Wildlife highlights from my seven month backpacking trip

In January 2002, I left the cold British winter for a seven month back-packing trip around Australia, stopping in Thailand for two weeks to break up the journey.

Like most back-backers, my primary aim was to experience life in another country, whilst meeting new people and partying hard. I also wanted to see as much Australian wildlife as possible, bearing in mind I had little money and no access to a private vehicle for the majority of the trip.

I achieved all my objectives. Not only did I make some great friends, I was extremely lucky in that I met people who taught me that you don’t have to go to a zoo or wildlife park to encounter exciting wildlife. I was also introduced to birding and shown some great birds while staying with a friend of a friend in Newcastle, New South Wales.
 
Seven months is a lot to cover in a summary, so instead I will list my top twenty wildlife moments from the trip. I have also included some poor quality photographs showing some of the birds, mammals and reptiles that I encountered.

Top Twenty Wildlife Moments

1. While taking part in a night-walk down a canyon in the Blue Mountains (NSW) we stumbled upon a huge Eastern Tiger Snake which was spread out across the trail. Probably my best ever snake sighting and a memory I will treasure for the rest of my life. My first ever Ringtail Possum and a non-native Red Fox were also seen on the same night.

2. Being shown a huge roosting Powerful Owl in a Sydney suburb, complete with dead Ringtail Possum in its talons.

3. Searching a Newcastle (NSW) wetland reserve for hours looking for a Red-bellied Black Snake after being told by the reserve staff they had not been seen for weeks. I was just about to give up when I spotted a gorgeous individual glide across the path about a metre in front of me. About a second later there was a huge crack of thunder and I was caught in a torrential downpour.

4. A trip to Barrington Tops (NSW) produced my first ever Eastern Grey Kangaroo, together with tame Blue-cheeked Rossellas, Long-nosed Bandicoots, Greater Glider and a nearby Superb Lyrebird.

5. No trip to Australia would be complete without seeing a Koala. A trip to Port Stephen’s gave me good views of a couple of individuals sleeping in the eucalyptus trees that bordered a residential area. 

6. My first ever twitch. My mate and I wanted to get to Brisbane so we shared a car with our birder host who was going to Bribie Island to see a Laughing Gull. We saw the bird but I was more impressed with a flyover Osprey. Amazingly I didn’t pay attention to any other Australian gulls throughout the rest of my trip. As a result I have Laughing Gull on my birdlist and no other gull species!

7. I had a great time on Fraser Island (Qld) until our Land Rover broke down. Whilst waiting for the local mechanic (who happened to be drunk as a skunk) to sort the problem, I was amazed to see a huge Dingo walk through the property. Neither the Dingo nor the mechanic seemed fazed by the experience.

8. Great Keppel Island is a magical place and I spent over two fantastic weeks there. I was lucky enough to see several Green Turtles while snorkelling, together with huge rays and a Leopard Shark. On land I saw my only Eastern Blue-tongued Skink in addition to Bush Thick-knee and Brahminy Kite.

9. Seeing a wild Platypus was high on my list and I was successful at Eungella National Park (Qld). We saw several individuals while watching the Broken River at Dusk. Azure Kingfishers competed for our attention, while Lace Monitors were seen earlier in the day.

10. A boat trip on the Daintree River (Qld) produced my first ever Estuarine Crocodiles together with many interesting birds such as Sacred, Little and Azure Kingfishers. A rare Rufous Night Heron and some Mangrove Herons were pointed out by our guide, as was the highlight of the trip- a Green Tree Snake spotted basking in the treetop canopy.

11. Taking a guided night-walk into the Daintree rainforest (Qld) where we saw a host of rare nocturnal creatures including Common Mist Frog (Litoria rheocola), Mountain Mist Frog (Litoria nyakalensis), Cape York Rat and Giant White-tailed Rat. A Northern Brown Bandicoot back at my accommodation ended a successful night.

12. I spent several days in Mission Beach (Qld) with the aim of seeing a Southern Cassowary. My first walk in the rainforest resulted in an adult bird that briefly appeared along the track. Later, while walking back to the hostel along the roadside, a male bird and three chicks casually crossed the road in front of us (see photo). I went on to see several more Cassowaries, including another male with chicks from the bus as I was leaving Mission Beach to go back to Cairns.

13. The Cape York Peninsula (Qld) is one of Australia’s most remote areas, home to more crocodiles than people. I couldn’t wait to explore this area, but due to a lack of money I had to take one of the cheaper tours that didn’t specialise in wildlife viewing.

I still had a great time even if I didn’t get to see any of the endemic birds and mammals. We tested our 4x4’s to the max on some exciting river crossings and camped out in some beautiful landscapes, with no other people in sight. Perhaps my favourite encounter of the trip was the Burton’s Legless Lizard I found while spotlighting for crocs.

14. While staying in Cairns (Qld) I decided to take one of the wildlife trips offered by Wait-a-While Rainforest Tours. I can honestly say that this company is one of the most professional outfits I have ever experienced, and our guide Ben was worth every penny. Our destination for the afternoon was a private property in the Mount Lewis area of Daintree. On the way we saw a Pacific Baza (Crested Hawk) and a Pheasant Coucal along with a small group of Red-legged Pademelons at a staked-out location. A short walk through the forest produced a brief sighting of the elusive Musky Rat-kangaroo and good views of a Golden Bowerbird. An endemic Atherton Scrub Wren was pointed out by Ben while walking back to the 4x4. After dinner we went spotlighting in the rainforest and saw a number of local specialities including Daintree River Ringtail, Lemuroid Ringtail and Green Ringtail Possums. A Common Blossom-bat was an unexpected bonus, as was a couple of Lesueur’s Frogs (Litoria lesueuri) that hopped across the track in front of our Landcruiser. By now the rest of the group were getting tired so we left the mountain, stopping briefly to spotlight a roadside creek from a bridge. As if on cue, a Platypus swam past giving excellent views much to everyone’s delight. A nearby Lesser Sooty Owl ended a fantastic day.

15. Merten’s Water Monitor was one lizard I didn’t expect to see, despite lengthy searches in the appropriate habitat. I had given up hope of seeing one in the wild and was enjoying a swim at Buley, one of Litchfield National Park’s (NT) many rock pools, when a particularly large Merton’s Monitor strolled past, completely unfazed by the numerous people in close proximity.

16. The Mary River (NT) has one of the highest concentrations of Estuarine Crocodiles in the world and the best way to appreciate the size of some of these huge beasts is from a small boat. Freshwater Crocodiles were also present on my visit, albeit in smaller numbers, together with Jabiru Storks and Comb-crested Jacanas. This is one place where I wouldn’t fancy my chances taking a swim.

17. Throughout my time in Darwin (NT) I kept hearing about a nearby wetland called Fogg Dam that was home to a very large population of Water Pythons. Not having a car I decided to get some friends together and organise a trip there myself, sharing costs for hiring a vehicle. The visit was a huge success. We first waked the dam in the daytime seeing Forest Kingfishers, Feral Pig and a gorgeous Yellow-spotted Monitor basking on a log.

After dinner at a nearby roadhouse we returned to Fogg Dam and quickly found a Tawny Frogmouth hiding in a tree. Walking the dam wall yielded a couple Northern Long-neck Turtles and best of all, no less than four Water Pythons. Great company and superb wildlife made this one of my favourite days in Australia.

Water Python, Fogg Dam, Northern Territory

18. Arriving in Tasmania I initially regretted my decision to visit the island in the depth of winter. I seemed to be the only backpacker in town and the tourist information service was adamant that the only way to see the local wildlife was to visit a wildlife park (i.e. zoo). Fortunately I stumbled across a Tonia (local naturalist and tour guide) via the internet and she agreed to meet me to discus organising a low cost, self-drive wildlife viewing itinerary of Tasmania. My tour started a couple of days later on Bruny Island where Tonia’s company is based.  The evening began at the local Little Penguin colony where we enjoyed very close views of these funky little birds, followed by a night drive around the island. Eastern Quolls of both colour morphs were seen several times, along with a Short-beaked Echidna, Tasmanian Pademelons and Bennett’s Wallabies.

19. Tonia recommended Narawntapu National Park near Devonport (Tas) as a good place to see Common Wombats so I headed north in my hire car to seek out this much wanted marsupial. An evening drive through a beautiful landscape found some reasonably tame individuals feeding along with pademelons and wallabies in an area of grassland. Result!

20. For my last mammal target I drove west to Marrawah where I met up with one of Tonia’s contacts- Geoff King. Geoff was an extremely pleasant man whose enthusiasm for the local nature was infectious. Firstly I accompanied him while he checked his land for signs of Red Fox. Fortunately no fox prints were found in the sand traps, although evidence of Tasmanian Devil was hard to miss. While checking the traps I was extremely fortunate to see an Orange-bellied Parrot- one of the world’s rarest birds, together with a more familiar Wedge-tailed Eagle. The best part of the day was yet to come. Geoff has an old fishing shack on his property and he uses it as a viewing hide for Tasmanian Devils. After placing road killed possums outside the shack we were rewarded with several hours of Devil feeding behaviour, including a couple of fights. The experience was completed by an intercom system which transmitted the devils’ various growls and gulps into the hide. The day finished with a couple of Wombats spotlit from the 4x4 as we returned back to Geoff’s place.