Just over 9000kms, two months of travel, a ton of new lifers and we're home. Here we reflect on our birding adventure, what we learned and what we'll do differently - or not - next time! We'd love to hear your thoughts.

Our stopover in Bourke was just a one nighter, but boy we loved the red-tailed black cockatoos we saw there. This pair were real smoochers, and  they were easy to find...

As we headed south, we saw more parrots (yay!), but in addition to learning about birds, we'd like to learn more about their homes and food sources. In Charleville, we found two excellent (but rather unadvertised) places to learn about the trees of the outback: the Botanic Drive (fifteen kms out of town), and the Graham Andrews Parklands in town. In this post, we share some of what we learnt there.

Yes all the streets in Longreach are named after birds but they weren't so easy to find...until we found the Iningai Park Nature Reserve which, frankly,  could do with some investment...

Yep - budgies, red-tailed cockatoos, cockatiels and, well, flies! What great birding on the way to and out at Winton. ​Thanks to all the great rain (and not great for many people) the outback is brimming with birds. Here are some of the the fancy flocks we saw...

While staying in Julatten, we went birding with guide Del Richards. Our expectations were high - Del's got a great reputation - but even Del was blown away on this trip. We were hoping to see a mature male riflebird display - and we did, but then the young lads got involved. One young male riflebird found his wings, and displayed for well over two minutes. We couldn't believe our luck. But wait, there's more...

We were very lucky to see not one but three juvenile southern cassowaries on our day trip to Cape Tribulation.

If you've made the trip to far North Queensland, you absolutely have to go to Daintree...heck, go there for the Daintree alone! And go on the River with the Daintree Boatman - you'll be glad you did!

The weather was not really optimal for our purposes during our days in the Tablelands, and we know there is so much to see - but we managed a few glimpses between showers...

We went on our first birding tour - and to Cape York. Here is what we saw and experienced, and what we think of the idea of a bird tour...

​Twenty kilometres of sealed but very narrow and winding road up the mountain to Paluma Village…is it worth the effort?

​The drive to and from Bowen is mostly via the Bruce Highway, and you can expect extensive roadworks both sides of town – but don’t let that put you off because the birds and other rewards are many.

Eungella (pronounced 'young galah') and Broken River are about an hour inland from MacKay...we highly recommend a visit...

We were very keen to go to Carnarvon Gorge and much of it was great - other bits, not so much...

From Roma we took the road less travelled and had an amazing drive through the aptly-named Arcadia Valley, with a lunch stop at Lake Nuga Nuga...it was well worth the diversion, and a few kilometres of dirt road!

And so to Queensland - and it's still pretty chilly, but no rain for the last few days. Our journey to Roma has included excellent botanic gardens, new lifer birds for us - including red-shouldered parrots - and just loving those wide open spaces!

It was a long but enjoyable drive from Leeton through Forbes, Parkes, Dubbo and then on to Coonabarabran...the Newell Highway is not in the best shape, to be honest, with many worn parts, only exacerbated by heavy truck use.  But all was forgiven when we got to Coonabarabran  and found the Warrumbungles...

After a few days of heavy rain, the sun came out for us during our first visit to Fivebough Wetlands near Leeton in NSW. 

Our big drive for 2022 is from Melbourne to the Iron Range in Cape York in far north Queensland - and today is pretty much our first day. We left a wet and cold Melbourne yesterday and made Cobram our first stop. This is a new town, for us, but we knew that visiting the Murray was a sure winner. We always love being around the Murray!