This is Now a Bird Blog: Australia 1/3

The Vitals

Date: April 29-May 16, 2026

Location: SE QLD, NE NSW

New Bird Species (Total Bird Species): 59 (59)

Partners: Brittany, Lance

Accommodations: 1 night on a plane, 1 night in a hotel, 8 nights camping, 7 nights housesitting

The Trip

On the morning of May 1 we landed at Brisbane airport after 14 hours with a 7-month old baby that had slept most of the time. This was the beginning of 52 days in Australia with a campervan. We rented from the same company that we had used in NZ in 2019 which had been an outstanding experience. This time when we showed up jet-lagged and sweating at the depot we were a bit disappointed to see that we would be working with the same vintage of van (~2005), now with 7 more years of mileage. We had opted for the two-bedroom unit (rooftop tent) and wanted to learn how to use it before we left so we popped up the tent of the first van assigned to us. Luckily it had rained overnight, revealing that this tent seriously leaked through the damaged vent. With a lot of rain in our future, it was better to learn now than later. We were switched to a different van with 390,000 km and the tired interior to match. While the vans seem to be maintained well mechanically and the workers were genuinely helpful, the rough edges were a letdown.

Choosing to ignore our disappointment and look ahead to the grand experiment of van life with a baby, we navigated our way through Brisbane on the left side of the road, over bridges and through tunnels until we reached the Mount Gravatt Bookshop. The goal: baby books and a bird guidebook. We found plenty of the former and one of the latter (Pizzey and Knight, 7th ed.) which we purchased, excited to embark on our new, baby-friendly hobby. Casual birders at home, a major focal point of this trip became seeking out and identifying as many birds as possible. We mused about the possibility of 100 unique birds species, a total we would far surpass.

Camping

After one night in a hotel and two visits to an insanely busy mall (mall culture seems very much alive and well in Australia), we were driving south on large highways then twisty, narrow back roads on our way to Springbrook National Park. We arrived in drizzle after the steep and winding road and got our first new bird of the day: the Australia brush-turkey (sometimes called bush turkeys). A large bird with a bare-skinned head and bright yellow wattles, its appearance in our campsite caused a stir of excitement. How exotic! These bold birds would turn out to be the biggest pest we would encounter, and we wouldn’t stop encountering them for the remainder of the trip. By the second day, brushturkeys had dragged a loaf of bread into the bushes, pecked through a stack of tortillas, and broken into an empty cardboard box on speculation alone.

Our plan was to camp for 8 nights, then perform our duties at a prearranged housesit in Brisbane for 7 nights while we reassessed our ability to care for an infant while camping and driving a couple of hours a day. The sleeping arrangements were mother and baby in the rooftop tent, me in the interior of the van, and all cooking and recreation was to take place in the great outdoors. Given the limitations of the van, everyday involved the “day” configuration for travel and the “night” configuration for sleeping. Much energy was expended unpacking and repacking to optimize our living quarters. Waves of rain throughout the first week exposed the deficiencies in relying on space outside of the van, but we were able to maintain high spirits.

In our favour was the high degree of planning we had done for the first two weeks of this trip. We had camping reservations, knowledge of where we could get fuel and groceries, and what hiking we would do. Without those daily administrative tasks, we had a lot more free time to get into the rhythm of camping. We did some good hikes in this stretch including a 4 km circuit near Purling Brook Falls and about 9 km at Harding’s Paddock exploring the different viewpoints.

In the first week we spent two nights at Springbrook NP, two nights at Border Ranges NP, a night each at Koreelah Creek and Moogerah NPs, and two nights at Harding’s Paddock (a regionally administered camping area). Many of these spots are known birding hotspots. For example, our first afternoon in Springbrook yielded 14 species. An exhausting total as we snapped photos, flipped guidebook pages, and swiped through the Merlin app. Later in the week at Harding’s Paddock, we arrived to see the ratio of telephoto lenses to people approached 1:1 and we knew we were in for another flurry of IDing.

Other animals we got to see included pademelons, wallabies, flying foxes, the glittering eyes of thousands of wolf spiders, and a goanna. “Don’t feed the wildlife, especially the goannas” read the sign at Sheepstation Creek, where each afternoon a large specimen made its rounds of the camping area, flicking its tongue and inspecting the dishes we had left out to dry. It seems like goanna is a catch-all for a bunch of different species of lizards and that the one that visited us is a Lace Monitor.

The general standard of camping throughout was basic toilets, non-potable water, picnic tables, a complement of brush turkeys, and sometimes free barbecues. Rather than a grill with open flames and a lid, barbecues in Australia invariably meant an open, flat-topped griddle that was either gas or electric and has no temperature control. Just press the button and wait for the pre-heat, then throw on the snags (sausages). These public barbecues are mostly kept clean and we took advantage a few times to change things up from the standard camp meals. We brought lots of water purification tablets but the water in national parks was usually an unappetizing yellow colour from leaves in the rain catchment systems and we didn’t want to drink it even if it wouldn’t make us sick. In general we found it easy to find water from public spaces or asking in towns to use a tap.

In terms of driving, the task in rural northern NSW was often tiring between the narrow lanes, lack of shoulders, and serious potholes. When there was a stretch of straight road, I could finally look around and appreciate the landscapes. There were rainforests reminiscent of Hawaii, grazing land set between small mountains and mesas, and many small towns with good public amenities like water taps and info centers. We went shopping in the charming town of Boonah on the day that retirees bus into town and the stores were bustling with these oldies and their helpers.

When we daydreamed about the potential of our time in Australia, we hoped to do a lot of swimming but most areas lacked inviting water or the weather wasn’t very inspiring. Our one good swim was at Sheepstation creek in the pleasant stream set amongst dense rainforest with some neighbours from camp. Koreelah creek also offered a good swimming option but the weather was quite cool and drizzly so we passed on the opportunity.

By the end of our trip, this first stretch of camping would be looked back on fondly when the density of national parks dropped and we spent some more time in busier holiday parks. Still, we were excited to wake up early after our last night at Harding’s Paddock to drive into Brisbane for our housesitting appointment.

Housesitting

After a tour of the house and getting our responsibilities, the homeowners left on their trip and we got to stretch out and take better stock of our situation. The house was large with high ceilings, a well-appointed kitchen, a pool, laundry, and two dogs. After showers, multiple rounds of laundry (including our bedding from the van – what luxury), and figuring out how to work the coffee machine after trial and error (and error and error), we were feeling fresh. Over the next week and between dog walks, we swam in the pool every day, visited downtown Brisbane a couple of times by bus, explored the local neighbourhood with its bafflingly steep streets, and took care of some more trip planning for the next stretch of camping.

Highlights from Brisbane include the lagoon and museums of the South Bank, seeing the pitch drop experiment at the University of Queensland, and the large Botanic Garden at Mount Coot-tha. One more highlight was an evening food truck pop-up in the park near our housesit on the Friday night. It was a small affair with just a few trucks and tents and had a real neighbourhood vibe rather than a destination event for the masses. Sunset comes early at this time of year (something we had to contend with continually while camping), but here it added to the ambience to eat under fairy lights with the dogs and baby just after 5:00.

Birding and Wildlife

The gulf between our birding ability on Day 1 and Day 50 of the trip is massive. Spending a couple of hours most days taking photos of birds and then trying to match them up to the guidebook inevitably led to the absorption of more and more details, including the ability to discount species that are out of range or season. The other wildlife was more limited in variety, but high marks for novelty.

The bird gallery that follows is roughly ordered by a combination of how much I liked the bird and how good I think the photo is.