Hello,
Like a recent poster, I'm _also_ from the Boston area, and headed to
Australia for a visit...but mine is coming up much sooner. I only recently
was clued into this list, otherwise I would have contacted it sooner.
Here's my approximate schedule, then I have just a couple of specific
questions:
Aug. 22 - Aug 27 Sydney (yes, I've signed up for the Aug. 24 pelagic)
Aug. 28 fly to Darwin
Aug. 29 - Sept 5 Darwin area
Sept. 6 - Sept. 26 Western Aust. with Emu Tours
Sept. 27 - Oct. 1 Perth area
Oct. 2 fly to Cairns
Oct. 3 - Oct 14 Cairns area
Oct. 15 fly to Sydney
Oct. 16 - Oct. 17 Sydney area
Oct. 18 fly to US
I will largely be dependent on public transportation, though I'm
thinking of renting a car in the Southwest for that 4 days or so of
free time.
Questions:
1) Are there any bookstores in Sydney, Darwin, Perth or Cairns that
you would recommend for natural history topics (such as birding guides)?
2) In those cities, is there any easy way to contact local bird clubs
to join organized walks?
3) From Darwin, I'd like to hook up with a camping tour to Kakadu.
Based on the guidebooks info, I was planning just to visit the tourist
office and find something once I got there. Is this realistic? Also,
while I don't expect to find any groups specifically interested in
birding, I would like something that includes a lot of walking. Any
recommendations?
Another possibility is to stay in the lower priced accomodations at
the lodge in Jabiru. But are there then any sort of buses that will
help you get around to different parts of the park?
Thanks very much for your help! I've done some research, but I only
have one bird finding book on Australia and it's good at telling me
what to expect in different locations, but it hasn't helped me make
the decisions like "around Perth, go to places in this order: xxxx,
yyy, then if you have time, zzz."
That said, I'm going to be pretty excited at _whatever_ I see!
Thanks a lot for your help,
Laurie Bechtler
Marlboro, MA
[this address only good till 8/8...as I'm quitting my job so I can
travel and then relocate to California!]
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