Nowhere in the world does the Great Outdoors as spectacularly as Australia and New Zealand. You’ll find all the diversity you could wish for in glorious, unexploited abundance and as a result, the region is home to some of the most fascinating animals, beautiful plants and rarest birds on the planet. A holiday in this part of the world offers some of nature’s most amazing opportunities to see and interact with its unique wildlife.
New Zealand is home to a wide variety of sealife, harmless reptiles and a collection of rare native birds (including of course, the Kiwi).
Share the ocean off Kaikoura with scores of Dusky dolphins, swim with the seals and, in season, watch the migrating Sperm Whales too. See albatross, sea lions and rare penguin varieties on the Otago peninsula; and explore the Waitomo labyrinth of underground limestone caves by the light of the resident glow worms. The wild West Coast – a place of towering rainforests, pristine seacoast and beautiful wetlands, are home to an abundance of birdlife. The nearby Monro Beach is one of the best places to see the Fiordland crested penguins and colonies of fur seals.
However, perhaps the greatest abundance of native wildlife, including the elusive kiwi, as well as a wide variety of sea birds, pigeons and penguins is to be found on Stewart Island.
The North Island’s flora is no less impressive, with stands of ancient giant Kauri Trees in Northland standing up to 60m in height and Pohutukawa Tree lined coasts in blossom over the Christmas period.
Nature was inspired when it created Australia. Animals you'll see nowhere else, plants that will amaze you and scenery you will never forget. So strange are the creatures that hop, burrow and slither across its countryside that until the last century it was believed that the continent's animals had a different evolutionary starting point from the rest of Earth's species.
Whilst it’s not often that you will see kangaroos hopping down the street, there are numerous golf courses around the country where they happily graze the fairways and at Eaglereach Wilderness Retreat they will be only too happy to share the vista from your mountain top spa.
Nearly every corner of this fascinating continent has a unique wildlife tale to tell; from the nightly penguin parade on Philip Island to the Jurassic Wollemi Pine in the Blue Mountains. Swim with the world’s largest fish – the friendly whale sharks – off Western Australia’s Ningaloo Reef or hand feed the dolphins and dive with giant rays and sea turtles at Monkey Mia. Marvel at the menagerie of native animals: koalas, wallabies, kangaroos, possums, echidnas, penguins and sealions – who make South Australia’s Kangaroo Island their home.
Far North Queensland showcases a tremendous variety of wildlife; from the brightly coloured corals and tropical fish of the Great Barrier Reef to the iridescent green tree frogs and beautiful Ulysees birdwing butterflies of the prehistoric Daintree Rainforest. See giant saltwater crocodiles as you cruise the world heritage listed Kakadu wetlands – home to more than one third of Australia’s bird species. Surround yourself in the living museum of wildlife, birds and ancient wilderness that is Tasmania. … And for visitors short on time, Sydney’s Taronga Zoo showcases a wide variety of native animals and some of the city’s best harbour and skyline views.
Across the Islands of the Pacific, the breezes are filled with the sweet scent of tropical flowers, the beaches fanned by coconut palms and the turquoise lagoons are teaming with brightly coloured tropical fish and corals. Many of these islands also have their unique wildlife encounters to share such as swimming with the humpback whales in Tonga (August to October) or playing with the dolphins in Moorea’s lagoonarium.
New Zealand boasts an increasing number of eco lodges and a network of excursions orientated towards the natural environment. The people are passionate about their country's natural features. For generations New Zealanders have marvelled at the diversity of plant and animal life, the landscapes and rugged coasts.
Swim with the dolphins, watch whales in their natural habitat, see the nocturnal kiwi forage on the forest floor . . . New Zealand has been separated from the rest of the world for more than 100 million years. As a result, many ancient plants and animals have evolved and survived in isolation. In New Zealand you will see animals and plants that exist nowhere else in the world.
Flora and fauna flourish in New Zealand's temperate climate and unpolluted air and waters. The country is home to a number of unique species - the kiwi, the mountain parrot kea, the flightless parrot kakapo. The tuatara is an ancient reptile from before the time of the dinosaurs, which is still alive today!
The long, indented coastline is an ideal home for numerous species of sea bird including the huge royal albatross, gannets and many varieties of penguin. The waters off the coast are home to a diverse range of unique species readily accessible from the coastline.
Visitors can easily access large seal colonies, the only royal albatross colony on a mainland, gannet colonies and rare penguins.
Some 25% of New Zealand is protected and the land is criss-crossed with a network of walking tracks. Twelve national parks are sprinkled throughout the country - including five World Heritage sites.
50 million years of geographical isolation has led to a unique evolutionary sanctuary of plants and animals. Bilbies and bandicoots, emus and echidna, possums and platypus, koalas and kangaroos, wallabies and wombats, Australia is home to an exceptional range of species with more than 80% of the native mammals, frogs, reptiles and flowering plants found nowhere else in the world.
From the reef to the rainforest from the beach to the bush, in the outback or in the cities, Australia offers a unique collection of life’s most memorable wildlife encounters:
The iconic kangaroo bounds across outback plains in the Red Centre and hops through the Blue Mountains’ wilderness. See them lazing on the fairways of Anglesea’s golf course or share the vista with them from your mountain top spa overlooking the Hunter. Join a nocturnal rainforest ramble to catch a glimpse of the elusive tree kangaroo or hire a bike on Rottnest Island to see scores of Quokkas scurrying through the scrub.
Cute and cuddly, the koala can be spotted dozing in the treetops on Philip Island, chewing on the eucalypts of Noosa’s stunning National Park or posing for a photograph in Sydney’s Taronga Zoo.
Platypuses play in the icy lakes of the Cradle Mountain National Park and wombats wander through the Victorian High Country. Sugar gliders leap through the canopy of the rainforest in the Gold Coast Hinterland and dingoes roam the beach on Fraser Island.
Listen to the infectious laugh of a kookaburra and spot brightly coloured parrots in trees across the country. Australia is an ornithologist’s utopia with opportunities to watch wedge tailed eagles soar high above Tasmania’s wilderness, a flightless long legged emu running across the Flinders Ranges outback or rare seabirds nesting on Kangaroo Island. See the daily Pelican feeding on the Central Coast or breakfast with the birds in Port Douglas’ Rainforest Habitat. Tour the Daintree to spot an elusive Cassowary or cruise the Kakadu wetlands to see Jabiru, egrets and kingfishers. Watch the captivating dance of a pair of brolgas in the Kimberley or the nightly penguin parade on Philip Island. Listen for a rare Lord Howe Island woodhen rustling in the Kentia Palms or wake up to a serenade of birdsong in your rainforest tree house in Queensland’s Scenic Rim.
Follow in the fossilised footsteps of dinosaurs on the beach at Broome and cruise the mangrove lined waterways of the North West with giant crocodiles. Frilled neck lizards scurry across the Red Centre’s parched earth and goannas laze on the rocks around the quiet waterholes of the Top End.
Ride the waves with dolphins in Byron Bay or swim with these friendly creatures in Bunbury. Join a whale watching cruise from Fraser Island or countless other vantage points along the east coast. See Southern Right Whales breed along the Great Ocean Road and watch rare blue whales and their calves take refuge in the calm waters of Geographe Bay. Swim with turtles on the Barrier Reef and watch hatchlings make the perilous journey from their Heron Island nests. See sea lions basking on Kangaroo Island’s beaches and snorkel with the seals off the Mornington Peninsula. However nothing can quite compare to a swim with the gentlest of giants, the Whale Sharks that visit the Ningaloo Coast each year between April and June.
An underwater kingdom of more than 500 species of tropical fish reflecting every colour of the rainbow dart between the technicolour coral gardens of the Great Barrier Reef, whilst Tasmania’s icy streams and glacial lakes are brimming with wild trout and leaping salmon. Join the fish feeding frenzy on Lord Howe Island’s Ned’s Beach or watch the fishermen feed dozens of swirling sharks in the remote waters of Arnhem Land.
Australia’s collection of flora is equally impressive. From the Daintree’s oldest living rainforests to the ancient Huon Pines that tower over Tasmania, from the prehistoric cycads that shelter in Kings Canyon to the recent discovery of the Wollemi Pine in the Blue Mountains previously believed to have been extinct since the Jurassic Era.
Proud Boabs punctuate the landscape of the North West, whilst waterlilies dance on billabongs in the Top End and subtropical rainforests blanket the craters of extinct volcanoes along the east coast. Walk through a stunning carpet of wildflowers (September to December) or amongst the canopy of towering Karri trees in Western Australia’s South West. From the ubiquitous eucalypts across the nation, tropical palms and blooms, cool temperate rainforests and fern lined gullies or the arid desert grasslands; Australia is also home to a wonderfully diverse range of flora.