ECOTOURISM

ARAUCARIA ECOTOURS Rathdowney, Queensland Australia www.learnaboutwildlife.com
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Overview

Araucaria Ecotours is committed to sustainability (and hold advanced eco-accreditation with Ecotourism Australia). The house and Wildlife Information Centre on the Araucaria home property are powered by solar energy and rainwater from both is collected in large tanks: the same will apply to the proposed cabins on the property. Wastage is minimized at home and on tours, ecological research is conducted relevant to biodiversity conservation, and Araucaria is a member of local conservation organizations. Natural habitat is being restored on parts of the property, which is listed under the Land for Wildlife Program, and the forested portions are soon to be placed under a Voluntary Conservation Covenant. During tours, Araucaria promotes awareness of what is needed to sustain biodiversity on this planet, but avoid preaching.

Araucaria ensures that they provide experiences for all ages and fitness levels, usually travelling with two guides so that they can cater simultaneously for differing needs. Birdwatching tours however are not always suitable for young children who find it difficult to be quiet.

Araucaria Ecotours was founded in 1997, at first providing just one weekly tour, the three-day wildlife tour, giving an overview of the country’s wildlife while seeking local examples in a variety of habitats. This tour is still running and remains Araucaria’s most popular product. Starting out on a low budget, at first they advertised only to backpackers via brochure drops to hostels. Once they developed a website and were also depicted in Lonely Planet and other travel guides, Araucaria found a greater variety of visitors booking tours, including some who preferred private facilities rather than the shared-bathroom (but very comfortable) cabins that were being used. Over the years, Araucaria has gradually added more variety of tours and upgraded the accommodations used, but keep some tours within backpacker budgets with self-catered weekend wildlife camps and bush-walking day-tours in Brisbane, and by offering a camping option for the three-day wildlife tour.

Tours include:

• Three-day wildlife tour (pickup from Brisbane, camping or lodge accommodations, and all meals) viewing wildlife in a variety of forested mountain and coastal habitats.
• Budget self-catered weekend camping tour.
• Six-day Outback tour - great birdwatching, red sands, kangaroos, emus ... April, May, September, October only.
• Birdwatching day tour.
• Bush walking day tour.
• Island day tour with koala search on mainland.
• Wildlife day tour – seeking koalas, wallabies, birds, fruit bats, possums and others.
• Rainforest, glow-worms and wine day tour.
• Customized tours – for four or more guests, catering to special interests and itineraries, also additional activities such as horseback riding, canoeing or whale watching.
• Occasional theme weekends: children’s activities, rainforest plants, bird behavior etc.

Araucaria has recently constructed a Wildlife Information Center and is currently decking this out with displays on what makes Australia different from other regions (including the continent’s geological/evolutionary history), ecosystems of Australia, what makes this part of Australia different from the rest of the continent, local natural history, scientific exploration of behavior and ecology, other human exploration of nature, and the senses of animals (using local examples), as well as a children’s activity corner, and a meeting space with screen for PowerPoint and video presentations.

Self-guided nature trails are in preparation emanating from the Wildlife Information Centre, including a butterfly trail featuring the plants that support local species of the five families of Australian butterfly, along with interpretive signage on their life cycles, behavior and ecology.

Araucaria is planning to erect energy-efficient cabins with character on the property, to supplement the excellent neighboring accommodations already used for guests, as well as to provide weekend retreats and study camps.

Araucaria Ecotours understands how important good food is to many travelers, and how awkward it can be if traveling in areas that do not cater to special needs. Araucaria has made special effort to seek out eating places of good atmosphere and great food, including vegetarian meals. They always ask guests prior to their visit if they have special needs (vegan, allergies, religious taboos, etc.) and make prior arrangements where necessary. Liz, the co-proprietor and cook at Cougal Park, where guests stay during the three-day wildlife tour, is one of the bests chefs Araucaria has ever come across, and is a perfectionist in everything she does, whether it is a traditional roast, an Indian curry, a high-protein vegan dish or any of the many other delights she sets her mind to. The gourmet picnic lunch in the rainforest is always popular (and filling), and there are a a number of little restaurants providing value-for-money meals in various locations visited: Araucaria has been asked more than once how they find places with such good food in rural areas. A bonus on the lunch-stop on the first day of the three-day wildlife tour is an opportunity to see and touch a variety of Australian reptiles at the dinner table. For self-catered tours and when carrying picnic lunches, guests travel with a thermally protected container fitted with a thermometer to ensure food stays below 5oC.

While on tour, there is often the opportunity to try ‘bush tucker’ – sampling leaves and fruits that have formed part of Indigenous diets, presumably for many thousands of years.

All tours except the outback tour run throughout the year apart from the Christmas to New Year period, which is set aside for family activities (and also avoids the holiday traffic and problems of crowded venues and closures of some services). The three-day wildlife tour usually runs from Wednesday to Friday, but during the week before Easter runs from Tuesday to Thursday (for similar reasons as above). With prior notice, Araucaria can also run the tour from Sunday to Tuesday throughout the year for guests who wish to do the tour but simply cannot manage the Wednesday to Friday timeslot. The outback tour runs April, May, September and October only each year, as a compromise between avoiding summer heat and still seeing plenty of reptiles.

The Property
The Araucaria home property of 87 acres is on the southwestern section of the foot of Mt. Chinghee in southeast Queensland, and adjacent to the Mt. Chinghee National Park, which protects seasonally dry rainforest on its slopes and a more typical warm subtropical rainforest on its upper regions, often cloaked in mist in the mornings. Lamington National Park and the Border Ranges National Park can both be seen from the property. The property itself harbors seasonally dry rainforest and rainforest regrowth as well as eucalypt-studded grassy areas and riparian vegetation along a kilometer of creek frontage. The creek is aptly named ‘Running Creek’, as it has never stopped running in the living memory of even the oldest residents in the valley. It plunges over a 100 meter (300 foot) waterfall in the Lamington National Park several kilometers upstream (to date Araucaria does not include the rather strenuous walk to this waterfall on tours), and on the property includes rapids and a four-meter (12-foot) deep swimming hole. The creek is home to platypus, turtles, eels, ducks, moorhens, catfish, frogs and many other creatures. Along its banks, guests often see the little pied cormorant and the beautiful azure kingfisher watching for fish disturbed by the foraging of platypus. Wallabies, possums, gliders, parrots, kookaburras and other wildlife are seen in the more open areas, while regent bowerbirds, whipbirds, black-breasted button quail and others occupy the rainforests. From mid spring to mid autumn, guests hear the frequent calls of the channel-billed cuckoo, koel and dollarbird, visiting from New Guinea and other northern regions for the breeding season, and goannas, carpet pythons and frogs are active. Winter nights, with their earlier sunset and drier weather, are often good for seeing nocturnal animals and viewing a brilliant Milky Way and the Southern Cross.

Various nature trails and a Wildlife Information Centre featuring local natural history, Australia’s uniqueness and wildlife behavior and ecology are in preparation on the property.

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