Wildlife Hotspots
Ancient Mariners Fact Sheet
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Aquatic Friends Fact Sheet
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Baldwin Swamp
Set right in the heart of Bundaberg, Baldwin Swamp is a green jewel of grasslands, vine forest pockets and water lily filled lagoons just 3km from the Post Office. The area offers both natural wildlife breeding and open parkland. Boardwalks and walking tracks allow visitors access to most areas. Slashed tracks and untouched grassed areas maximise the wildlife breeding potential of the area.
Wildlife : Over 150 species of birds have been observed within the swampland and 40 species recorded as breeding. Waterfowl and Black Swans are the most visible species, but look closely for finches and parrots. Like other wetlands, the area is rich in aquatic life, insects and reptiles. All lagoons and waterways afford viewing of water birds and in the wooded areas live many tree and ground nesting birds. The mammals found here are active at night and include the common Ringtail possums, the Short-nosed bandicoot and Echidna. Insectivorous bats are also common and feed at night.
Walking : Harry Frauca Walkway - 200 metres - Harry Frauca was a local author, zoologist and naturalist. The track is suitable for wheelchairs. It traverses a canopied forest in transition from tea tree forest to dry vine scrub and offers best night viewing of possums. Throughout the reserve slashed grass tracks, formed tracks, some concrete paths and boardwalks criss-cross the area.
Access : Travel from the Post Office via Bourbong Street and Scotland Streets, Western approach:- via Princess Street, east via George Street. Eastern approach:- Scotland Street, south into Steindl Street. Walking tracks lead into other suburban streets ie Totten Street and Lathouras Court. Wheelchair Access from the Steindl Street entrance. A shelter shed can be accessed from Steindl street. No vehicles are permitted beyond the parking areas. Dogs must be kept on a leash at all times. The Swamp is part of a floodway, care should be taken during wet weather as a large catchment area is channelled through the complex via Bundaberg Creek.
Vegetation : The park offers a range of scenery, from flat low swampland to the west dominated by paper-bark trees with sedge, reed and swamp, to the transition forest vegetation of paper-bark trees and dry vine scrub species with a fern understorey. The canopy is covered with native vine. On the elevated areas fringing the swamp, is open eucalypt forest with blue gum, Moreton Bay Ash and Pink Bloodwood.
Mon Repos Conservation Park
As well as the famous nesting turtles, Mon Repos is also home to freshwater and tidal wetlands, dunes and an adjacent timbered reserve. After much local lobbying, the Queensland Government first protected part of the Mon Repos area in March 1981. The park was then expanded several times in the following years to include foredunes, Coachman's Creek and the rocky headland between Mon Repos Beach & Bargara.
Today, the 45 hectare reserve of the Mon Repos Conservation Park preserves a place of international significance as one of the largest and most accessible Loggerhead Turtle rookeries in the South Pacific and mainland Australia. During the season that extends from November through until the end of March, over 30, 000 visitors visit the purpose-built information center built in 1993 - 94 and stay in the adjacent privately owned Turtle Sands Caravan Park - all to view nesting turtles and see their baby 'hatchlings' emerging from sandy nests. Mon Repos offers a close up and truly amazing experience unlike anything in the world. For the rest of the year this coastline is a place of quiet walks, wind whispering through the she-oaks -and some hidden and surprising elements ? (such as?) - all excellent reasons to visit Mon Repos at any time of the year.
For those keen to learn more about Mon Repos' nesting turtles, the Information Center is operated all year round by the Dept of Environement and Resource Management, but outside of the summer season is open weekdays from 8:30am to 4pm and is free of charge. Here you can view the interactive displays and learn much of the ecology of the beach and surrounds and what steps we can take to minimise the disturbance and harm of these magnificent ancient mariners.Mon Repos has a special connection with the community; it highlights the efforts by local people to protect the endangered loggerhead turtle. The re-vegetation program started back in the 1980's has provided a critical darkness zone for nesting and hatchling turtles.
Set right in the heart of Bundaberg, Baldwin Swamp is a green jewel of grasslands, vine forest pockets and water lily filled lagoons just 3km from the Post Office. The area offers both natural wildlife breeding and open parkland. Boardwalks and walking tracks allow visitors access to most areas. Slashed tracks and untouched grassed areas maximise the wildlife breeding potential of the area.
Wildlife : Over 150 species of birds have been observed within the swampland and 40 species recorded as breeding. Waterfowl and Black Swans are the most visible species, but look closely for finches and parrots. Like other wetlands, the area is rich in aquatic life, insects and reptiles. All lagoons and waterways afford viewing of water birds and in the wooded areas live many tree and ground nesting birds. The mammals found here are active at night and include the common Ringtail possums, the Short-nosed bandicoot and Echidna. Insectivorous bats are also common and feed at night.
Walking : Harry Frauca Walkway - 200 metres - Harry Frauca was a local author, zoologist and naturalist. The track is suitable for wheelchairs. It traverses a canopied forest in transition from tea tree forest to dry vine scrub and offers best night viewing of possums. Throughout the reserve slashed grass tracks, formed tracks, some concrete paths and boardwalks criss-cross the area.
Access : Travel from the Post Office via Bourbong Street and Scotland Streets, Western approach:- via Princess Street, east via George Street. Eastern approach:- Scotland Street, south into Steindl Street. Walking tracks lead into other suburban streets ie Totten Street and Lathouras Court. Wheelchair Access from the Steindl Street entrance. A shelter shed can be accessed from Steindl street. No vehicles are permitted beyond the parking areas. Dogs must be kept on a leash at all times. The Swamp is part of a floodway, care should be taken during wet weather as a large catchment area is channelled through the complex via Bundaberg Creek.
Vegetation : The park offers a range of scenery, from flat low swampland to the west dominated by paper-bark trees with sedge, reed and swamp, to the transition forest vegetation of paper-bark trees and dry vine scrub species with a fern understorey. The canopy is covered with native vine. On the elevated areas fringing the swamp, is open eucalypt forest with blue gum, Moreton Bay Ash and Pink Bloodwood.
Mon Repos Conservation Park
As well as the famous nesting turtles, Mon Repos is also home to freshwater and tidal wetlands, dunes and an adjacent timbered reserve. After much local lobbying, the Queensland Government first protected part of the Mon Repos area in March 1981. The park was then expanded several times in the following years to include foredunes, Coachman's Creek and the rocky headland between Mon Repos Beach & Bargara.
Today, the 45 hectare reserve of the Mon Repos Conservation Park preserves a place of international significance as one of the largest and most accessible Loggerhead Turtle rookeries in the South Pacific and mainland Australia. During the season that extends from November through until the end of March, over 30, 000 visitors visit the purpose-built information center built in 1993 - 94 and stay in the adjacent privately owned Turtle Sands Caravan Park - all to view nesting turtles and see their baby 'hatchlings' emerging from sandy nests. Mon Repos offers a close up and truly amazing experience unlike anything in the world. For the rest of the year this coastline is a place of quiet walks, wind whispering through the she-oaks -and some hidden and surprising elements ? (such as?) - all excellent reasons to visit Mon Repos at any time of the year.
For those keen to learn more about Mon Repos' nesting turtles, the Information Center is operated all year round by the Dept of Environement and Resource Management, but outside of the summer season is open weekdays from 8:30am to 4pm and is free of charge. Here you can view the interactive displays and learn much of the ecology of the beach and surrounds and what steps we can take to minimise the disturbance and harm of these magnificent ancient mariners.Mon Repos has a special connection with the community; it highlights the efforts by local people to protect the endangered loggerhead turtle. The re-vegetation program started back in the 1980's has provided a critical darkness zone for nesting and hatchling turtles.
Once outside, boardwalks lead down to the beach here and also back at the southern beach access beside the caravan park. The southern boardwalk is of particular interest - as it passes beside the tidal lagoons fed by the Coachman's Creek inlet. Mangrove species crowd the boardwalk and offer excellent vantage points to view bird life up close - including ducks, bitterns and sandpipers. A walk to the end of the path then along the beach to the right leads you to the creek where you can access much of the tidal area behind the beach that forms a strong contrast between the open coastal area and the dense wall green of the Pasturage Reserve. Quite a volume of water flows out through this estuary after the high tide and fish can be seen darting in and out of the rocks looking for morsels washing out to sea. Crossing this creek at low tide brings you to a path that runs around the headland all the way to Neilson Park. Looking back up the beach through the pandanus offers a beautiful and restful sight of the gentle curve of beach - often completely unpopulated.
Mon Repos is a great place for people to escape to. An array of habitats is protected within the conservation park, including coastal forest, samphire flats, mangroves and a small patch of Woongarra rainforest scrub. If you like strolling along a peaceful beach and discovering creatures at home in rock pools, then the northern end of Mon Repos beach is the place to go. Dolphins can often be seen cruising in close to the shore and for the birdwatchers a variety of sea and shore birds can be found. Scenic picnic spots with a gentle sea breeze can be found along the dunes or alternatively the information center has picnic tables and toilet facilities.
A walk up the beach offers an ever-changing landscape of shifting sands, gleaming pebbles and shells that form dense swathes across the sand and also coral fragments and other flotsam washed in by the tide. Take the northernmost boardwalk back up to the information centre and follow the sealed paths that run behind the dunes. Along the dune edge you'll see the marker posts used by research staff to locate turtle nests. Frill-necked lizards and geckos skip under cover, finches dart amongst the casuarinas and the odd wallaby can be heard thumping through the undergrowth. Take care to use existing tracks here and down the dunes to the beach to reduce any impact from your explorations. A rough trail leads around the headland to Butcher's Rocks - and for keen walkers - right through to the Oaks Beach and Burnett Heads.
Back at the carpark of the information centre, look across the cane fields to old Qunaba Mill. You'll notice a dense stand of giant bamboo - the sight of the original Mon Repos homestead, built in 1884. It's hard to imagine that this vista was once as thickly covered by trees as the remaining Pasturage Reserve.
Before leaving, it's also well worth a stop to more closely examine the lichen-encrusted stone wall that stretches from the walking trail running from the information centre to the caravan park just behind the dunes - under the road, then in a straight, unbroken line for over a kilometre back to the grid at the entrance to Mon Repos at the junction of Grange and Mittelheuser's Road. This remarkable construction built by the Kanaka workers by hand is today the best preserved of the stone walls built in the cane fields of the coral coast. Another boardwalk accesses the freshwater lagoons adjacent to the Mon Repos Conservation Park and the caravan park - home to swamp-hens and spoonbills - another great spot for avid birdwatchers.
Whale Watching
Platypus Bay at the north west of Fraser Island offers some of the best Humpback Whale watching opportunities anywhere in the world.
National Parks
With over 15 diverse Parks to choose from, you have a choice of some of the best native wildlife viewing opportunities in Queensland.
