Tag Archives: australia

Eco-Lite: Rottnest Island, Western Australia

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OVERVIEW

Rottnest Island is Perth’s premier Island destination and offers a smorgasbord of coastal activities including boating, fishing, swimming, surfing, diving and snorkelling so there is something to interest everyone in the family.  But for eco-tourists,  Rottnest Island is a haven for Western Australian flora and fauna. It is a protected A-Class Reserve which is home to many unusual animals and plants, particularly a small marsupial called the quokka (Setonix brachyurus). The quokka looks like a pint-sized kangaroo and is very popular with the tourists.  It is also home to many birds.  Coastal birds around Rottnest Island include the pied cormorant, osprey, pied oystercatcher, silver gulls, crested tern, fairy tern, bridled tern, rock parrot and reef heron.

Quokka

Detailed information is available on the Rottnest Island website.

HOW DO YOU GET THERE?

Coming from overseas, you can easily get to Australia using frequent flyer miles and base yourself in Perth.

Location of Rottnest Island

Rottnest Island is an easy day trip from Perth or Fremantle using the Rottnest Express.  Bookings are easily made online and you can choose between simply the round-trip ferry or day trips that include various guided excursions around the island.  This is an example of fares for adults, concession (pensioners) and children.

Rottnest Ferry

If you would prefer a tour, you can simply choose one from their tour page.  If this is your first trip to Rottnest Island, I would advise getting one of the 90 minute tours to get orientated to the island, then spend more time in the areas of most interest to you.  But don’t miss your ferry back!

HOW MUCH IS IT?

It varies based on which tour package you get.  Here is an example of the Discovery Tour.  Other tours are available and you can stay overnight if you wish.  More information is available on the tour page.

Discovery Tour

HOW LONG SHOULD YOU SPEND THERE AND WHAT SHOULD YOU SEE?

How long you spend is largely determined from the ferry schedules so plan on dedicating a full day to your Rottnest Island adventure.  Since I am blogging for eco-travelers, I’ll concentrate on the wildlife.  The quokka is possibly the most well known animal on Rottnest Island.  A marsupial the size of a hare or domestic cat, the quokka is the sole representative of the genus Setonix. As with other marsupials, such as the kangaroo, wallaby, wallaroo, bettong and potoroo, the females suckle their young in a pouch. Quokkas congregate under dense shrubs for shelter, and are less active during the day. They give birth in late summer, after a gestation period of twenty-seven days, and the young quokka remains in the pouch until August or September, and is then suckled for a further two months. The quokka reaches maturity at about one-and-a-half to two years of age, and lives to be ten years old.

Rottnest Island is home to many birds. Coastal birds around Rottnest Island include the pied cormorant, osprey, pied oystercatcher, silver gulls, crested tern, fairy tern, bridled tern, rock parrot and reef heron.

About ten percent of the eastern end of Rottnest Island is made up of salt lakes, containing brine shrimp. Brine Shrimp support a large number of birds such as the red-necked avocet, banded stilts, ruddy turnstone, curlew sandpiper, red-capped dotterel, Australian mountain duck, red-necked stint, grey plover, white-fronted chat, caspian terns and crested terns.

Red-necked Stint

The red-necked stint (which weighs only 30 grams) – as well as the grey plover, ruddy turnstone, grey-tailed tattler and curlew sandpiper – is a transequitoral migrant which breeds in the Arctic Circle and flies to the southern hemisphere during the non-breeding season.

There are many sea birds around Rottnest Island, including the yellow-nosed albatross, the cape petrel, Wilson’s storm petrel, Australian gannet, great skua and wedge-tailed shearwater. Of these only the wedge-tailed shearwater lands on the Island to breed in colonies of burrows at Cape Vlamingh and Radar Reef.

The birds of the Melaleuca and Acacia woodlands include the tree martin, welcome swallow, silvereye, spotted turtledove, laughing turtledove, fan-tailed cuckoo, red-capped robin, golden whistler, western warbler, singing honey eater and Australian raven.

Birds commonly found around the settlement area include the silver gull, Australian raven, sacred kingfisher and the banded plover (or lapwing). Peafowl, an introduced species released onto the Island in about 1915, can also be seen around the Settlement.
The osprey, nakeen kestrel and ring-necked pheasant favour the heath on Rottnest Island. The two to four pairs of osprey resident on Rottnest Island breed there every year, returning to their nests which are among the most durable structures in the world – one located at Salmon Point is estimated to be approximately 70 years old. The osprey nests are located at the highest point of a stack or headland, giving the birds a great vantage point.

The brackish swamps are home to the black duck and grey teal duck.

Adopt A Little Penguin At Phillip Island And AAT Kings Will Pay Half

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This is a very clever way to get “normal” tourists in a more eco-tourism frame of mind.  I got this email yesterday.  Visiting the penguins at Philip Island is a very popular day trip for anyone visiting Melbourne, Australia so it’s nice that this tour operator – AAT Kings is helping to conserve them!

Adopt a Little Penguin
at Phillip Island and AAT Kings will pay half of the adoption fee*
AAT Kings, along with our sustainable tourism partner The TreadRight Foundation are proud to work with Phillip Island Nature Parks to aid the protection and preservation of Victoria’s coastal wildlife. With a grant of $95,000 over two years, AAT Kings will contribute to continued research and management of Australia’s most famous colony of Little Penguins.

When you book an AAT Kings Phillip Island Day Tour, you too can contribute to the Penguin Foundation’s work in research and conservation by adopting a Little Penguin.
 Read more about TreadRight,
our sustainable tourism partner.
$75 Adopt a Penguin Package

Pay only $37.50* AAT Kings Pays half

Includes

Bullet point Penguin Foundation membership
Bullet point Plush penguin toy
Bullet point Penguin Foundation adoption certificate
Bullet point Amazing Penguin fact sheet
Bullet point Personalised thank you card and photo
Bullet point Penguin Foundation’s e-newsletter
Bullet point Complimentary Penguin Parade ticket
Bullet point An exclusive invitation to the
Penguin Foundation Members’ Open Day
Phillip Island

Full Day Phillip Island Tour
+ Adoption Package
Adult $176.50
Child $107.50
Tour code: K10A
*Conditions apply. Read More

Perth – Gateway To Western Australia

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It’s no wonder that Australia is high on the wish list of eco-tourists, especially those who wish to see lots of parrot species and many other birds too.  And don’t forget Australia’s amazing mammals such as kangaroos, koalas and wallabies (not the rugby playing ones)!  Australia is a huge country and you won’t be able to see it all in one go if you have the usual 2-4 weeks annual leave so you need to break it up into separate trips.  In this series, we will be looking at Western Australia and some of it’s best eco-tourism hotspots.  Perth is a great place to start your birding/eco-travel adventure and if you have miles and points you can save a bundle!

GETTING TO PERTH

Perth is the only international airport serving Western Australia.  There are several options for using your miles to get from your home country to Australia.  Perth specifically is served by:

STAR ALLIANCE

Air New Zealand – Auckland

Singapore Airlines – Singapore

South African – Johannesburg

Thai Airways – Bangkok

ONE WORLD

Qantas (home carrier) – Singapore,

Jetstar (Qantas affiliate) – Jakarta, Denpasar

Cathay Pacific – Hong Kong

Malaysian – Kuala Lumpur, Kota Kinabalu

Qatar Airways (future One World) – Doha

SKYTEAM

China Southern – Guangzhou

Garuda (future Skyteam) – Jakarta, Denpasar

NON-ALLIANCE AIRLINES

Virgin Australia – Phuket

Emirates – Dubai

Air Mauritius – Mauritius

DOMESTIC ROUTES

The only two airlines you are likely to be able to redeem miles on are Qantas and Virgin Australia.  Here are their route maps with their domestic connections.

QANTAS

Qantas routes to Perth

VIRGIN AUSTRALIA

Virgin Australia routes to Perth

WHERE TO STAY ON POINTS

Parmelia Hilton – 60,000 and up, varies by season and room

Hyatt Regency Perth – 12,000

Four Points by Sheraton (SPG) – 12,000

Holiday Inn Perth City Centre (IHG) – 35,000

Crowne Plaza Perth (IHG) – 40,000

Comfort Hotel Perth City (Choice) – 30,000

Comfort Hotel Wentworth Plaza (Choice) – 20,000

BEST OPTIONS IF YOU ARE PAYING CASH

Accor Hotels – Quite a few but unless you use these properties a lot you would be better off using Pointshound to book these or any other independent hotel of your choice.  All else being equal, I would choose a hotel based on location and proximity to public transportation.

 

 

Eco-Lite: King’s Park, Perth

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OVERVIEW

Kings Park and Botanic Garden is visited by nearly 6 million people each year. With its remarkable expanses of unique bushland, tranquil parkland and botanic garden, the park is the most popular visitor destination in Western Australia.

The total area of the park is 400.6 hectares and is located adjacent to the Swan River, approximately 1.5 km from the Central Business District of Perth.

HOW DO YOU GET THERE?

If you aren’t already in Perth, see my guide on how to get there with miles.  King’s Park is conveniently located near the central business district of Perth making it either a 20 minute walk or take the bus.

King's ParkKing's Park bus

HOW MUCH IS IT?

Free!

HOW LONG SHOULD YOU SPEND THERE AND WHAT SHOULD YOU SEE?

A park of this size with such abundant birdlife is best visited in the morning or early evening when the birds are out and about.  Plan on at least a couple hours to have a leisurely stroll around and relax and watch the birds.  King’s Park boasts an impressive bird list for a city centre park.  Eremaea has one bird list and you can also download a PDF from King’s Park website with full colour pictures of some of the most popular birds.  Here’s a snippet from the brochure.

King's Park birds

VALUE TO CONSERVATION

Humans and cities have been encroaching on wildlife habitat for years.  This park provides a beautiful natural habitat for  the birds and animals who would otherwise have no place to live in a modern day city.  The park has an education program to give people a greater appreciation of the native wildlife.

Kings Park and Botanic Garden enjoys the devotion of hundreds of enthusiastic and dedicated volunteers. It’s very important to keep the community involved.

WHERE TO STAY NEARBY ON POINTS

Perth is a major gateway city to Australia and has many options for those wishing to use hotel points.  I have done a comprehensive post on visiting Perth.

 

Esperance & Cape Arid National Park

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If you are hoping to see the endangered Western Ground Parrot, Cape Arid is one of two places they have been seen historically albeit with extreme difficulty.  It’s always best to check with Friends of the Western Ground Parrot before heading out there.

The park is accessed via Esperance, Western Australia which is pretty easy to get to by either a long road trip from Perth or short flight with SkyWest.

Skywest

Esperance

ESPERANCE

Although there are two hotel chains represented here (Best Western & Choice), using them is not the best use of your points.  If you have points burning a hole in your pocket:

Comfort Inn Bay of Isles – CHOICE – 25,000 points.

Best Western Hospitaity Inn Esperance – BEST WESTERN – 16,000 points.

Personally, I think Esperance has better options if you go indie and earn points with Pointshound.  Save your Choice points for Europe and earn some airline miles with United or another program of your choice.

.

More options are available on Wotif.com.

Wotif snippet

VISITING CAPE ARID

No matter how you get to Esperance, you will need a 4WD vehicle to visit Cape Arid and drive on any of its tracks.

Cape Arid

You can download the whole park brochure PDF from DEC.  The only accommodation in the park is rough camping.  There are some gas BBQs but you will need to be self-sufficient.  If you don’t wish to camp, you can stay in Esperance and make an evening trip out to Cape Arid.  The day trips cater for whale watchers so you would need to organize a special trip if you are hoping to see Western Ground Parrots which are most active at dusk.  This group camped out for a few days but managed to see a few Western Ground Parrots in Cape Arid.

According to Eremaea you can see these birds in Cape Arid:

Sooty Oyster-catcher, Pacific Gull, Great Crested Tern, Rock Parrot, Blue Breasted Fairy Wren, New Holland Honeyeater, White-browed scrub-wren, Welcome Swallow, Silver-eye.

 

 

Western Ground Parrot (Pezoporus flaviventris)

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Western Ground Parrot

The Western Ground Parrot (Pezoporus flaviventris) is an endangered species of parrot endemic to Western Australia and is a close relative of the Eastern Ground Parrot (P. wallicus) and the somewhat more distantly related and mysterious Night Parrot (Pezoporus occidentalis).  It is one of the world’s rarest birds with about 110 individuals remaining so it won’t be easy to see them in the wild.  Not only are they rare, they are extremely well camouflaged.

The nearest international airport is Perth in Western Australia and you can get there with frequent flier miles if you plan well in advance.  From Perth, you need to hire a car and get to one of the two habitats left to these extremely rare parrots – Fitzgerald River or Cape Arid National Parks.

Western Ground Parrot Habitat

This blog has a very interesting account of a survey group who were lucky enough to see them.  You can also find more information on the World Parrot Trust website and Birdlife Australia.  You can also follow them on Facebook and read the Friends of the Western Ground Parrot for the most up-to-date information.

This is a great video about Western Ground Parrots.  Embedding has been disabled so you have to view it on YouTube.  And this other video features a Western Ground Parrot up close and personal.

Virgin Velocity – 15% Off Domestic And International Reward Seats

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This will be more of interest to Australian readers.  Virgin Velocity is one of the programs I recommend Aussies join as it is very easy to get points from everyday living and also the American Express Membership Rewards program.  If you are new to my blog, please take a few minutes to read the posts I linked above.

Until 30 June, you can save 15% on reward flights.  If you couple this with one of the regular points bonus transfers, this can be a substantial discount on the cost of reward seats.  Velocity usually does a bonus promo at least once a year and offers a 15-30% bonus when you transfer miles from any of their affiliated credit cards.  This promo has finished but it gives you an idea of what to expect.

Velocity special

15% off Domestic and International Reward Seats Terms and Conditions

*All redemptions quoted are Reward Seats, subject to availability and to the Velocity Membership Terms and Conditions and booked on the internet at virginaustralia.com/velocity . This offer only applies to flights marketed and operated by Virgin Australia. Flights operated by partner airlines are not eligible for this offer. This offer applies to bookings made between 19 April 2013 and 30 June 2013. 15% discount is only applicable to minimum Points pricing and does not apply to taxes, fees and surcharges which are payable in addition to Velocity Points redeemed. Quoted fares are correct as at 19 April 2013 and are subject to change. Seats are limited and may not be available at peak times or on all flights. Any taxes, Booking and Service fees and surcharge components are not eligible for Points earn. Name changes are not permitted. Refunds and itinerary changes are permitted prior to travel, subject to a service fee, fare differences (if applicable) and fare restrictions . Payment amount will comprise of taxes or taxes and a Booking and Service fee, depending on the value. A Booking and Service fee will apply when paying by credit card or debit card when the payment amount is $50 or more: $7.70 per person per booking for Virgin Australia domestic flights, $10 per person per booking for Virgin Australia international short haul flights and $30 per person per booking for Virgin Australia international long haul flights. A phone booking fee applies: $35 per person per booking for Virgin Australia domestic and international short haul flights and $60 per person per booking for Virgin Australia international long haul flights. Baggage Allowances for Economy Reward Seat fares include a checked baggage allowance and vary by membership level and destination. Red members receive 1 piece up to 23kg on domestic and international short haul flights, 2 pieces up to 23 kg each on flights to Los Angeles, or 30kg on international long haul flights to Abu Dhabi. Complimentary baggage allowances apply for Silver, Gold and Platinum Velocity members. Additional baggage charges apply; please view the schedule of current fees . Fees are chargeable at the time of purchase. Fees will be incurred for excess baggage.

Here’s a sample route map of non-stops from Brisbane.  You can put any city as the departure on their interactive map and see where you can go on a non-stop or a connection.  I highlighted in yellow some places of interest to eco-tourists.

Virgin Austalia serves all the major domestic airports too.

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Eastern Yellow Robin (Eopsaltria australis)

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The Eastern Yellow Robin was first described by ornithologist George Shaw in 1790. Two subspecies are recognised; the Northern Yellow Robin (subsp. chrysorrhoa) and the nominate or Eastern (subsp. australis). The former was previously regarded as a separate species and called the Southern Yellow Robin.

Eastern Yellow Robin

Eastern Yellow Robin

I got this shot while doing the Photography Workshop with Michael Snedic last year.  Just goes to show you what a difference some proper instruction can make!

The Eastern Yellow Robin (Eopsaltria australis) is an Australasian robin of coastal and sub-coastal eastern Australia. The extent of the Eastern Yellow Robin’s residence is from the extreme southeast corner of South Australia through most of Victoria and the western half of New South Wales and north as far as Cooktown. Tropical Northern Queensland birds are mainly restricted to the warm heights of the Great Dividing Range.

Eastern Yellow Robin Range

These little guys sure are quick bathers………….but cute!

Getting To Australia With Airline Miles

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Australia is a major draw card for birders and should be on most eco-travelers dream trip list.  Unfortunately, being so far from everywhere else, it can be very expensive to get there whether you use miles or cash.  Let’s look at a few options.

 

 

ONE WORLD ALLIANCE

 

For most people, joining American Airline’s AAdvantage will be the best option.  They have quite a few credit card options to quickly build your miles stash and a few partners such as E-Rewards and various hotels where you can transfer points in.  This is my first choice for travel to/from Australia as you can book your award to anywhere Qantas flies domestically and not be dependent on gateway cities only.  Example:  Dallas-Los Angeles-Honolulu-Sydney-Alice Springs.

Peru Award2

These figures are one-way so double if you want a round trip.  The nice thing about AAdvantage is the flexibility, you may choose to go one way in economy and one way in business, or do an open jaw where you fly into Brisbane (BNE) for example and out of Perth (PER).  Australia is in the South Pacific region so you can see the miles required for most departing cities.

USA and Canada:  Each way is 37,000 economy; 62,500 business; 72,000 first.  You can use Qantas, Hawaiian Airlines, Air Tahiti Nui or Air Pacific but there are no stopovers allowed.  AA no longer allows you to use Hawaiian Airlines between mainland USA and Hawaii and if you want to travel beyond Hawaii to the South Pacific you will pay 2 awards – USA-Hawaii + Hawaii-South Pacific.

UK and Europe:  Each way is 45,000 economy; 60,000 business; 80,000 first.  You can use British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, Etihad or (coming soon) Malaysian Airlines and SriLankan Airlines; or use Finnair, Air Berlin or Iberia to get to Bangkok, Singapore, Hong Kong or anywhere Qantas flies.

 

STAR ALLIANCE AIRLINES

 

No matter where you live, the best programs to use in Star Alliance is United.   With United, you can book partner awards online, book one-way awards and get lots of miles via several Chase credit cards; but if you can’t get these cards it can be hard to get miles in United Mileage Plus.   Depending on where you live, Avianca/Taca Lifemiles could be useful too, but it is hard to use their booking engine for complicated routings so I suggest saving them for USA-Central/South America where they offer better value and ease of booking.  Singapore’s Krisflyer also offers Star Alliance awards.

UNITED AIRLINES (can book one-way or round trip.

The award chart is too big to copy paste here so please follow this link to see the whole chart.

USA and Canada:  (each way) Economy 40,000; Business 62,500; First 80,000.  You can use United, Air Canada, Air New Zealand (hard to get) or sometimes take the “scenic route” via Asia using Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways, Asiana or ANA (All Nippon Airlines).  You can easily see the routings via their online award booking engine.

UK and Europe:  (each way) Economy 55,000, Business 75,000; First 90,000.  Most people try to get routings using Singapore, Thai, Lufthansa, Swiss and Turkish Airlines.  You can easily see the routings on their online award booking engine but be careful if you are looking at business or first class awards as sometimes they offer mixed class awards and the long-haul section could be in economy with a short sector in business or first.

Here’s an example of London to Perth, as you can see they quote both the miles and taxes and the business class award are “mixed class” and if you hover over the fare, you can see which flight is in which class.

You can see how much cheaper it is to fly from Brussels due to the very high UK departure taxes.

 

These are just a few examples, please feel free to ask questions in the comments.

If you need ideas on how to acquire frequent flyer miles, please see the Resources tab and Miles and Points tab. which I will update with new offers for free or cheap miles.

OTHER AIRLINES

If you are from the USA, you may also want to try Virgin Australia awards booked with Delta miles or Qantas awards booked with miles sourced from the Citibank Premier Thank You card.  It is virtually impossible to get J class awards these days on QF with AA miles as members of Qantas Frequent Flyer have access several weeks earlier and snap them up.

LIST OF PARROTS IN AUSTRALIA

 

Animal Of The Week – Echidna

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This week, let’s have a look at one of our Australian animals, the Echidna.

Echidna

They are fairly common across Australia including Tasmania, though higher density populations are found on islands where foxes do not occur (e.g. Kangaroo Island and Tasmania).  You can learn more about them on this website.  Tasmania seems to be one of the easiest places to see them.  And finally, here’s a short video clip about echidnas.