Hi Meena,
I am replying to the list since I think other folks would be
interested in suggestions about recording in Australia. If a person
could only visit one part of Australia, and was interested in birds
and rainforest, I would suggest Binna Burra.
Here is some information about Lamington National Park, in southern
Queensland, at the NSW border, not far inland.
http://www.derm.qld.gov.au/parks/lamington/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamington_National_Park
The two major access points have lodges and camping grounds: Binna
Burra and O'Reillys:
http://www.binnaburralodge.com.au
http://www.derm.qld.gov.au/parks/lamington/pdf/lamington-binna-burra-map.pd=
f
http://www.oreillys.com.au
http://www.derm.qld.gov.au/parks/lamington/pdf/lamington-green-mtns-map.pdf
If you can afford to stay in the lodge at Binna Burra, you can have
great food made for you. Alternatively, a short walk to the south,
and right next to the forest, you can camp, park your campervan or
stay in some semi-permanent tents. There is a kiosk/restaurant at
the campground with excellent food and supplies.
>From there are walks of a few km to many km to the south. This is
elevated, on an undulating plateau with views over cliff-edges to the
east, of the "Gold Coast" which is the complete opposite of Lamington
National Park.
There's a list of bird species here:
http://www.lamingtonnationalpark.net.au/Documents/Birds/Bmen.htm
This is rich sub-tropical rainforest and there's a huge variety of
bird calls. I remember the currawongs most prominently. There will
be a few people walking on the trails, and occasional passenger jets
flying overhead, but I can't imagine you would be disappointed. I
met people from the USA who were on their third or fourth stay at
Binna Burra. Most people in Brisbane know of it, and some are really
keen about it.
Somewhat to the north of Cairns is the Daintree River area. It is a
bit of a drive, and involves a ferry crossing of the river, but the
rainforest comes down to the ocean. I have some photos here:
http://www.firstpr.com.au/show-and-tell/green-ants/
This is walking north from Thornton Beach.
http://maps.google.com/?ie=3DUTF8&t=3Dh&ll=3D-16.151863,145.450187&spn=3D0.=
038171,0.050983&z=3D15
Don't go in the water - or too close to it, there are crocodiles. It
is not possible to drive much further north along the coast. Cape
Tribulation is the limit. There is a track, past that, for 4WD only.
It starts with a puddle the size of a small swimming pool.
I didn't do any sound recording in FNQ (Faaar Northern Queensland),
but I have a good quality Walkman D6 binaural recording from Binna
Burra from the 1980s which I could put on my site.
Closer to Cairns is the elevated, rainforested, Kuranda area which
would be good to visit too.
On the road south, a deviation to Mission Beach might be good.
Most of the drive south is through farmland, but you might like to
turn to the coast at Mission Beach. In the Whitsunday Islands, I
understand you can exclusively rent a small island for a few days,
and have someone take you there and pick you up.
>From Google Maps you can see there are forested areas to the west or
east of the highway.
Fraser Island - a large sand island (the largest in the world?) -
might be good to visit. You can't take an ordinary car there, but
there is transport in various forms, and places to stay. I have only
been there in 1973, so arrangements may have changed, but my friends
and I took a day ferry from Urangan to Kingfisher Bay, with a 4WD bus
to Eurong. This was one half of a tourist day-trip. My friends and
I then hitch-hiked up the coast, as far as the dunes behind this
headland:
http://maps.google.com/?ie=3DUTF8&t=3Dh&ll=3D-24.968669,153.346395&spn=3D0.=
018013,0.02562&z=3D16
We got lifts with Queensland cane farmers in their Land Rovers, who
were there for the fishing. This is all along the beach, and their
wives fed them stubbies of beer as they drove. The empties were
hurled onto the beach. One 4WD broke an axle in a sand-drift. They
were only interested in beer and fish. Progress involved waiting for
waves to recede, and then driving over wet sand before the next one came.
We stayed one night sleeping without tents in the dunes. There were
no insects - just sand, starts and some brumbies. At that stage, it
wasn't possible to drive further north. But a little further is the
luxury resort of Orchid Beach. On the way back south to Eurong, we
camped a night at Ely Creek - blue clear water and pure sandy sides
and bottom. On the trip back across the island, we visited a creek
or river where there was fully mature rainforest, rooted purely in
sand, with steep slopes, going down to this creek with sandy sides
and pale blue water. I think there are places to stay around Eurong.
A little further down the mainland coast is Noosa, with its national
park.
Northern NSW has a lot of forest and you can see from Google Maps the
various places in NSW where you can travel to the coast from the main
highway.
There is a dramatic walk up an old volcano in Northern NSW - Mt
Warning. If you stay near the base, at a caravan park, or if you
sleep overnight at the car-park (not strictly allowed, but that
doesn't matter) you can walk to the summit in time for dawn. I
suggest allowing at least 3 hours. This is all rainforest, with a
bit of a clamber at the top, using a chain to guide the way up the
rocks. Due to the proximity to the eastern-most point (Byron Bay)
you may see the sun before anyone else in Australia. I am sure this
would be good for bird recordings. I once saw a luminous toadstool
there. Another one, which someone had picked, was good enough to
read newspaper headlines by.
I can't advise about Western Australia, only having visited Perth
briefly. I think your plan - driving from Cairns to Sydney - is
excellent.
- Robin (Melbourne)
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