Hi Folks,
In January of 2003, we are planning a 3-week trip to southeastern
Australia and Tasmania, pretty much on our own (i.e., not with a tour
company). We are spending several days at Inala on Bruny Island, as well as
an extra day or two on Tasmania, followed by several days at O'Reilly's, all
at the end of our trip. We are arriving in Sydney on the 10th of Jan, then
planning on going out on the pelagic from Sydney on Jan 11th, but we then
have from the morning of Jan 12th until Jan 21st to travel by car from Sydney
to Melbourne, stopping to bird along the way, and spending probably two days
along the way in Deniliquin with Phil Maher. We will fly from Melbourne to
Hobart on the 21st.
I am writing to ask if any of you might be able to offer some advice.
Are
there places along the Sydney-Melbourne route that we shouldn't miss? One
suggested place that we have been thinking about is Barren Grounds south of
Sydney. Another is Wilson's Promontory near Melbourne. Another is the
Capertee Valley; we have already contacted Quill Lake and could stay at the
cottage there. We would like to see as many birds as possible, but we are
not trying to do a whirlwind tour of the country that will leave us
exhausted. Ideally we would like to visit a variety of habitats so that we
will be seeing a variety of new species as we go along. This is surprisingly
difficult to figure out from a distance! even with range maps and guide
books. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.
One more question--one person from the Birdchat group here in the States
has suggested that we might consider Binna-Burra instead of O'Reilly's,
because of school holidays and the fact that so many children and families
might be vacationing at O'Reilly's that it might make the experience less
than ideal. Our plan is to fly to Brisbane on Sunday Jan 26th, drive that
day to O'Reilly's, and stay until Wednesday afternoon the 29th or Thursday
the 30th, when we are leaving to return to the US. Is that time period still
school holiday? Or is this something we shouldn't worry about? We were
assuming that O'Reilly's would still be best, because of guide services, etc.
Thanks so much in advance for any help,
Bill Benner
Old Brookville, Long Island, NY
Ron French
Chalfon, PA
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