(NZ then) Sydney to Melbourne Early November - Where to Go? (1 Viewer)

I'm going to be in Australia only for a week, flying into Sydney, driving to Melbourne and back over a week. I'm looking for a "good bet" birding spot or two in the area. Will probably go down the coast on the way down and inland on the way back. My wife isn't the avid birder that I am and I'm still getting started and don't want to burn half of my brief trip to the country sitting around waiting to see one or two birds.

Going to be in NZ for most of the week prior (end of October) and could use suggestions there as well, which I will try to solicit here, rather than cross posting to the NZ patch.

Hope you good folks have some good news for me. Thanks.

I will also be driving Sydney to Melbourne in November stopping 2 nights at Eden and 1 night at Lakes entrance so I will also appreciate suggestions for the route as well as both cities.

I have not, unfortunately, ever been to Melbourne, but I have read that Wilson's Promontory is a place that is not to be missed.

Regarding the Sydney end of thing, I can highly recommend Royal N.P., just south of the big smoke. It might seem like it would be just too close to the city, too "suburban", but actually, once you are in there, it feels like being out in the wilderness. I got quite a few lifers there, including Origma, Suberb Lyrebird, and White-fronted Chat. (With my birder hat on, as it were, I could easily spend the whole week just in Royal, and not feel the least bit restless.)

If you are able to go inland, I liked Kosciusko N.P. - although I think any of the reserves in the mountains would probably be good, especially if it's your first visit to Australia. I didn't see much in the way of new birds there, but that's probably because I had already seen most of the easy temperate species elsewhere by that time (it was near the end of the trip). I did have a really neat encounter with an echidna there, though!

Blue mountains nortwest of Sydney is great both for landscape and birding (i watched the LyreBird parade - though I was really lucky).
Tower Hill is an easy and rewarding spot on the way to Melbourne (for birds and mammals)
Grampians national park good for mammals and birds (parrots, emu,...)

For New Zealand for a part of a week, i would suggest Tiritiri Matangi and Muriwai Ganet Colony if you are in the area of Auckland or Zealandia Park and Kapiti Island if you are in teh area of Wellington.
Other good sites are Cape Kidnappers, Kaikoura, Otago Penisula and Steward island but certainly will need more time.

Thanks for the input. A friend that recently moved from Melbourne to Cairns also strongly recommended Wilson's Promontory, though she isn't a serious birder. I have a limited timeframe and my wife likely wants to do things other than birding at some point, so if anyone can suggest ideal spots in RNP (I doubt I can keep her attention there for more than four hours), I'm open.

Our loose plan was to drive down the coast to Melbourne and back up through an inland route. We both want to see Jenolan Cave, so we will be in the Blue Mountains anyway. I'll look into all of this in more detail online. Thanks for the direction.

Don't miss Tower Hill I think it will suit you and your wife.

Jerome