofagus cunninghami) and some spectacular scenery.  After settling into locally owned cottages, we enjoy dinner, and afterwards visit a rookery to see Little Penguins (adorable!) and Short-tailed Shearwaters, which come into their nest burrows under the cover of night.
Accommodations: Cottages on Bruny Island (2-4 people per cottage with private rooms and shared bathroom facilities). (L,D)

Sun., Feb. 17 Bruny Island / Inala / Cape Bruny / Spotlighting for Nocturnal Mammals
Enjoy breakfast provisions that are supplied for each of you in your cottage. This morning we visit the home of our guide, where she hosts a walking tour of “Inala” a 500-acre Private Wildlife Reserve which is a refuge for a number of threatened birds and home to all of the Tasmanian endemics.

Birds we are likely to see include the Forty-spotted Pardalote (Inala is one of the best places to find this endangered species, which has decreased in population by 60% over the last 15 years), Strong-billed, Black-headed and Yellow-throated Honeyeaters and Tasmanian Native hen. We will also join an eco-cruise this morning around the coastline of Bruny Island for chance of seabirds and visit an Australian Fur-seal haul-out (weather permitting).

We enjoy a picnic lunch on our return and then visit Bruny Island’s southern coastline to view the second oldest lighthouse in Australia. Birds we are likely to see here include Tawny-crowned Honeyeater, Olive Whistler and Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo. We also have a chance to see the Tasmanian subspecies of the Short-beaked Echidna, one of the world’s only three living monotremes, and spectacular views of rugged Southern Ocean coastline.

For those who wish, we host a night tour after dinner to look for a range of Tasmania’s nocturnal marsupials and birds, including Eastern Quoll (a relative of the Tasmanian Devil), white mutations of  Red-necked (Bennett’s) Wallaby and Brush-tailed Possums, Tawny Frogmouth and Morepork (an owl) .
Accommodations: Cottages on Bruny Island as for last night (B,L,D)

Mon., Feb. 18 Bruny Island / Mount Field National Park
Enjoy your breakfast provisions in each cottage as for yesterday.  We then leave Bruny Island and travel up towards the center of Tasmania where we turn off to Mount Field National Park, which was declared as Tasmania’s first nature reserve as early as 1885 and a National Park in 1916.  Here we walk to a spectacular waterfall and fern gully, birding en route (Pink Robin, Scrubtit and Black Currawong) and we have the very good possibility of seeing Platypus – one of Australia’s signature species. We also have a chance to explore a part of the South-West World Heritage Area during the afternoon if time allows. You have the choice of several restaurants within a short walk from our B&B this evening.
Accommodation: Rosie’s B&B near Mount Field (B,L)

Tues., Feb. 19 Trowunna Wildlife Rehabilitation Center  / Cradle Mountain National Park Area
Today we travel towards Cradle Mountain National Park. This will be a day of travel, but there will be opportunities to stop and explore en route. En route, enjoy a private tour of Trowunna, a wildlife rehabilitation center that specializes in Tasmanian Devil research. We then have another chance of seeing Platypus in the wild, swimming below us in a wild river as we are perched on a bridge. We plan to arrive at our lodge by late afternoon. Enjoy a home-cooked dinner before settling into our cabins for the opportunity of seeing wild Tasmanian Devils and Spotted-tailed Quolls come to the veranda to feed when night approaches. Tasmanian Devils are now listed as endangered, and this is one of the few locations where they can still be found in the wild. Seeing them is an extraordinary experience!
Accommodations: Mountain Valley Wilderness Lodge, Loongana (cabins with private room and shared bathroom facilities) (B,L,D)

Wed. Feb., 20 Cradle Mountain World Heritage
We will spend the full day in Cradle Mountain National Park today. This National Park is over 65,000 acres in size and is part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. Its varied landscapes include rugged mountains, ancient Gondwanan cool temperate rainforests, windswept moors and glacial lakes. Walk around Dove Lake and the Cradle Mountain area (visits to Waldheim, Pencil pine walk, and the visitors’ center) during the afternoon. Unique flora we will see today include several trees: massive Pencil Pine, King Billy Pine and Leatherwood.
Accommodations:  Mountain Valley Wilderness Lodge, Loongana (B,L,D)

Thurs., Feb., 21 North Coast of Tasmania
This morning we depart the Cradle Mountain area and travel towards Narawntapu National Park on the north coast of Tasmania which has been named “Tasmania’s Serengeti” because of its abundance of wildlife. Species that you can expect to see here include Common Wombat, Eastern Grey (Forester) Kangaroo, Tasmanian Pademelon and Bennett’s Wallaby, most of which can usually be found in daylight during the late afternoon.  Our accommodations are near the national park.
Accommodations: B&B at Shearwater/Hawley Beach (B,L,D)

Fri., Feb., 22 Melbourne / Great Ocean Road / Port Campbell
This morning we fly early from Devonport to Melbourne, Victoria.  Here our local guide will meet us at the airport for our drive along the famous Great Ocean Road, one of the world’s most scenic coastal drives, to explore coastal heathlands, wet forests, long sandy beaches and windswept cliff-tops. We visit the popular Twelve Apostles, a collection of limestone stacks off the shore of the Port Campbell National Park, which were formed by the erosion of the coast by harsh weather conditions from the Southern Ocean. The soft limestone from which they were formed gradually eroded to form caves in the cliffs which eroded to arches which then collapsed, leaving rock stacks up to 45 meters high.

Our destination for tonight is Port Campbell. Birds we search for today include Hooded Plover, Rufous Bristlebird, Shy Albatross, Short-tailed & Fluttering Shearwaters, Chestnut-rumped Heathwren, Satin Bowerbird, Grey Goshawk, Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater, Singing Honeyeater, Arctic Jaeger, Beautiful Firetail, Southern Emu-wren, Gang-gang Cockatoo, Blue-winged Parrot, Rose Robin,  and Olive Whistler.  Mammals that are possible include Eastern Grey Kangaroo, Red-necked Wallaby, and Koala.
Accommodations: Port Campbell Motor Inn (B, on flight, L,D)

Sat., Feb. 23 Port Campbell / Werribee
Today we will head to the city of Werribee, in the Werribee River Valley, following an inland route through farmland dotted with extinct volcanoes, ancient lava flows and ephemeral wetlands. Birds we will search for today include Brolga, Cape Barren Goose, Banded Stilt, Red-necked Avocet and Long-billed Corella.
Accommodations:  Werribbee Park Motor Inn (B,L,D)

Sun., Feb. 24 Werribee Treatment Plant to Neerim
What would a birding trip be without its obligatory visit to a treatment plant? Today we will visit the world-renowned (to birders…) Western Treatment Plant where we tour the swamps, lagoons, shoreline and grasslands of this amazing location which is jam-packed with birds. Some species we expect to find here include:  Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Red-necked Stint, Red-kneed Dotterel, Black-tailed Godwit, Red Knot, Red-capped Plover, Pacific Gull, Hoary-headed Grebe, Australasian Gannet, Pied, Little Pied, Great and Little Black Cormorants, Australian Pelican, White-winged Black-Tern, Fairy Tern, Pink-eared, Blue-billed, Musk and Hardhead, Australian Shelduck,  Australian Spotted Crake, Buff-banded and Lewin’s Rails, Blue-winged Parrot, Striated Fieldwren, Horsfield’s Bushlark, Golden-headed Cisticola, Zebra Finch, Swamp Harrier and Black Falcon. We also have a chance of bumping into one of the grumpy Tiger Snakes that live here!

Late in the day we’ll head east to the forested mountain ranges in readiness for the following day’s birding.  In the evening there is the option of a spotlighting tour through the forest, with the chance of Sooty and Powerful Owl, Southern Boobook and Tawny Frogmouth. Mammals we hope to see include Yellow-bellied and  Greater Gliders, Common Wombat, Ring-tailed Possum, Common Brushtail and Mountain Brushtail (Bobuck) Possum & Sambar Deer.
Accommodations: Best Western Warragul (B,L,D)

Mon., Feb. 25 Neerim – Glen Nayook Nature Reserve, Bunyip
This morning, enjoy a drive through a variety of wooded habitats, including cool temperate rainforest, tall wet forest and heathy woodlands. Target birds for our outing today include:  Superb Lyrebird, Gang-gang Cockatoo, Pilotbird, Red-browed and White-throated Treecreepers, Rose, Pink, Flame and Eastern Yellow Robins, Pilotbird, Satin Flycatcher, Southern Emu-wren, Brush, Shining-Bronze and Fan-tailed Cuckoos, Beautiful Firetail, Bassian Thrush, Red-browed Finch, Grey and Pied Currawongs, Bell Miner, Scarlet, Lewin’s, Crescent, Yellow-faced, White-naped and Brown-headed Honeyeaters, Eastern Spinebill, Silvereye, Cicadabird, Austalian King-Parrot, Eastern Whipbird, Crimson Rosella, Brown Gerygone, Rufous and Grey Fantails, Large-billed and  White-browed Scrub-Wrens, Wonga Pigeon, Satin Bowerbird, Collared Sparrowhawk, Golden Whistler and Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo. Mammals include Swamp Wallaby, Eastern Grey Kangaroo and Echidna.

We return to Melbourne in the late afternoon and say goodbye to our local Victorian guide. There are a number of restaurants to choose from, and dinner is on your own this evening.
Accommodations: Cilom’s Airport Lodge, Melbourne Airport (B,L)

Tues. Feb., 26 Melbourne Area / Heathcote Region
Today we will travel to the Heathcote area for the chance of seeing a variety of birds including Leaden and Restless Flycatchers, Crested Shrike-tit, Scarlet Robin, Speckled Warbler, Weebill, White-browed Babbler, Brown Treecreeper, Varied Sitella, Rufous Whistler, Grey Shrike-thrush, Little and Long-billed Corellas, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Galah, Azure & Sacred kingfishers, Laughing Kookaburra, Brown Goshawk, Wedge-tailed and Little Eagles, Whistling Kite, Australian Hobby, Chestnut-rumped Heathwren, Yellow, Brown, Striated and Buff-rumped Thornbills, Spotted and Striated Pardalotes, Mistletoebird, Yellow-tufted, Fuscous, Black-chinned,  White-plumed, New Holland and White-eared Honeyeaters, Spotted Quail-thrush, Olive-backed Oriole, Australian Raven, Dusky Woodswallow, Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike, White-winged Triller, Grey Butcherbird, Little and Musk Lorikeets, Jacky Winter, White-winged Chough, Rufous Songlark, Tree Martin and Diamond Firetail.
Accommodation: Golden Reef Motor Inn, Bendigo (B,L,D)

Wed. Feb. 27 Heathcote – Northern Highway – Terrick Terrick National Park
Today we continue to Terrick-Terrick National Park for the chance to see White-winged Fairy-Wren, Australian Pratincole, Spotted Harrier, Little Button-Quail, Brown Songlark, Black-tailed Native-hen, Cockatiel, Mallee Ringneck, Painted Honeyeater, Chestnut-crowned Babbler, Gilbert’s Whistler, Little Friarbird, and Dollarbird.
Dinner is at your leisure.
Accommodation: Best Western Heritage Motel, Bendigo (B,L)

Thurs., Feb., 28 Bendigo / Greater Bendigo National Park
Explore the Bendigo area today which is home to bird species such as Crested Bellbird, Gilbert’s Whistler, Shy Heathwren, Variegated Fairy-Wren, Purple-gaped, Yellow-plumed, Tawny-crowned, Blue-faced, Singing  and White-fronted Honeyeaters, Brush and Common Bronzewings, Noisy Friarbird, Chestnut-rumped and Inland Thornbills, Western Gerygone, Painted Button-Quail, Hooded and Red-capped Robin, Rainbow Bee-eater, White-browed and Masked Woodswallows, Purple-crowned Lorikeet, White-bellied Cuckoo-Shrike, Black-eared, Horsfield’s Bronze and Pallid Cuckoos, Red-rumped Parrot and Eastern Rosella.

We return to Melbourne in the late afternoon, and after a chance to freshen up, enjoy a farewell dinner.
Accommodations at Cilom’s Airport Lodge, Melbourne Airport  (B,L,D)

Fri., March 1 Departures from Melbourne, or fly to Sydney to continue on our New South Wales Extension

SYDNEY / NEW SOUTH WALES Extension

The greater Blue Mountains region west of Sydney is remarkable for its range of habitats and spectacular scenery. Not mountains in the traditional sense, but rather a giant sandstone plateau dissected by gorges and deep canyons, it is an area of breathtaking views and hidden natural wonders. The central Blue Mountains consist of a string of small townships surrounded by a chain of National Parks encompassing over 400,000 acres and stretching 240 kilometers from north to south. On the western edge of this can be found one of the most famous birding sites in Australia: the Capertee Valley, well known as a stronghold for threatened species and the eastern limit of many typically more inland species.

By combining the lush rainforest gullies and rocky heathlands of the Blue Mountains with the drier woodlands and rural landscape of the Capertee Valley, we experience birds and other wildlife characteristics of both coastal and inland New South Wales, all within a few hours of Sydney. The area is also a botanist's paradise with an incredible diversity of flora, much of it endemic.

At 1000 meters, the upper Blue Mountains offer a cool refuge from the summer heat. The summer migrant species are all present at this time of year, including many young birds at the end of the breeding season. Small birds will be starting to form mixed flocks. Three exceptionally wet years after the breaking of the long drought has meant that bird numbers in general should be particularly high in 2013.

Fri., March 1, 2013 Flight From Melbourne - Sydney / Blue Mountains
Our local guide from the city area will meet you at the airport on your arrival.  We keep our focus on nature today, stopping first at Homebush Bay, next to the site of the 2000 Sydney Olympics, where we explore among mangroves on boardwalk trails, and view saltwater wetlands where shorebirds might be present. Common birds here include Yellow Thornbill, Brown Honeyeater, Superb Fairy-wren, Chestnut Teal, Black-winged Stilt, Red-necked Avocet and the chance for White-bellied Sea-Eagle and Striated Heron.

We then take a short walk along the River on the western edge of the Sydney plain for the chance of seeing species such as Azure Kingfisher, Red-rumped Parrot, Scarlet Honeyeater, Olive-backed Oriole and the introduced Red-whiskered Bulbul, among many other species. After lunch, we head west into the World Heritage-listed Blue Mountains, visiting a lookout with panoramic views over Sydney, where we'll have a chance of seeing the locally endemic Rockwarbler, and rarer species such as the Glossy Black-Cockatoo, Spotted Quail-thrush, and various honeyeaters.

The Blue Mountains consist mainly of a sandstone plateau which is dissected by gorges up to 2,490 ft. deep, with dramatic mountain peaks of up to 3,986 ft above sea level close by.  A large part of the Blue Mountains is incorporated into the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area, consisting of seven National Park areas and a conservation reserve. We arrive in the upper Blue Mountains with its colorful sandstone cliffs, spectacular valley views, and birdlife characteristic of the cooler parts of an Australian late afternoon. Dinner is on your own tonight; there are several restaurants within a short walk of your hotel.
Accommodations:  Three Sisters motel, Katoomba (B,L)

Sat., March 2, 2013 The Blue Mountains
One of the great things about the Blue Mountains is the proximity of many habitats within a short distance, and today you have a full day to explore the rocky escarpments, eucalyptus forests, temperate rainforests and heathlands of the upper Blue Mountains. Special birds include Superb Lyrebird, Rockwarbler, Pilotbird, Yellow-tailed, Glossy Black and Gang-gang cockatoos, Red-browed Treecreeper, Beautiful Firetail, Crescent Honeyeater, and Flame and Scarlet robins.  Visit a Satin Bowerbird's bower with its amazing collection of blue decorations and possibly see the male bird in attendance. Native flora is also a feature with rare and interesting wildflowers to be found. Dinner tonight is at the hotel.  An optional spotlighting walk after dinner will provide a chance to see arboreal mammals such as the Greater Glider, and perhaps an owl or Tawny Frogmouth.
Accommodations: Three Sisters Motel Katoomba (B,L,D)

Sun., March 3 Katoomba to Glen Davis / Capertee Valley
Enjoy an early morning, pre-breakfast walk to the famous Three Sisters rock formation with the chance to again see Rockwarbler and various black-cockatoos and honeyeaters. Then travel to Lithgow, stopping at a lake and a sewage works (yes, the second of this tour!) where you may see many ducks, including the Blue-billed and Pink-eared duck, Australasian Shoveler, Hoary-headed Grebe and the remarkable Musk Duck.

Morning tea is spent in a very birdy patch of forest beside a babbling creek, and a top site for Satin Flycatcher and White-eared Honeyeater. Then travel into the legendary Capertee Valley for a full morning and afternoon of bird and wildlife viewing. The Capertee Valley is famous among birdwatchers and you will have access to private properties normally inaccessible to visitors. In the afternoon, sit beside a waterhole to watch the many honeyeaters, finches and parrots coming to drink, before settling into our accommodation to watch the Eastern Grey Kangaroos and Wallaroos emerging and the cliffs glowing red in the setting sun.  Dinner is at your leisure and there are a few restaurants within a short walk of the hotel from which to choose.
Accommodations: Fairway Motel, Kandos (B,L)

Mon., March 4 Glen Davis / Capertee Valley / Hawkebury Valley / Sydney
Enjoy a pre-breakfast stroll in the heart of the valley where the abundant birdlife includes such gems as Diamond Firetail, Little Lorikeet, Turquoise Parrot, Red-rumped Parrot, Plum-headed, Zebra and Double-barred finches, Hooded Robin, White-browed Babbler, and Painted, Black-chinned and Striped honeyeaters. If there is good flowering of mistletoe there is a small chance the valley's "star" bird, the critically endangered Regent Honeyeater, might be present. Visit several locations in this expansive valley throughout the morning. You may also see various reptiles such as monitors and dragon lizards.

After lunch we bid our farewell to the Capertee, and head back across the mountains to the rich flood plain of the Hawkesbury Valley, with its numerous wetlands. The main specialties in this area are a wide variety of water birds and raptors. Possible birds here include herons, egrets, spoonbills, harriers, Whistling and Square-tailed kites, Golden-headed Cisticola and Chestnut-rumped Mannikin. Return to your Sydney accommodation by late afternoon. The hotel is opposite Hyde Park and about 6 blocks (so walkable) from the Rocks/Opera House/Botanical Gardens area.  Enjoy an evening stroll around the Sydney waterfront, and our final dinner at a favorite local restaurant.
Accommodations: Sydney Park Regis City Centre, Sydney (B,L,D)

Tues., March 5, 2013 Departures
Departures from Sydney or stay on to explore at your leisure… (B)

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