Tag Archives: gateway

Cunnamulla – Gateway To Bowra Station

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Cunnamulla is a very welcome sight after a long drive from Brisbane – especially if you’ve done it all in one day!  You’ll pass through here enroute to Bowra Station and possibly come here for shopping and meals during your stay.

IMG_8972 Bowra map

Scenes around town

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They do have accommodation although I highly recommend birders stay at Bowra Station.

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Banking/ATM available

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Boulders is a great place to eat and check your emails.

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There wasn’t much in the way of souvenirs – a real gap in the market as they could do well selling Aboriginal art and paintings of wildlife.

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The resident flock of Little Corellas can sometimes be seen at the town park and sometimes down by the river.

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Security guard for the laundry!

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The other welcome sign on the east-bound road.

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Brisbane – Gateway To Outback Queensland

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After almost 3 years of owning this blog, I am finally going to blog about my hometown – Brisbane!  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 Queensland is a huge state so you won’t be able to see it all in one go if you have the usual 2-4 weeks annual leave.  Far north Queensland will need a separate series all on its own.  In this series, we will be looking at South-east Queensland and some of its best eco-tourism hotspots.  Brisbane 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 BRISBANE

Brisbane is the main international airport serving South-east Queensland although the Gold Coast airport also has some flights from New Zealand.  There are several options for using your miles to get from your home country to Australia.  It has been harder to get business class awards recently, especially to/from the USA so you may have to suck it up in economy.  Just keep your eye on the prize that awaits at the end of that long flight!

Brisbane specifically is served by:

STAR ALLIANCE

Air New Zealand – Auckland, Christchurch

Eva Airlines – Taipei

Singapore Airlines – Singapore

Thai Airways – Bangkok

ONE WORLD

Qantas (home carrier) – Auckland, Hong Kong, LAX, Singapore, Tokyo

Jetstar (Qantas affiliate and only available using QF points) – Denpasar, Honolulu

Cathay Pacific – Hong Kong

SKYTEAM

China Airlines – Taipei

China Southern – Guangzhou

Korean Airlines – Seoul

NON-ALLIANCE AIRLINES

Virgin Australia (partners with Delta) – Apia, Auckland, Christchurch, Denpasar, Honiara, LAX, Nadi, Port Vila, Queenstown, Wellington

Emirates (Partners with Qantas, Alaska, Korean) – Dubai, Singapore

Etihad (Partners with AA & Virgin Australia) – Abu Dhabi

Hawaiian – Honolulu

DOMESTIC ROUTES

The only two airlines you are likely to be able to redeem miles on are Qantas and Virgin Australia.  I have a post with more information on domestic connections.

QANTAS

QF BNE routes

VIRGIN AUSTRALIA

VA domesitc BNE

WHERE TO STAY ON POINTS

If you plan to spend a day or so in Brisbane and will be relying on public transport, your best bet is in the CBD where buses and trains are plentiful.  Out in the suburbs you can wait 30 minutes or more to catch a train or bus (speaking from experience).  If you will be renting a car (which you will be if you are heading to the Outback), then avoid the CBD as parking is expensive.  Brisbane really isn’t the best place to get the best value out of hotel points unless you are swimming in them.

Hilton Brisbane – 60,000

Brisbane Marriott – 35,000

Four Points by Sheraton – 10,000

I think you would be better off using Brisbane as an EARN miles opportunity and use Pointshound or Rocketmiles to book your room.  In any case, readers of this blog probably won’t be hanging around the city for long with all the birds awaiting you in the bush!

 

Priority Club Pointbreaks – Gems For Eco-Travelers

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Once you get into the miles and points games, you begin to get more familiar with the deals that come out periodically and how to best take advantage of them.  One of the best is the Priority Club Point Breaks.   These come out roughly every second month and allow you to redeem only 5000 points for any of the designated hotels.  While most of the hotels are in cities and may appeal more to business travelers, there are often bargains to be had in resorts and more exotic destinations.  Priority Club is a great program for non-frequent travelers as they have many promos throughout the year to get points.  I will be sharing these opportunities as they come up.  If you are in a hurry and have no points at all, you can buy Priority Club points or get their Chase credit card.  More details HERE.

Here’s a few from the current list that can benefit eco-travelers and are valid through 31 January 2013.

Crowne Plaza Manila Galleria – You will pass through here if you are headed to Palawan to see the endangered Philippine Red-vented Cockatoo.  I did this trip in 2012, you can read my article.

Intercontinental Jakarta Midplaza – Although Aussies will usually access the birder’s paradises of Seram and West Papua via Bali, people coming from Europe and North America are more likely to connect in Jakarta to an Indonesian domestic flight.  Seram has the Moluccan Cockatoo and more!  West Papua is full of fascinating birds including many species of Birds of Paradise, Palm Cockatoos, Eclectus Parrots, several Lorikeets, Pesquet’s Parrots and more!  I will be there next year!

Holiday Inn Suva – You would be passing through here several times if you are using the domestic flights or ferries to get to Taveuni to see Red-throated Lorikeets or Red Shining Parrots; or Viti Levu to see Masked Shining Parrots.

Hotel Indigo San Jose Forum Costa Rica – Useful if you are traveling to Costa Rica to head out to Carara National Park for Scarlet Macaws, Selva Biological Reserve to see Great Green Macaws or Savegre to see Resplendant Quetzals.

Remember, whenever you economize on gateway hotels, you have more money to spend on staying in nice eco-lodges and supporting the local economy!