There's no doubt about it — Australia is the lucky country. Yet while our greatest assets are the country's natural environment and its wildlife, these assets need to be protected for future generations.
From getting your hands dirty clearing obnoxious weeds to protecting endangered sea turtles, here's a taste of how you can get involved and help our environment on your next holiday:
Monitor a mammal
Where: Grampians National Park, Victoria
Conservation Volunteers Australia offers a fantastic opportunity for visitors to participate in a unique wildlife experience in Victoria's Grampians National Park. Working with a local ranger you'll assist with mammal trapping and research as part of the Mammal Monitoring program. The project's already rediscovered animals, including the heath mouse and southern brown bandicoot, thought extinct in the Grampians.
Find out more: Conservation Volunteers Australia
Go a little batty
Where: Atherton, Queensland
For a rare opportunity to help preserve Australia's bat population, join the team at the rescue centre in the Tolga Scrub area near Atherton in Queensland. The centre is mostly a home for flying fox bats, but also houses a number of small microbats. Volunteers on the program will aid the rescue, rehabilitation and release of all species as well as provide care for injured and orphaned bats.
Find out more: Tolga Bat Hospital
Have a devil of a time
Where: Gregory National Park, Northern Territory
Help eradicate obnoxious weeds and enjoy the crystal clear swimming pools at the Devil's Claw Festival in Gregory National Park, Australia's second largest national park, in the Northern Territory. Devil's Claw is a vicious two-metre high African bush that is threatening to consume the park. Since the first festival in the early 1990s, volunteers have continued to spend two weeks twice a year pulling out weeds and surveying flora species.
Find out more: Contact NT Parks and Wildlife on (08) 8975 0888
Track a turtle
Where: Exmouth, Western Australia
For a life-changing holiday, head to Ningaloo Reef on WA's Coral Coast and lend a hand protecting the fragile habitat of the region's sea turtles. From December to February you can join the Ningaloo community-based monitoring program as they collect data on successful nesting emergences, false crawls, disturbance and spatial and temporal distribution of Ningaloo's three main species: the green, loggerhead and hawksbill turtles.
Find out more: Ningaloo Turtles
Conserve an island wonderland
Where: Montague Island, New South Wales
Join Conservation Volunteers Australia to help protect one of Australia's most unique nature reserves — Montague Island. Located off the coast of NSW, it is the playground for marine life including fur seals and Humpback whales. Due to the island's nature reserve status, the only way to venture ashore is on a Montague Island Experience tour where you'll have the opportunity to participate on projects like the protection of the island's little penguin colony.
Find out more: Montague Island conservation tours
Check out the reef
Where: Townsville, Queensland
Dive in and lend a hand to conserve Australia's greatest natural wonder — the Great Barrier Reef. Operating out of Townsville in Queensland, Reef Check Australia offers recreational scuba divers the opportunity to help safeguard this stunning underwater wonderland. Led by scientists, teams of volunteers monitor and report on the health of the fragile reef system.
Find out more: Reef Check Australia
Become a friend of the Outback
Where: Roxby Downs, South Australia
Australia's heart and soul lies in the Outback. From wide star-studded skies and endless red plains to ancient gums and quiet lakes — there's nowhere quite like it. So join Arid Recovery in South Australia and help restore and protect our precious arid lands. Based on a reserve north of Roxby Downs, you can assist in fencing the reserve and eliminating introduced species such as rabbits, cats and foxes.
Find out more: Arid Recovery
Experience Tasmania
Where: Liffey Reserve, Tasmania
For one of the country's remarkable 'do good' experiences join Tasmania Experience for an eight-day journey through Tasmania's World Heritage wilderness. You not only get off the usual tourist trail and into exclusive areas seen by few, but you'll help make a difference to Liffey Reserve, an area of high conservation value, protecting threatened species and assisting with penguin surveys.
Find out more: Tasmania conservation volunteers
Make a splash with dolphins
Where: Monkey Mia, Western Australia
If you're after a great way to give back to the community, as well as enjoy a fantastic break from the daily grind, then make a splash with the dolphins of Western Australia's Monkey Mia. As a volunteer you'll play an important role in helping to manage the Monkey Mia Reserve and Dolphin Interaction Program. Projects include dolphin feeding, data collection and site maintenance.
Find out more: Nature Base
Care for an Aussie icon
Where: St Bees Island, Queensland
Want to get up-close and personal with Australia's cutest and cuddliest national icon? Then join the Earthwatch Institute and study the kolas of St Bees Island off Mackay in Queensland. When not aiding staff to discover the key to healthy balance for the lives of the island's koala population, you can spend your free time exploring the quiet volcanic island, relaxing under a palm tree or snorkelling in the lagoon.
Find out more: Earthwatch Institute
Keen to make a difference while having a great time travelling? Have you 'done good' while on holiday? Share your thoughts and efforts with us.
