Aug/Sept Itinerary -- wildlife?
 

My husband and I are going to Australia in late August or early September. We have most of our itinerary figured out (though not the details yet), but there is one aspect missing -- I really want to spot kangaroos in the wild (ok, I know that is cliche, but nonetheless).

I searched the forums to see where the best spots are and none seem to work into the places where we actually going to be. Any suggestions for a day-trip from the locations we are going to be in? My only though so far is Blue Mountains, but I am not sure whether August/September is not quite the 'season' to spot them there. I did consider Kangaroo Island (for all the wildlife it offers), but we just don't have time in our itinerary to make it out to Adelaide and then to the Island. I do have one unused day to fit in another day-trip.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Our tentative itinerary
3 days: Sydney base
the city, potentially blue mountains, potentially whale-watching half-day trip

3 days: Carins or Port Douglas base
trips to GBR, Daintree rainforest, the beach (just an afternoon/morning -- not whole day)

3 days: Uluru base
Uluru, Olgas, potentially Kings Canyon

3 days: Melbourne base (we have friends there)
the city, half-day trip to Phillip Island

You will always see kangaroos at Euroka Clearing in the Blue Mountains, it's part of the National Park behind the town called Glenbrook. They were introduced there and there's a lot of them, so it's not quite seeing them in their "natural" habitat but it's pretty close.

One of the best wildlife spotting places I've been to in Australia is Undara, a half-day's drive SW of Cairns in the Gulf Savannah. It's most noted for the lava tubes, but since it is very open country, it's easy to spot the 'roos, emus, parrots and other creatures all about. I remember the outdoor dining area at night with bettongs (small kangaroos) at our feet. We also did flashlight spotting at night looking for sugar gliders and possoms.

Since you only have 3 days in Sydney, you probably don't have time to make it down to Canberra, but you could easily see kangaroos in the wild there. You can often see them in town on Red Hill, Mt. Ainslie or over by the Governor General's house. But our favorite place to spot hundreds (literally) of kangaroos in the wild is on the Yankee Hat Hike in Namadgi National Park, just a short drive outside the city. This is an easy 6km RT walk through the bush and the kangaroos are all along the trail. They will generally just sit and watch you, so it makes for some great photos. At the turnaround point is a large boulder with Aboriginal rock drawings and it's a neat thing to see as well. I've done this hike about 7 or 8 times and never been disappointed.

Another option for seeing kangaroos if you haven't by time you get to Melbourne would be to either make it a full day for Phillip Island [if you're going for penguins, that'll mean being about to evening btw] and extend your trip down to Wilsons Promontory area or alternately if you are looking to do the Great Ocean Road, check out Anglesea Golf Course where there could be a heap lounging about.

If you're looking for beach Cairns way btw, you'll be best to saty at PD or at some of the beach locations between Cairns and PD for no real beach at Cairns itself.

Thank you everyone for the wonderful suggestions! I should certainly be able to work one of these places into my itinerary.

The more I do research, the mroe I realize that I still have quite a bit to do before I can call my plan 'final' .... I maybe back with more questions :-)

Julia - If you want to spot lots of wildlife, see the post just under this - Caligirl's trip report, and read her account of the tour with Jonathan Munro, and my reply post of today, about our trip with him. You will see lots of kangaroos and wallabies with him.