The traveling Najade is traveling - What, Again?

Najade

Najade

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
As I have now moved to Australia (Ballarat, Victoria) and planning to tick off a couple more animals left on my list I thought I'd open up another thread. For now this is mainly to get myself organised and hopefully get some advice on when and where to go and then it might turn into another travel-log (which should also give me some time to finish the NZ-thread).

So far I've done:
Hall's Gap Zoo
Port Macdonnell Pelagic

Coming up (not necessarily in that order):
5-day trip to Sydney and surrounds (including visits to Taronga, Featherdale, Australian Walkabout)
Healesville Sanctuary
Werribee Open Range Zoo
Melbourne Zoo
Moonlit Sanctuary
Phillip Island Widlife Park (+Shearwater Colony)
SeaLife Melbourne
Melbourne Museum
Deniliquin Night Tour

(Hopefully a longer trip to Cairns when the wet season is over...)
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Marsupials not yet seen:

Southern Brown Bandicoot - Barna Mia Nocturnal Wildlife Experience, (?)
Western Barred Bandicoot - Barna Mia Nocturnal Wildlife Experience
Long-nosed Bandicoot - Australian Walkabout Wildlife Park, Taronga Zoo

Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat

Scaly-tailed Possum

Mountain Brush-tail Possum - Currumbin Sanctuary, Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, Oakvale Farm and Fauna World

Western Pygmy-possum - Cleland Wildlife Park
Little Pygmy-possum
Eastern Pygmy-possum - Australia Walkabout Wildlife Park, Trowunna Wildlife Park

Northern Bettong - Kuranda Koala Gardens, WILDLIFE Hamilton Island, Wildlife Habitat
Burrowing Bettong - Alice Springs Desert Park, Kanyana Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre, Barna Mia Nocturnal Wildlife Experience

Gilbert's Potoroo
Long-footed Potoroo

Banded Hare-wallaby

Mala - Alice Springs Desert Park, Barna Mia Nocturnal Wildlife Experience

Black-striped Wallaby - Phillip Island Wildlife Park

Northern Nailtail Wallaby - Caversham Wildlife Park, Featherdale Wildlife Park, Wildlife Habitat

Monjon

Rothschild's Rock-wallaby
Black-flanked Rock-wallaby - Australia Zoo, Monarto Zoo
Purple-necked Rock-wallaby

Rufous-bellied Pademelon - Caversham, Moonlit, Softfoot Sanctuary, Tasmania Zoo, Trowunna, Werribee
Red-necked Pademelon - Australian Walkabout, Caversham, David Fleay, Featherdale, Secret Creek Sanctuary, Waterfall Springs, Wildlife Habitat

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Cairns and Cape York:
from what I've read the Atherton/Cairns-species should be reasonably easy to spotlight and there seem to be a couple of affordable tours around
the Cape York species appear to be somewhat common too, the problem seems to be more getting up there at a reasonable price

Striped Possum - Wildlife Habitat

Mahogany Glider - Currumbin, David Fleay, Dreamworld, Kuranda Koala Gardens, Peel Zoo, Rockhampton, Wildlife Habitat

Long-tailed Pygmy-possum

Green Ringtail Possum
Daintree River Ringtail Possum
Herbert River Ringtail Possum
Lemuroid Ringtail Possum

Musky Rat-kangaroo

Bennett's Tree-kangaroo

Eastern Queensland Rock-wallabies

Long-nosed Echymipera

Southern Common Cuscus
Common Spotted Cuscus

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With these I'd be happy to get at least one species per genus (if possible) as they seem pretty hard to come by due to their size, life cycle etc.:

Mulgara
Antechinus
Kaluta
Kultarr
False Antechinus
Ningaui
Planigale
(Stripe-faced Dunnart - Alice Springs Desert Park)

Marsupial Mole
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My main questions right now would be:
Are the species actually on-show at the zoos they are listed for?
Are there any other zoos that keep any of the above species that I haven't listed?
Are there any other places like Barna Mia Nocturnal Wildlife Experience that aren't technically zoos but where you can see any of the above animals anyway?

Are there any recommendable wildlife-tours for any of the above at an affordable price? I've talked to a guy in Alice Springs who gave me a quote for $2,000 a day:eek: Just as an example of what I'm not looking for:D
Any sure fire spots to see any of these species in the wild (especially the ones not kept in zoos)?

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Re: Gilbert's Potoroo
The website of the Gilbert's Potoroo Action Group mentions a captive population. Does anyone have any more information on that?
Are Bald Island or Michaelmas Island open to visitors?

Re: Long-footed Potoroo
The recovery plan for this species also mentions a captive program (at Healesville?). Anyone have anything recent on that?

Re: Banded Hare-wallaby
I've read that access to Dorre Island is prohibited, but Bernier Island and Faure Island seem to be visitable. Does anyone know how to get there (charter?) and which one would give you a better chance of actually seeing one?
What are the chances of seeing 'em at the new coloy at AWC's Mt Gibson Wildlife Sanctuary?
 
Have a look on mammalwatching for Australian trip reports - there was, for example, a Dutch (?) guy named Pieter de Groot Boersma who went all around Australia and saw loads of species, and wrote some really useful site information as well as posting videos on Youtube.

For the Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat I'm pretty sure the reserve is restricted access and you would need to be volunteering to get in to see them.
 
I live near Deniliquin and have never heard of a Deniliquin Night Tour.
If you are coming this way you should go a little bit further and visit Altina Wildlfe Park at Darlington Point.
 
Monty said:
I live near Deniliquin and have never heard of a Deniliquin Night Tour.
If you are coming this way you should go a little bit further and visit Altina Wildlfe Park at Darlington Point.
Click to expand...
There's a person down that way that takes people out looking for plains wanderers. It might be that.
 
Update:
So hopefully now that I've had a bit of time to settle in I will get back to do some writing.

09.12.17 - Hall's Gap Zoo
10.12.17 - Port Macdonnel Pelagic

18.12.17 - Melbourne Zoo

20.12.17 - Taronga Zoo
21.12.17 - Taronga Zoo/Dharug NP
22.12.17 - Australia Walkabout Wildlife Park
23.12.17 - Featherdale Wildlife Park
24.12.17 - Australian Museum

28.12.17 - Deniliquin (spotlighting tour with Phil Maher)

30.12.17 - Werribee Open Range Zoo

03.01.18 - Melbourne Museum

05.01.18 - Cranbourne Botanic Garden/Phillip Island Shearwater Colony
06.01.18 - Phillip Island Wildlife Park/Bunyip State Park
07.01.18 - Healesville Sanctuary/Cranbourne Botanic Garden
08.01.18 - Cranbourne Botanic Garden/Moonlit Sanctuary

19.01.18 - Cleland Wildlife Park
20.01.18 - Adelaide Zoo
21.01.18 - South Australian Museum
22.01.18 - Monarto Zoo/Naracoorte Caves



upcoming:
this weekend - Chiltern-Mt Pilot NP
? - SeaLife Melbourne
March - two weeks in FNQ


Prelude
The main goal of my trips is still to see as many marsupials as possible (and revisit some collections to get (better) pictures), supplemented with some birding and whatever else pops up or is reasonably easy to find :D
In regards to birds the main goals are Nightjars, Frogmouths, BoPs, Plains-wanderer, Painted Snipe, Pratincole, and Seabirds. I've also decided to try and get at least one species of every passerine-family available (but they aren't a focus and I won't go out of my way for them).

Ballarat
Lake Wendouree
In the first couple of days after arriving in Ballarat I had a bit of a wander around the lake, where I saw the usual common waterbirds and Musk Duck (which I hadn't had the time to look for in Perth last trip).

Animals checked off my list:
Musk Duck

Next up: Hall's Gap Zoo
 
Are you looking for Regent Honeyeaters at Chiltern?

:p

Hix
 
Not really since I've seen them at a couple zoos already. I was hoping for White-throated Nightjar and Yellow-footed Antechinus.
 
Najade said:
Not really since I've seen them at a couple zoos already.
Click to expand...
But seeing an endangered species in the wild always trumps a captive specimen!

:p

Hix
 
MattyP said:
Monarto Zoo and Naracoorte Caves in one day? You’re ambitious!
Click to expand...

Very much so. I recommend instead combining the SA Museum and Adelaide Zoo (a 10 minute walk from each other, and neither is very big by the standards of their respective types), and freeing up days to separate Monarto and Naracoorte. SA Museum is still only a 3 hour visit, comfortably, even if you want to pore over the animal displays at length and look around the cultural artefacts as well. You won't see anything in a full day at Adelaide Zoo that you won't see in 4-5 hours either.
 
I just noticed that I dated the Adelaide stuff for February, when it should have been January as I've just come back from there. Already asked Chli to fix it :oops:


Hix said:
But seeing an endangered species in the wild always trumps a captive specimen!
Click to expand...
Well, I won't turn away if I come across them ;)

Does anyone know what tracks/dams/locations are best for Nightjar and Antechinus at Chiltern?
 
Hall's Gap Zoo
One of the reasons that it has taken me so long to start writing again is that I don't really have a lot to say about this zoo (same for the next one in the NZ thread) so I'll just get it over with. Don't get me wrong it's a perfectly good zoo and the keepers that I talked to while walking around were nice but I mainly went because it was on the way to my destination for the next day and to try and get pictures of the Red-tailed Phascogales. (Out of the three zoos that keep them and that I've been to this is the only one where you have a reasonable chance.) I got lucky to be in the nocturnal house at feeding time and got to see all the animals reasonably well (Brushtails and Plains Rat were least active).
After that I had a wander around the rest of the park.
There were quite a few wild cockatoos, fairy-wren and wattlebirds around.

Species List

Pictures

Animals checked off my list:
Kangaroo Island Kangaroo
Australian Bustard

Next up: Port Macdonnel Pelagic
 
I have a love for Halls Gap Zoo that is out of all proportion to its objective standing, compared to the many world-leading collections I've been to. It's hard to define: the collection is good without being all-encompassing. The exhibits are generous and full of natural elements, but are (literally) home-built in appearance. Maybe in part it's that I've had the privilege of knowing the owners just a little - they've been generous with their time on my visits - but it's more than that. HGZ has a soul to it that Melbourne and Taronga have long lost, and that Adelaide is busily going about losing. I'd buy it in an instant if I only could
 
I totally agree with that and I'd have written more but there's already a general description on here in this thread so I just didn't see the need to do another one.
The collection is quite nice. It just suffered from me having been to so many other zoos before getting to this one.
I definitely enjoyed it more than Melbourne, Adelaide and Taronga Zoo (which I still dislike pretty much because of the soullessness you describe, even with the heavy-hitters in the collection) and would recommend a visit to anyone who finds themselves in the area.
 
Port Macdonnel Pelagic
After Hall's Gap Zoo it was still quite a bit of driving to Port Macdonnel, Southern Australia, almost taking out a low-flying cockatoo on my windscreen on the way. I arrived to the pre-trip dinner meeting only after everyone was already done eating but we still sat around talking for a while and then it was off for another night sleeping in a car (at least in a big van it's not as crammed as in a small rental car).

At the harbour we started our birding day with a Pelican sitting on top of a street light and then it was time to head out.
The trip report I got after mentions a couple of birds that we supposedly saw inshore on the way out but I didn't see any of them since we never stopped and small black dots zipping past don't really count as birds seen for me.

I've been on quite a lot of boats in my life be it for diving, ferries, pelagics etc. and never have I even had a queasy stomach but of course that day I got full on sea-sick for the first time in my life. I tried to muscle through it but most of the trip I spent knocked out in the boats cabin. I did still manage to go out a couple of times and I did see most of the species we saw that day. Although of course the bird I most wanted to see (Storm-petrel) I missed :(
The camera I was using that day also turned out to be not so great for boat-based pictures so I only have one good picture to show for my efforts...

After the trip ($180 btw) which was a bit shorter than advertised due to them running out of chum earlier than expected I got meself a milkshake for the road and had another long cockatoo-heavy drive home.

Picture

Animals seen:
Australian Pelican
Shy Albatross
Black-browed Albatross
Campbell’s Albatross
Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross
Northern Giant Petrel
White-chinned Petrel
Great-winged Petrel
Grey-faced Petrel
Short-tailed Shearwater
Flesh-footed Shearwater
Arctic Skua
Australasian Gannet
Crested Tern

Animals not seen:
Wandering Albatross
Sooty Shearwater
Wilson’s Storm-petrel
Dolphins

Next up: Melbourne Zoo
 
Melbourne Zoo
Had a day to myself and decided to use my membership card to see the place. It's a nice enough standard zoo but there's nothing super-special there. Sadly I missed the seal show, because I got in later than planned. Most of the interesting animals are off-show (Eastern Barred Bandicoot, Northern Corroboree Frog, etc.), even the Stick Insect is only visible at certain times when a keeper shows it of in a box at the butterfly house (didn't see the times for this advertised anywhere and just got lucky to be in the right place at the right time). The most interesting on-show bits were the reptile and frog house. Overall a standard zoo and I'd probably rank it second to last if I had to make a list of recommended zoos in the Melbourne area.

Gallery

Animals seen (wild):
White-browed Scrubwren
Bell Miner
Noisy Miner

Animals checked off my list:
Apostlebird
Striped Legless Lizard
frogs
Lord Howe Island Stick Insect
 
I got a couple days off pre-Christmas, so I decided to head up to Sydney again as @jayjds2 had informed me that J.R. was on show again. I called Taronga a couple of times to find out if a closer visit was included in any of their bts-tours but couldn't get any information from them so I ended up not booking anything because the tours are too expensive without a guarantee. Also no chance at Plains-wanderers again (I should have probably titled this thread "The hunt for the Plains-wanderer" or sth.)

When I arrived in Sydney I picked up my rental car and made my way to the zoo, which took me hours because of some weird street alignments, closed roads and a crappy navigational system. Needless to say I arrived way later than I wanted to.

Taronga Zoo
Other than seeing the LbE my main goal was to see the species I'd missed on my last visit. Everything showed well this time around. I also saw a group of people go into the Echidna exhibit and they had J.R. basically traipsing across their feet which was a bit of a bummer but I still don't know which of the various tours that one would have been. Oh well...
This time I also had some time to check out the Backyard to Bush house and kids trail which were better than expected and the new tiger exhibit which was stupid (what the hell was that movie bit?). It's still my least favourite zoo.

(There were no Pheasant Coucals for people to confuse with Kiwis anymore.)

Had another visit the next day, because I probably won't see another Long-beaked in the foreseeable future so wanted to make the most of it and then drove to Dharug NP to look for Nightjars.

Gallery

Animals checked off my list:
Eastern Long-beaked Echidna
Southern (?) Long-nosed Bandicoot
Greater Stick-nest Rat
 
Dharug NP
The two hour drive to Dharug included a quick, free ferry ride and was largely uneventful. When I got there it started to rain lightly. I got out of the car to have a look around and was immediately accosted by heaps of mozzies, so I decided to look for the nightjars from inside my car. I saw a bird fly over but couldn't get good enough views for an ID. The only other animal I saw was some Green Tree Frogs. After a couple hours I decided to head on to Australia Walkabout Wildlife Park where I saw a Common Wombat on the way.

Animals seen:
Common Wombat
Green Tree Frog
 
Najade said:
the new tiger exhibit which was stupid (what the hell was that movie bit?).
Click to expand...

Could tell me something more about the new tiger "exhibit"? I skipped it when I was in Taronga. When I passed by, some woman was shouting some like "last plane to Asia departs now!". I was in Taronga for a zoo visit, not for a fun park visit, so I decided not to go. However, it meant I didn't see any tiger in Australia (no show in Perth and in both enclosures in Melbourne) and still wonder what "Tiger Trek" actually is.
 
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