Close encounters with Australian wildlife

Are you a wildlife lover? Imagine hiking through the Aussie bush and looking up to the eucalyptus trees to a sleeping koala. Or admiring seals sunbathing on the rocks. Sitting on your porch at dusk with a glass of red in hand and watching the kangaroos grazing in your front yard. Having a close encounter with Aussie wildlife is a special experience and should not be missed during your journey through Australia.

Australia's most iconic animal: the kangaroo

Whether you are soaking in the bath, lying on your bed, or relaxing on your terrace; at our unique accommodation in McLaren Vale, The Grampians, Atherton Tablelands, Flinders Ranges, and Seventeen Seventy, you can marvel at kangaroos. This makes it almost impossible not to spot one of the most iconic animals of Australia.

When you stay at one of the cottages in The Grampians, you can watch and enjoy a spectacle of nature at 4:30 pm, when kangaroos start grazing in your backyard. A grassy field of kangaroos gives you the real Australian feeling. At a lodge in Far North Queensland, you cannot ignore the wildlife, because your host Margit lovingly takes care of sick and orphaned animals, especially the tree kangaroo.

But you can also come face to face with this unique Aussie animal in many other places in Australia. Here are some of our favourite places:

• Kangaroo Island: the name already says it all
• Cape Hillsborough National Park: especially on the beach during sunrise
• Desert Park, a 15-minute drive from Alice Springs: here you can spot the big red kangaroo as well as other birds of prey and reptiles
• Mareeba Golf Club: you don't have to play golf because a walk on the golf course costs approximately $5AUD

Australia's cuddly animal: the koala

With a teddy bear-like appearance, the koala is oozing with cuteness. The koala does like to cuddle but with a tree, to keep the body cool. In many cases, these are eucalyptus trees, because they only eat the leaves from these trees. Koalas also like to sleep in eucalyptus trees, no less than 20 hours per day! This makes the koala one of the longest sleepers in the animal world.

The best place to spot these little beauties is on Magnetic Island. Here, the Forts Walk is a must and takes approximately an hour and a half. When you walk along the Forts Walk at the end of the day, you can admire the sunset from the top. But make sure, you bring a flashlight for the way back. Our colleagues Ilona and Brooke also saw a koala at one of our accommodations on Magnetic Island. They spotted it in the backyard!

Other places to spot koalas in the wild are:

• Cape Otway
• Adelaide Hills
• Noosa National Park
• Raymond Island

One of the largest birds in the world: the cassowary

The third-largest and second heaviest bird in the world lives in Tropical Far North Queensland. This bird is between 1 and 1.70 meters and, together with the ostrich and emu, takes the crown in the top three largest birds. The cassowary - with its graceful blue, green, red, pink, and orange coloured neck and head - parades in Mission Beach and the Daintree Rainforest, among other places. When you stay at one of our lodges, you can spot this elusive bird walking around the garden.

A cassowary is wingless and lives mainly in the rainforest of Australia and on nearby islands. Do not try to approach this shy bird, because they can lash out aggressively.

Tasmania's rarest animal: The Tasmanian Devil

Cradle Mountain is a desolate wilderness where you can come face to face with the Tasmanian devil. This marsupial was found in Australia approximately 3,000 years ago, but can now only be found in conservation areas in Tasmania. The reason for this is that the animal is threatened with a contagious form of cancer, where a tumor develops on the animal's snout and they can no longer hunt or eat. Other unique places to encounter this rare animal are in Loongana, at the Mountain Valley Wilderness Retreat property, and at the interesting Tasmanian Devil Unzoo on the Tasman Peninsula.

Another special animal that you can spot in Tasmania is the albino wallaby. You do this on Bruny Island during a walk along the rugged coastline and through the rainforest.

The seal colony on Kangaroo Island in Southern Australia

The main reason to visit Kangaroo Island is for its nature and wildlife. The island split off from Australia approximately 10,000 years ago, giving special animals the opportunity to develop here. Seal Bay Conservation Park is home to seals. In fact, Australia's third-largest seal colony lives here. To see these unique animals waddling along the beach and sunbathing on the rocks, you will need to pay an entrance fee. This is for the protection of the seals and the other Australian animals that live here.

Atherton Tablelands bird paradise: the rainbow lorikeet and platypus

Atherton Tablelands is a paradise that every nature lover dreams of. The hosts of one of our lodges in Atherton are nature enthusiasts. Here, you can enjoy the tropical rainforest and its inhabitants from a treehouse. Imagine waking up in the morning to the song of the rainbow lorikeet. Then, you walk out of your treehouse and start the day with a friendly conversation by the creek and spot the cute platypus.

A local tip: “Have a chat on the waterfront to spot the platypus. Keep talking a lot, because it can sometimes take up to 20 minutes before the animal shows itself. Platypus are attracted to the sound of human voices, so they know that dangerous animals are not nearby.”