Mt Arapiles, Tourism Victoria
To explore Australia like David Attenborough, the main thing you need to pack is a sense of wonder. Found a spider in your hotel room? That’s no excuse to panic, but rather a reason to discover which spiders can be found in hotel rooms, in which part of the country, and what their purpose is. Getting rained upon in a rainforest? Discover which animals thrive in the rain and which ones hide.
Even after decades of exploring, Attenborough still gets excited about travelling – after all, there’s so much to see and do, and so many more animals to discover!
1. Go where the nature is
While you can have a lot of fun exploring cities, you need to get out of urban centres in order to travel like Attenborough. Stay in the city just long enough to discover some of the creatures you won’t find anywhere else before heading out bush, where you’ll discover creatures in their native habitats.
2. Do your research
Finding native wildlife is not a matter of good luck, but good research. While you might have the occasional spontaneous nature experience, it’s more a case of knowing how to be in the right place at the right time. Find out if and when animals migrate and the best places to see them, discover which creatures will attack if you venture into their territory and be prepared with first-aid kits that cover all sorts of eventualities. For instance, whales always seem to surface at Sydney in June, if you want to watch this giant mammal migrate.
3. Visit some unexpected places
With all the bad press that Christmas Island gets, you might not have this surprisingly large island off the north-west coast of Australia on your list of places to visit. But before it started getting in the news for all the wrong reasons, people visited Christmas Island to see the incredible range of crabs that call this island home. The island is mainly national park, which protects the over 20 different crab species, along with an array of other flora and fauna.
When you’re travelling like David Attenborough, you’ll find yourself travelling places and discovering things you never expected, whether that’s swimming with whale sharks off the coast of Coral Bay in Western Australia, or hanging out with the penguins on Macquarie Island, between Australia and Antarctica.
4. Travel with a crew
You won’t find David Attenborough travelling alone. When it comes to exploration, he knows that two heads are better than one. And there always has to be someone holding the camera! A key element in a crew member is knowing that they share your interests. It’ll be pretty hard convincing someone to get up in the middle of the night to find a nocturnal animal, such as the wombats at Narawntapu National Park, when they are more keen on finding a great cafe for brunch the next morning.
5. Document your experiences
David Attenborough has spent most of his life bringing the wonder of nature into our living rooms, so a key ingredient of travelling like David has to be recording your experiences – although not at the expense of scaring off any surrounding creatures and interfering with their day-to-day life. Write a blog, set up an Instagram account, or content yourself with sharing your videos and photos with your nearest and dearest. But you don’t keep your sure-to-be fantastic discoveries to yourself. Share your photos with us on Facebook.
