I am trying to narrow down my trip to Australia as I only have a short time, so I don't want to spend it all traveling back and forth between too many places. I plan to fly into Sydney, then will spend most of my time around Daintree/Port Douglas/Tropical Queensland. <BR><BR>I had originally planned to go to Kangaroo Island too, as I want to be sure to see plenty of marsupials and other unusual animals, but I simply won't have the time. Are there National Parks and other places in the area I will be in which I will be able to see kangaroos, wallabies, koalas, etc in the wild? How about Eaglereach or something similar? I don't want to see them in a zoo or animal park. I am hoping to see them in their native surroundings.<BR><BR>Thanks for your help!<BR>Joni

JoniC<BR>It's not easy to see animals in the wild, even on Kangaroo Island. For a start, a lot of them are nocturnal. And you would have to travel quite a way outside the cities to see them in the wild.<BR><BR>Ther's a place abou 90 minutes outside Sydney, Euroka Clearing, where you can see a couple of kangaroos hopping about in a natioinal park, but these are pretty tame - not really wild. Some of the day tours to the Blue Montains go there. Otherwise, wildlife parks are your best bet.

Can you describe what the wildlife parks are like? Are they just zoos with big enclosures? <BR><BR>Joni

The large National Parks is you best bet for animals but as the previous poster said many are nocturnal. However when I was last in Tropical north Queensland I went on a nocturnal animal stopping trip into the Daintree. We were mainly looking for Lemoriod Possums, which are only found in that small area and are very rare but along with seeing those we did see a considerable number of other animals as well. <BR>Kangaroo Island is certainly not the only place in Australia where you can see the animals in the wild. There is a park just in the southern suburbs of Brisbane where there are 5,000 Koalas. My back yard boasts more nocturnal animals that you can poke a stick at and which have the annoying habit of waking me up more often than not but they are cute. <BR>The Kangaroo is mainly is more arid areas of Australia and they are in their Millions but you should see wallabies around anywhere outside suburbia but one of the tours up north is your best bet - Possibly with David Ambrust - cannot get the spelling right!<BR>For Kangaroos in the wild but tame you cannot do better than around Morrisset Hospital on the banks of Lake Macquarie just south of Newcastle - you can hand feed those.

There is a lot of wildlife information on: www.daintreerivertours.info plus a link for a myriad of places to stay in Daintree.

Try Jonathan Munro - www.wildwatch.com.au at his own highland rainforest reserve which covers 11 habitats from reef to rainforest in tropical North Queensland. Mareeba Wetlands has an astonishing amount of birdlife and kangaroos in the wild. Also Carrawong Fauna Sanctuary near Kuranda - www.australiawildlifetours.com