a very special Great Ocean Road trip
Why is everyone raving about Echidna Walkabout's 3 day Great Ocean Road trip? Check out this short video to see why!
The 3 day Great Ocean Road trip runs on Tuesdays & Fridays every week from October to April, and on Tuesdays from May to September. It starts in Melbourne (hotel pickups) at around 8am on Day 1 and returns to Melbourne around 5pm on Day 3.
The trip is a small group (max 8 people) wildlife tour, perfect for people who want to enjoy nature, wild animals, beautiful scenery and boutique accommodation. There is also an option to take the tour as a private group.
See our website for more details echidnawalkabout.com.au
wild Echidna in the Brisbane Ranges - Savannah Walkabout, Australia
This large Echidna buried himself as he heard me approaching. I waited very quietly for about 5 minutes without moving, and finally he started to come out of the hole he had dug. Notice how carefully he emerges - sniffing the air and listening for danger. I think he heard or smelled me at the end, and went back into the hole.
3 day Great Ocean Road tour
3 days full of Australian wildlife! Kangaroos, Koalas, Echidnas, parrots, cockatoos, kookaburras, emus...and that's just a start. The Great Ocean Road is Australia in a nutshell - wildlife, beaches, countryside, friendly locals, rainforests, dry grasslands, outback.
In just three days you can experience everything Australia is famous for.
koala searching in the You Yangs - Savannah Walkabout day tour
Mary, our Koala Researcher, walking through the dry bushland of the You Yangs with a guest, looking for wild koalas. On every Savannah Walkabout tour, a koala researcher finds wild koalas before the tour group arrives, and then leads the group or leaves a message for the Guide. Koala Researchers and Guides take notes on the location, identity, behavior and tree species that each koala is in, and this information is compiled and distributed to all our Guides, National Parks Rangers and Field Naturalists Clubs to assist with wild koala management.
Amazing echidna moment
a wild echidna is being watched by our group on the 3 day Great Ocean Road tour. Paul, Wildlife Guide, has instructed the guests not to move so as not to disturb the echidna. Most surprisingly, the echidna walks right to them, passes between a guest's feet, then sniffs another guest before continuing on. Note: this was not staged in any way - all participants were totally surprised by what happened. We do not allow guests to touch or approach wild echidnas. This kind of thing happens very rarely, but we have seen in once before.
wild kangaroo approached by lady - Savannah Walkabout day tour
This very young wild joey kangaroo and her mum were hiding in the Bush on our Savannah Walkabout. On our approach, mum hopped off, but for some reason the joey stayed. My guest started to approach, using trees as cover, and for some reason the joey allowed her to get very close. A couple of times joey called, but still didn't hop away. I can only surmise that my guest had a very non-threatening body language, and that the young kangaroo wasn't old enough to be truly afraid of humans yet.
Planting Koala Trees near Melbourne
This is the bank of the Little River near Melbourne. Once it was koala habitat, and soon it will be again. But we need your hands!
Koalas all over Australia need help to have a future. On the Western Plains near Melbourne we are lucky - we still have koalas but they are declining. Luckily we have potential, former habitat just waiting for trees, and free-hold farmers who want trees, koalas and welcome our efforts.
Every 1st and 3rd Sunday every month, all year. We plant June to August, we maintain other months.
Koalas & Kangaroos IN THE WILD video
All about the wonderful wildlife you can see on the Koalas & Kangaroos IN THE WILD one day tour from Melbourne, Australia. Presented by Janine Duffy, Wildlife Guide & Co-owner of Echidna Walkabout Nature Tours
Echidna Walkabout's Conservation Projects
Echidna Walkabout Nature Tours is a social enterprise, committed to ensuring a wild future for Australian animals. On tours, guests are offered the opportunity to participate in one or more conservation projects - this video shows the Make a Home for Koala Clancy Conservation Project.
Make a Home for Koala Clancy is a koala habitat creation project. Echidna Walkabout's 19 year Wild Koala Research Project identified that koalas in the You Yangs rarely use areas heavily infested by Boneseed weed - an introduced, invasive weed. Removal of the weed is easy but requires long-term committment. The project began in 2013, and at the time of writing, over 100 hectares of bushland have been cleared of the weed.
Echidna Walkabout also founded the Koala Clancy Foundation, a not for profit charity, in 2015. This charity engages with the local community, offering educational days in the You Yangs for Melbourne and Geelong locals to see, learn about and help wild koalas. During June, July & August the charity plants koala Power Trees - highly-preferred, high moisture-content eucalypts in rivers, creeks and drainage lines - on private farms.
EchidnaWalkabout.com.au KoalaClancyFoundation.org.au
Sunset Koalas & Kangaroos IN THE WILD
Australian animals are most active at sunset, so why not get out there and see them at their best?
Echidna Walkabout's new tour starts from Melbourne at 2.15pm and stays out until 9.30pm, to watch koalas patrolling their territories, kangaroos fighting and wallabies hopping about.
Book now:
Tour runs every Monday from November 2017 to February 2018; then every Monday, Thursday & Saturday from November 2018 to February 2019
Wildlife Conservation Journey 4 day tour Australia
Connect with nature on this four day, fully-inclusive small group journey into the wildlife-rich forests of southeast Australia's coastal wilderness. Visit magnificent stands of giant eucalypt forest, walk in rainforest, along untouched ocean beaches and beside secluded rivers and waterways in search of wallabies, koalas, goanna lizards, gliding possums, lyrebirds, parrots, black swans and many other birds.
Help conserve the beautiful places and wildlife you see. Your Wildlife Guide will teach you to find willdife, record them, and later submit your sightings to Australia's highly respected bird and mammal Atlases -- this task is easy, very enjoyable and essential for conserving our native animals. Monitor and record the behaviour of Koalas, using our special method of non-intrusive identification. Spend a little time on a glorious beach removing fishing nets that trap fish, birds and sea mammals.
Share this remote area with your experienced Wildlife Guide and each night return to the comforts of owner-operated lodge-style accommodation.
Apostlebirds: weird birds of Australia
Apostlebirds- Struthidea cinerea - live their whole lives together, in groups of 12 or so – hence the name. They live in Outback Australia. They are a regular sight at Hattah-Kulkyne and Mungo National Parks.
Read about the other 6 Weird Australian Animals we see on the Maximum Wildlife 21 day tour.
Male Koala Arne in the You Yangs - Savannah Walkabout, Australia
A quick look at Arne's home range in the You Yangs on a beautiful winter's day.
Eastern Brownsnake on Savannah Walkabout, Melbourne
a beautiful Eastern Brownsnake in the You Yangs Range just west of Melbourne, Australia. We saw him while looking for wild koalas on our Savannah Walkabout/Koalas & Kangaroos IN THE WILD day tour.
A wildlife safari in Australia
Birds, mammals, reptiles, open vehicle, camera, binoculars: Africa? No, Australia’s Northern Territory.
I love the African tradition of the Safari Drive. Its not just the wildlife you see – though that is the reason for doing it – its the experience of feeling the sun/wind/dust/cold in an open-sided vehicle; the anticipation of what you might see; the ease of watching animals without lugging your camera and binoculars (they are comfortably on your lap). Its the Gin & Tonic stop part way through, and knowing that at the end of this glorious experience you will sit down to a fabulous dinner and sleep in a comfortable bed.
So when we started doing wildlife safaris as part of our 6 day Wild Top End wildlife tour at Point Stuart Wilderness Lodge, in the Mary River region of the Northern Territory, I was in heaven.
Read more here:
Koalas in Australia - You Yangs near Melbourne
Help save the Koala in Australia. Spend a day with Janine Duffy of Echidna Walkabout on the Koalas and Kangaroos in the wild tour.
Help remove the Boneseed weeds to create new habitats for Koalas to live and breed.
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baby koala reaching for leaves - Savannah Walkabout day tour
You Yangs, near Melbourne, Australia. 11 month old baby koala Pitta is finding it difficult to reach the gum leaves he wants. His arms are just too short! And his mum, Pat, is in the way. So he hangs over the branch, stretches out one leg for balance, and reaches down with both arms. He is only gripping the branch with one foot! He does manage to get his leaf, though, so it's all worth it! Recorded as part of Echidna Walkabout's Wild Koala Research Project
Great Ocean Road 3 day tour
The Great Ocean Road is Australian in a nutshell!
Short-tailed Shearwaters flying over the Great Ocean Road
One of the world's great wildlife spectacles - watching huge numbers of Short-tailed Shearwaters fly in to their nests at sunset on the Great Ocean Road, Melbourne, Australia. These beautiful birds fly to the Alaskan arctic every year, then back to nest in Australia. 50,000 of them nest on Muttonbird Island, near Loch Ard Gorge on the Great Ocean Road. But you could miss them in the daytime - you need to go at sunset, like Martin and his guests did on 3rd January 2013 Great Ocean Road 3 day tour.
Wild koala Merle takes a walk - Savannah Walkabout day tour
You Yangs, near Melbourne, Australia. Wild adult male koala Merle comes down out of the tree he was sharing with adult female Karen and walks 120m to the next tree. I was sitting on the ground watching them, and he walked straight past me! You can hear Karen vocalising as Merle is climbing down, and then you can clearly hear Merle bellowing as he walks along. Karen then vocalises again. I really wonder what they are saying to each other!