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Eastern grey kangaroo mother standing on short grass beside her young joey

Wildlife · Small group, max 12

Australian Wildlife in Focus

Three states, five ecosystems and a naturalist at your side – Australia's most remarkable animals, seen the right way.

  • 10 Days / 9 Nights
  • From $5,900 USD
  • Max 12 guests
See 2027 datesDay-by-day
Field notes · page one

For the True Animal Lover

A 10-day tour designed specifically for wildlife lovers, led by an expert naturalist guide. Start in Melbourne to witness the nightly penguin parade on Phillip Island. Fly to Kangaroo Island, Australia's "Galapagos", for guaranteed sightings of sea lions, koalas, kangaroos, and unique birdlife in their natural habitat. Finish in Queensland for a chance to spot cassowaries in the Daintree and turtles on the reef. This is an in-depth, small-group experience.

Australia's long isolation produced animals found nowhere else on Earth: around 87% of its mammals are endemic, and it is home to two of the world's only egg-laying mammals. This tour follows that story across temperate coast, island scrub, tropical upland rainforest and the reef. Every day is planned around when animals are most active – dawn, dusk and after dark – rather than around coach timetables, and the group is never larger than 12 guests.

10Days
12Guests max
3States
150Species often logged

Your guide, e.g. "Ellie"

A qualified naturalist – an example of the people who lead this tour.

Meet Your Guide

A naturalist, not just a tour leader

Your guide – for example someone like Ellie – is a qualified naturalist, typically with a university background in ecology, zoology or environmental science and years of experience guiding in the field. She travels with the group from the first briefing in Melbourne to the last morning in Cairns, so there is one familiar face, one running species list and one person who knows exactly which animal you are still hoping to see.

  • Reads tracks, scats, calls and scratch marks to find animals others walk past
  • Carries spotting scopes, a red-filtered spotlight and field guides for the group
  • Holds current first-aid certification and works alongside local specialist guides at Seal Bay, on the Daintree River and on the reef
  • Offers simple wildlife photography tips: light, patience and distance
Species profiles

The 'Big 5' of Aussie Wildlife

Our own list of five animals that sum up Australia's strange and wonderful evolution – and where on this tour we look for them.

1. Kangaroo

Macropus giganteus / M. fuliginosus

The national symbol, able to bound at over 50 km/h. Mothers carry a joey in the pouch for around 9–11 months. We see eastern greys in Victoria and the dark Kangaroo Island subspecies of the western grey.

Where we look: Kangaroo Island, everywhere on the route

2. Koala

Phascolarctos cinereus

Not a bear but a marsupial that eats almost nothing but eucalyptus leaves – a diet so low in energy that koalas sleep up to 20 hours a day.

Where we look: Phillip Island, Kangaroo Island

3. Platypus

Ornithorhynchus anatinus

An egg-laying mammal that hunts with its eyes and ears closed, using electroreceptors in its bill to detect prey. Males have venomous spurs on their hind legs.

Where we look: Atherton Tablelands

4. Short-beaked echidna

Tachyglossus aculeatus

The platypus's only living relatives are the echidnas. This spiny ant-eater also lays eggs and can live for more than 40 years in the wild.

Where we look: Kangaroo Island

5. Southern cassowary

Casuarius casuarius

Up to 1.8 m tall, with a bony casque and a dagger-like inner claw. As a key disperser of rainforest seeds it is called a "gardener of the forest" – and a threatened species.

Where we look: Daintree rainforest

Why no saltwater crocodile? It is on the trip too – on the Daintree River cruise – but we left the "salty" off the Big 5 because the cassowary is the rarer, more surprising find.
Day-by-Day Encounters

Ten days, three states

Timings shift with tides, weather and animal behaviour – your guide fine-tunes each day in the field.

Arrive in Melbourne and transfer to your city hotel. At 6 pm, meet your naturalist guide and the rest of the group (maximum 12 guests) for a field briefing: what we hope to see, how we will find it, and the simple rules that keep wildlife wild. A welcome dinner follows.

Meals: Dinner  ·  Overnight: Melbourne hotel

Drive about 2 hours south-east to Phillip Island. Walk the treetop boardwalks of the Koala Conservation Reserve, then scan the rocks below The Nobbies – offshore Seal Rocks hosts one of Australia's largest colonies of Australian fur seals. After an early dinner, take your seats at Summerland Beach as darkness falls for the penguin parade, when little penguins surge out of the surf and waddle to their burrows. Staying on the island tonight means no late drive back to the city.

Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner  ·  Overnight: Cowes, Phillip Island

An optional dawn walk at Cape Woolamai, where short-tailed shearwaters nest in their thousands between late September and April, and hooded plovers patrol the beach. After breakfast, drive to Melbourne Airport (about 2 hours) for the included flight to Adelaide (around 1 hr 15 min). Evening free in the city.

Meals: Breakfast  ·  Overnight: Adelaide hotel

A short 30-minute flight takes you to Kingscote on Kangaroo Island, Australia's third-largest island. Head straight to Seal Bay Conservation Park for a ranger-guided beach walk among Australian sea lions – one of the very few places in the world where you can walk on the same sand as a breeding colony. Later, explore the giant dunes of Little Sahara and look for short-beaked echidnas trundling along the roadside. After dark, a guided spotlight walk around your eco-lodge often reveals tammar wallabies, brushtail possums and the occasional owl.

Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner  ·  Overnight: Kangaroo Island eco-lodge

Spend the day in Flinders Chase National Park at the island's wild western end. Below the rock formation of Admirals Arch, long-nosed fur seals laze on the platforms. Walk around the granite domes of Remarkable Rocks, then visit a wildlife sanctuary on Hanson Bay Road where wild koalas live in the manna gums. Late afternoon belongs to the Kangaroo Island kangaroo, a darker, stockier subspecies of the western grey that grazes in the open as the light softens.

Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner  ·  Overnight: Kangaroo Island eco-lodge

A morning birding session with your guide – the island is home to a distinctive subspecies of the threatened glossy black-cockatoo, which feeds almost exclusively on she-oak seeds. Fly back to Adelaide around midday and connect with your flight to Cairns (about 3.5 hours). Arrive in the tropics in the early evening.

Meals: Breakfast, lunch  ·  Overnight: Cairns hotel

Drive up onto the cooler Atherton Tablelands (about 1.5 hours). Visit the colossal Curtain Fig Tree and walk the crater-lake rainforest at Lake Eacham. At dusk we wait quietly on a creek bank near Yungaburra – one of the best places in Australia to see a wild platypus. A night spotlighting walk searches for the rare Lumholtz's tree-kangaroo, green ringtail possums and sugar gliders.

Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner  ·  Overnight: Tablelands rainforest lodge

Descend to the coast and continue north to the Daintree (about 2.5 hours). A small-boat Daintree River cruise with a specialist wildlife guide searches the mangroves for saltwater crocodiles, tree snakes, azure kingfishers and the striking papuan frogmouth. North of the river, the lowland rainforest towards Cape Tribulation is home to the southern cassowary. We walk the boardwalks slowly, always keeping a respectful distance if one appears.

Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner  ·  Overnight: Daintree eco-lodge

Transfer to Port Douglas (about 1 hour) to board a small reef boat for the Low Isles, a coral cay where green turtles graze on seagrass close to the shore. Snorkel with a marine naturalist, or take the glass-bottom boat. Stinger suits are supplied from November to May. Back in Port Douglas, celebrate your sightings at a farewell dinner.

Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner  ·  Overnight: Port Douglas hotel

After breakfast, transfer to Cairns Airport (about 1 hr 15 min) for your onward flight. Your guide will email the group's full species list – most departures log more than 150 species of birds, mammals and reptiles.

Meals: Breakfast  ·  Overnight: End of tour

Australian sea lion looking over its shoulder on the sand at Seal Bay, Kangaroo Island
Australian sea lion (Neophoca cinerea), Seal Bay. An endangered species found only in Australia; mothers suckle pups for around 18 months.
Conservation Focus

Travel that leaves wildlife better off

Many of the animals on this tour are under pressure. Koalas were listed as endangered in Queensland, New South Wales and the ACT in 2022. The 2019–20 bushfires burned around half of Kangaroo Island, and the island's recovery is still a story you can see in its regrowing forests. The Australian sea lion is endangered, and the southern cassowary is a threatened species whose remaining habitat is fragmented by roads.

  • Observe, never handle: no koala cuddling, no feeding, no flash at night
  • Ranger-led access at sensitive sites such as Seal Bay
  • We choose eco-certified lodges and operators wherever they are available
  • Park fees included in your price help fund ranger and research work
  • Drive slowly at dusk – road strikes are a major threat to cassowaries and wallabies
Tour Dates & Booking

2027 departures

Small groups fill quickly – seats shown are current at the time of publishing.

Start (Melbourne)End (Cairns)Price ppSeats leftGood to know
7 March 202716 March 2027$5,9003 – nearly fullAutumn – settled weather
18 April 202727 April 2027$5,9006End of shearwater season
16 May 202725 May 2027$5,9009Cool, dry start in the tropics
8 August 202717 August 2027$6,1504 – nearly fullSea lion pups often visible
12 September 202721 September 2027$6,2507Spring – wildflowers and joeys
17 October 202726 October 2027$6,25010Nesting season begins

Prices in USD per person, twin share. Single supplement: $1,650 (limited single rooms on Kangaroo Island). We avoid the tropical wet season (December–February) to give the best chance of cassowary and platypus sightings.

From $5,900 USD per person

10 Days / 9 Nights · twin share

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What's included

  • 9 nights in eco-lodges and comfortable hotels
  • Expert naturalist guide throughout
  • Small group size (max 12)
  • All domestic flights
  • Most meals
  • All guided wildlife-spotting excursions and park fees

Not included

  • International flights to Melbourne and from Cairns
  • Meals not listed in the itinerary and all drinks
  • Optional activities such as scuba diving on the reef day
  • Gratuities for guides and drivers
FAQ

Questions from wildlife lovers

These are wild animals, so nothing can be truly guaranteed. That said, penguins at Phillip Island, sea lions at Seal Bay and kangaroos and koalas on Kangaroo Island are seen on virtually every departure. Platypus and cassowary sightings are more variable, which is why we plan several opportunities for each.

No. A smartphone works well for many encounters, but a camera with a 100–400 mm zoom lens makes a big difference for birds and shy mammals. Note that photography is not permitted during the Phillip Island penguin parade.

Walks are short and mostly on flat paths or boardwalks, usually under 5 km. There are some early starts and evening spotlighting sessions, so a moderate level of fitness and flexibility are helpful.

No. We do not hold koalas or feed wild animals. All encounters are observational, at distances set by park rules or our guides, to keep animals stress-free and wild.

Small aircraft to Kangaroo Island have tighter allowances, so we recommend one medium suitcase (around 20 kg) plus a small day pack per person. We confirm exact limits with your travel documents.

Save your seat in the field

Tell us which 2027 departure suits you and we will hold a place for 7 days while you decide.

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