Going to Australia July-Aug 2025
Hello all! I am putting together a mega expedition to Australia for July and August of 2025 and would love to pick some of the amazing brains out there in mammalwatching land. As is normal for me, it is going to be overly ambitious – major miles and flyby visits to the hotspots. iNaturalist is a wealth of information but nothing beats this team of experts. I will post many questions as the months go on but today’s is pretty specific:
Kutini-Payamu (Iron Range) National Park
I was looking the 750km one way commitment to get to this park with 4X4 required. My goal is the Common Spotted Cuscus and others found there. I would love to here of anyone’s experiences traveling there and their thoughts about how likely it would be for me to encounter the cuscus and others in a two-three day visit – five including a long day travel getting there AND another long day getting back to Cairns. IS that road doable in a long day? Am I stupid to even think of trying without a 4X4? Is there a guiding service I should look in to?
Again, any info you could share would be awesome!!
Cheers,
Coke
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Jon Hall
Hi Coke. It’s a very long 2 days drive from Cairns if I remember right. I don’t think you could do it in a 2wd. At least 20 years ago it would have been very hard. I have heard now that Australian rental car companies have also cracked down on where even they let their 4wd go with gps trackers etc. So renting a vehicle to get up there might be a challenge in itself. If you do get up there then the spotted cuscus seems quite easy still. I think you’d want three nights minimum to do justice to the place given the difficulty in getting there. This company might be able to help. They have a trip in June. https://www.mammalwatching.com/community-post/advert-ultimate-north-queensland-mammalwatching-in-2025/