See Australia's unique animals and birds in their natural environment on a rainforest wildlife-spotting tour in the Atherton Tablelands. Led by an expert nature guide, your small-group nocturnal tour visits a number of locations including lush tropical rainforest and a volcanic crater lake. See tree kangaroos, lizards and musky rat kangaroo by day, and search for platypus at dusk. Enjoy afternoon tea at Lake Barrine and dinner at a country restaurant, then go spotlighting for possum, bandicoots, owls, bats and tree kangaroos by starlight on this fascinating nocturnal wildlife tour.
In demand: 17 of the next 30 departures are already sold out.
From the operator’s live schedule on Viator, checked Oct 7.
After our drive from Cairns up the scenic but very twisty Gillies Range Road we arrive at Lake Barrine. A beautiful volcanic crater lake surrounded by the Rainforest. Firstly we take a break for afternoon tea and there is no better setting than Lake Barrine to enjoy it. Afterwards we take a slow walk through the surrounding forest searching for Forest Dragons and Musky Rat Kangaroos!
There is no better place close to Cairns to see some of the rarest animals in Australia in the wild. We spend the majority of our tour exploring the region searching for wildlife. Walking through the oldest tropical rainforest in the world is an amazing experience by itself. You will be immersed with all the sights and sounds within it. In the late afternoon coming up to sunset we then go searching for the Platypus. The thrill of catching sight of this amazing creature will always stay with you. We do not stop looking until we run out of time to make sure you get the best possible chance of success. That is why we really do see them 90% of the time :)
When it’s time for dinner we go to the beautiful heritage village of Yungaburra. Started in the 1890’s. Many of the original buildings are still in use giving the reel feeling of stepping back in time. The centre piece of the village is our dinner location, the Yungaburra Hotel. Built in 1910 from the timbers extracted from the rainforest. And of an impressive size! It creates a great atmosphere as you mingle with the locals at the bar giving you a glimpse of the rural life in the pioneer days. The food is good and the meals are hearty so you will not be hungry. And you can wash it down with a local beer or wine if you choose. After dinner we relax and get ready for sundown so we can start the nocturnal search.
Once the sun goes down we start our search for the nocturnal creatures. This is the time when most animals are active in the Rainforest. The sensation of being surrounded by the sights and sounds and smells of the Rainforest by night is also an amazing experience that will stay with you. The places we go to are all specially chosen to make sure they are safe and easy to navigate by dim light as well. The range of animals includes mammals, reptiles, birds and insects. By the way, mosquitoes are low in numbers where we go. So unless you are a mosquito magnet you do not get eaten alive. The conclusion to the tour is our visit to the incredible Curtain Fig. An amazing natural wonder of the plant world. Reputed to be the largest strangler fig known in the world. We then make our way back down the Great Dividing Range to your accommodation in Cairns. But the sites and sound of the rainforest at night is an experience you will not forget.
We pick up from any location and type of accommodation in and around the city of Cairns. Each location needs its own pick up time. So it is important to call in advance to get your pick up time. You must be ready at the given time or you will miss your tour.
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For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Wait-A-While Night Tour: Platypus, Tree Kangaroos & Rainforest lasts about 8 hours. The itinerary has 4 stops.
Prices start at $167 per person for this Cairns and the Tropical North experience, booked through Viator with the price shown before checkout. There is 1 booking option, so the final price depends on the option you choose.
According to the operator’s current schedule, it runs every day, starting at 1:30 PM.
Children aged 4–12 pay from $153, adults from $167.
It can: 17 of the next 30 departures are already sold out, so booking ahead is a good idea.
Yes. Cancel at least 1 day before the start for a full refund. Later cancellations are non-refundable.
Yes, pickup is offered. We pick up from any location and type of accommodation in and around the city of Cairns. Each location needs its own pick up time. So it is important to call in advance to get your pick up time. You must be ready at the given time or you will miss your tour. Pickup points include Mercure Cairns, Mantra Trilogy Cairns.
The experience is available in EN.
It is a small-group experience with a maximum of 11 participants.
Children must be accompanied by an adult
Yes, bookings are confirmed instantly.
Reviews collected by Viator and Tripadvisor
A must tour to experience!! We saw so many different types of animals during the day and evening. Plus seeing the stars at night was incredible. Dinner was also a delicious meal. A great tour guide who made it fun.
I am glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for the review.
Wonderful experience! This is a long tour (8hours) that involves a steep windy drive up and down a mountain road to get to where the sights are. So not for you if you get carsick. But totally worth the effort of getting there! Paul picked us up at our campground. And provided an entertaining commentary on the drive up the mountain. He provides binoculars and gives very clear instructions on how to set them to your eyes. Well worth following his advice and using them! We saw three of the four local kangaroos. Only the tree kangaroo was MIA. Absolute highlight (as promised!) was multiple sightings of (probably) at least 3 platypus. The daylight and nighttime portions of the tour are broken up by a very filling dinner at the Yungaburra Hotel(itself worth a visit just to see an old wooden hotel that seems to have been built over 100 years go). Paul takes video clips during the tour and gave us all a compilation video at the end of the tour. When you factor in 8 hours of tour, a generous dinner, all the wildlife that nature chooses to share with you in one night plus a keepsake video, this is incredible value for money!
Glad you enjoyed! Thanks for coming.
Paul is a great guide who finds animals. We were amazed by another one every few minutes. We loved the platypus in the wild. Incredible. Paul shares the best of the evening with us all.
Thanks for coming. I am glad you enjoyed it
The guide was great. We saw a high variety of animals on land and in the water. I really recommend the tour!
Hey thanks for the recommendations. I am glad You enjoyed it.
Nicely picked up on time at our hotel by Paul, our guide and driver. We are with a group of a total of 8. Paul drives very fast, otherwise correct. We see wallabies in gardens and try green ants, that was fun. But because I only understand and speak school English, I sometimes didn't directly understand what Paul said, and that seemed to greatly irritate him. So I didn't realize that the stop was not only a viewpoint but also the start of a hike. That's why my binoculars and sticks were still in the car. Walking sticks were really necessary for me (when I asked, he had no information about it) because the path was slippery and muddy, with many tree roots. We briefly saw a platypus, but Paul absolutely wanted to see it more often. As a group, we were constantly pushed back and forth along the river at a fast pace. There was no attention to other animals. The meal was delicious but could have given us a tip to take barramundi fish. On the evening walk we hardly saw any other animals, only a rat with a white tail and a gecko on a tree. It was nice to receive the photos from this tour. But we had imagined this tour a bit more, especially the rushed and sometimes unfriendly guide was not nice!
Hey thanks for coming. This tour is mostly about seeing the platypus. If you get to see more than one that is really special. Some days there are more animals to see other days there are not. You had a quieter day I am afraid. I didn’t realise you needed sticks so I didn’t mention them but you did not ask either. Sorry if I came across as grumpy but when everyone else is ready to start the walk and we set off and then you stop us because you were not ready it is frustrating.
A MUST when you are in the area! Paul, the owner/guide has put together an informative, entertaining and animal-packed tour which included sightings of Platypus, Wallabies, Bush Possums and many more creatures. A bonus was the clear night sky where he identified for us the Southern Cross and various constellations. Even dinner was a delicious treat. Highly Recommend!
I am glad you enjoyed it!
It was a wonderful afternoon and night tour. When there was daylight we track on the platypus in the river and at night we look for reptiles and possum among trees. The guide used red light so that animal eyes reflect the light and can be seen by the guide, then the guide use flashlight so all of us can see and take photos. The best tour ever! Without the tour guide it is impossible to get these 1 min long video of the nocturnal animals.
Thanks for the review. I am glad you enjoyed it.
Really enjoyed the tablelands nature experience heaps of walking but very manageable love to hear all about how old trees are then dinner and night walk great
Glad you enjoyed it
It was a wonderful experience and we were very lucky with the native animals we saw. Clayton our guide did a great job and was very knowledgeable.
Thanks for the review. I am glad you enjoyed it!
Paul was an amazing guide. The logistics of doing a dusk and night tour should have been daunting but everything was made comfortable and safe. The greatest aspect was seeing wildlife in their natural habitat. These were nocturnal and would otherwise never be seen in the wild. Topping it all off was a delicious dinner in a country town pub. Highly recommend this tour.
Thanks for the recommendation. I am glad you enjoyed it.
| Tour | Duration | Rating | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wait-A-While Night Tour: Platypus, Tree Kangaroos & Rainforest | 8 hours | 4.8 (458) | $167 | |
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