I Had Forgotten How Much Fun A Road Trip Can Be

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Over the last few years, we have been concentrating on elaborate overseas birding trips funded by airline miles.  Now that the miles opportunities are slowing down, we’ll be doing more road trips out of our home town of Brisbane to birding hotspots.  This has always been part of the plan as I mentioned back around New Years.  We are actually very lucky in that there are many to choose from within a 3-4 hour drive!

I thought I’d point out a few advantages road trips have over trips that involve flying.

  1. You can pack as much as you want without regard to size or weight.  And you don’t have to fight for overhead bin space.
  2. You can leave anytime you want, no worries about catching the last bus to the airport or calling a taxi.
  3. You can stop and eat when and where you want.  Grab some fast food or take a leisurely lunch with a scenic view!
  4. You can bring food from home to BBQ, cheaper than eating out.
  5. You can bring camping gear to save on accommodation.
  6. No security (TSA/airport) searches.
  7. No waiting in line unless you hit traffic during school holidays or Christmas/Easter breaks.  Just don’t travel at those times.
  8. You can play any music you like while driving.
  9. No screaming kids (unless they are yours)!  And if they are yours at least you aren’t bothering other people.
  10.  Stretch out and be comfortable – no cramped airline seats.
  11. No currency conversions/devaluations (especially since the AUD has been nose-diving)!
  12. No immigration & customs hassles to deal with – at least for Aussies.  There’s no other country we can drive to!

Over the next few weeks, I will be blogging about some cool places you can drive to from Brisbane.  We just returned from Lake Coomunda (green dot near Oman Ama) and Karara/Gore/Durikai (red dot).  Then I will cover a road trip we did last year which was a bit longer and involved driving to Bowra Station near Cunnamulla (not on this map but to the west of Inglewood), the Stanthorpe/Girraween area (blue dots) and Lamington National Park (purple dot).

SEQ Birding

This is by no means a complete list of birding hotspots in Queensland, they are just the ones I have been to personally.