Trip Report: Wildlife-Watching around Maleny, Queensland

*Red-legged pademelon at Mary Cairncross Scenic Reserve*

Time for a quick update! Last weekend I drove up to Maleny, in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland, to meet up with Grant Batterham. Grant and I became BFFs on our Falklands, South Georgia, and Antarctica trip in Oct–Nov 2022 (which I’ll also need to update on I guess!).

Grant is super knowledgeable about Australian wildlife-watching, and he invited me to join him on a trip to a local gem – Mary Cairncross Scenic Reserve, close to Maleny (we lost Mads at the mention of an ‘early start’, but we’ll definitely head up again).

Mary Cairncross Scenic Reserve

It was an easy ~75 min drive up from central Brisbane to Maleny early on a Saturday morning, with lots of birds once I left the motorway. Arriving at the reserve itself, the first thing I saw was a regent bowerbird, then a pademelon boinged past – a solid start. The main entrance to the reserve is an education centre and cafe, which overlooks a stunning view south over the Glasshouse Mountains. Very civilised.

The 52 ha reserve is a remnant rainforest patch, home to a diverse range of animals and plants (~563 species on iNaturalist at the time of writing), and is known as a particular hotspot for noisy pitta – photographing one was Grant’s main aim.

*Rufous fantail, nesting right on the track!*

*A very blurry noisy pitta… until we meet again!*

Part of the track was closed for maintenance while we were there, but it should all be reopen now for Christmas. I’m keen to head back up after the holidays.

The reserve is clearly a wildlife photography hotspot – I’d suggest arriving fairly early in the morning, and wandering around slowly looking for wildlife. There are loads of birds and very chilled red-legged pademelons. If you’re a numpty at bird ID, like me, check out the free Merlin app. It’s fantastic.

In terms of photography, be prepared for high ISOs in the forest – I’ll write up an article on how I deal with that, eventually, but the TL:DR is that I use aperture priority with auto ISO (set to 16,000 on our Sony A7R III, or 12,800 on our A7R IV), at the minimum aperture.

After I’ve imported the photos to Lightroom and gone through them, I’ll send the best few through DxO Pure Raw 2 (magic) for noise reduction, and the best of those will get an additional touch-up (noise reduction and/or sharpening) via Topaz Photo AI.

Let me know in the comments if you’re interested in all that photo geekery…

I was using our Sony 200–600 lens, prioritising birds, but the 100–400 mm would have been better for pademelons.

*Every good wildlife photo session ends at the cafe, of course :P*

We did manage to get a good look at a couple of noisy pitta, and heard others, but photos were tricky. There was plenty to see though!

How to get there:

Mary Cairncross Scenic Reserve is an easy ~75 minute drive north from central Brisbane, and quite nice once you turn off the M1 – it’s not far past Australia Zoo in Beerwah, and close to Maleny town. It’s a good day trip from Brissie, or Maleny is a great base for a weekend away.

Platypus Viewing Platform

As we wandered around the reserve, Grant mentioned that there was a platypus viewing area near Maleny itself. I’ve never seen a platypus in the wild so, after a slice of carrot cake at the cafe, we drove over there.

We didn’t see any, but they’re definitely there. Grant stayed in Maleny overnight and saw them the next morning! I’ll be back, weird little mammalducks…

We did see some other animals around the pool. It’s a nice spot. For you photographers, it’d be worth bringing along a monopod and a long lens.

The viewing platform is on the Obi Obi River outside town. There’s a carpark just next to it, and a short walk to the platform. I’d drive over rather than walk from town – Grant said the walk is boring.

Maleny Town

Finally, we had a wander down the Obi Obi River in town proper. There’s a colony of grey-headed flying fox which is worth checking out, and we saw an azure kingfisher too! Super pretty.