East Gippsland Wildlife & Conservation Journey

Begin your journey in the internationally significant Ramsar wetlands of East Gippsland, where waterbirds, raptors and coastal species thrive across sheltered waterways. Continue to Raymond Island, a woodland refuge supporting a healthy wild koala population. Here you’ll join simple field-based activities that contribute to a local conservation group, recording tree preferences, behaviours and individual animals. Walking through the forest offers excellent opportunities to observe koalas, as well as Echidnas, Swamp Wallabies, Eastern Grey Kangaroos and numerous colourful parrots and honeyeaters. If conditions allow, you may scan the waterways of Lakes Entrance for Burrunan dolphins and Australian Fur Seals, which regularly move through the system. The day provides a gentle introduction to East Gippsland’s ecological diversity while contributing meaningful wildlife observations.

Discover one of the region’s warm-temperate rainforests, home to superb lyrebirds, brown gerygones, black-faced monarchs and topknot pigeons. The forest’s layered canopy, creek lines and sheltered gullies create conditions ideal for birdlife and wallabies. Continue to nearby heathlands and a forest-lined river, areas where wildlife surveys help monitor post-disturbance habitat recovery and species presence. Here you may search for gang-gang cockatoos, turquoise parrots, hooded plovers and azure kingfishers, along with jacky lizards along sun-warmed edges. Along the Wilderness Coast, explore a quiet beach flanked by a complex dune system frequented by ocean-going birds and often visited by Australian fur seals. Later, walk a rocky headland overlooking the vast sweep of Ninety Mile Beach, investigating rock pools and coastal vegetation shaped by wind and salt. As evening approaches, scan plains and waterways for nocturnal and crepuscular wildlife such as red-necked wallabies, bandicoots, wombats and sugar gliders.

Travel into the mountain forests that underpin East Gippsland’s extraordinary biodiversity. These landscapes shift dramatically from dry, open slopes to damp, fern-rich gullies, offering contrasting habitats for birds, reptiles and mammals. Walk through both dry and wet forest communities while learning how elevation, moisture and soil type shape wildlife distribution. Keep watch for lyrebirds scratching among leaf litter, goannas warming themselves on logs, wallabies browsing among understory plants and a range of parrots and honeyeaters moving through the canopy. Visit the Snowy River, a defining feature of the region, and follow a wilderness creek where rainforest elements emerge in sheltered bends. Fewer visitors reach this area, allowing for quiet wildlife observation and opportunities to understand subtle habitat transitions. If time and conditions permit, dusk may reveal additional nocturnal species missed earlier in the journey.

Begin the day exploring a forested site known for either its historic trestle bridge or its seasonal bat colony, depending on conditions. Both locations offer insight into how wildlife uses human structures or sheltered roosting sites across the landscape. Continue through varied forest and wetland margins on the return journey, watching for raptors, parrots and mammals moving through open country. In Bairnsdale, visit the Krowathunkoolong Keeping Place, a cultural centre interpreting the deep connections of the region’s First Peoples with Country. Exhibits highlight how landscapes, waterways and wildlife have shaped cultural knowledge over thousands of years. This final day brings together themes of ecology, history and landscape change, helping you understand East Gippsland as a connected system of forests, coasts and rivers.