Lend a hand on these citizen science holidays in Queensland

Travellers are more eco-conscious than ever before, choosing sustainable experiences and eco-accommodation for a light-touch on the environment, but big-touch on core memories. And thanks to Queensland’s scientists and biologists forging the way to protect our precious ecosystems, there are now a range of ways you can get hands-on and combine travel with vital volunteer work and research.

Feel good inside and out on your next visit to Queensland and sign up for one of these citizen science holidays. From contributing to research on the Great Barrier Reef to digging for dinosaur bones in the Outback, an unforgettable adventure awaits.

Contribute to research on the Great Barrier Reef

Covering a staggering 344,400 square kilometres (133,000 square miles), the world’s largest coral reef is also the best-managed reef in the world – thanks to combined efforts of both scientists and tourism operators who have united to protect and plant coral - with thousands of new corals planted so far along the Great Barrier Reef.

The ability to help protect this natural wonder stretches to travellers too, with a range of citizen science experiences that not only get you exploring the Reef, but learning and participating in conservation efforts along the way. 

Set sail on a day-trip from Cairns with Passions of Paradise, an eco-certified tourism leader that offsets carbon emissions through tree-planting and other research initiatives - their ECO Tour is designed for ocean lovers, where divers and snorkellers can assist Master Reef Guides in reef surveys and monitor coral planting. 

Want to deep-dive into reef science? Sign up for a marine-biologist-for-a-day or reef ranger program with tour operators like Lady Musgrave Experience, Lady Elliot Island Eco Resort, Fitzroy Island Resort, and Daydream Island Resort – whose successful coral propagation program has so far planted over 1,500 coral colonies at Lovers Cove, a reef location damaged by Cyclone Debbie in 2017.

Cairns-based Marine Discoveries also offers experiences that will take you into the classroom or on a coral adventure, with marine biologist-led seminars as well as multi-day reef naturalist programs.

Travellers can also get a backstage pass to ongoing reef science projects at the Great Barrier Reef’s many island research stations, run in partnership with Australian universities. Holiday to Heron Island on the Southern Great Barrier Reef, Orpheus Island off Townsville, or Lizard Island from Cairns and sign up for a tour.

If you can’t get hands-on during your holidays, you can still help by adopting a coral via Reef Restoration Foundation’s Coral Nurseries program - an Australian-first initiative where from as little as $50 everyone can help rebuild the reef.

Find more ways to help the reef here.

Care for rescued turtles in our tropical north

Turtles play an important role in the ecosystem, but did you know they only have a one in 1000 chance of reaching adulthood?

The waters of the Great Barrier Reef is home to six of the world’s seven turtle species - but holiday to Fitzroy Island off Cairns and you’ll have the chance for a much more meaningful turtle encounter.

Fitzroy Island Resort is home-base for Cairns Turtle Rehabilitation Centre, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to protecting, caring for and hopefully releasing turtles back into the wild. The island’s turtle hospital cares for hundreds of sick and injured turtles each year, affected by boat strikes, buoyancy problems, net entanglements, foreign bodies injection and infectious diseases.

Sign up for the resort’s marine conservation program for the life-changing opportunity to provide assistance with care of the turtles, includes a behind the scenes tour with the team. Then, pop on a snorkel and fins and head out onto the fringing reef to help monitor coral and the sea turtle population – here you might have the chance to name a sea turtle, if they haven’t been identified yet.

Once the turtles are released from rehabilitation, you can even cheer them on via the incredible interactive Reef Tracks program. People from all over the world can log on in real-time and see where the turtles are and how they are doing.

Track wild koalas in the Scenic Rim

Fancy getting your feet dirty trekking through to bush searching for koalas? If so, Spicers Hidden Vale in the Scenic Rim could be the place for your next citizen science holiday in Queensland. The Spicers team aren't just committed to luxury - they're committed to wildlife conservation and the wild koala population that live on their sprawling 1200 acre property, and guests have the option to join the Koala Safari to check on the whereabouts and health of a colony of up to 26 koalas.

After a bumpy ride out to where the blue gums grow, follow behind the researchers and students from the University of Queensland who lead this project armed with sound wave technology to track koalas wearing special tracking bands. Binoculars are supplied so you can zero right in when you spot one, checking their eyes, ears and fur for signs of anything unusual and reporting in a logbook anything you feel might be of interest to researchers. A tour of the research facility is also included with the tour, and a portion of your fee to participate donated to further the conservation and protection of native wildlife.

Dig for dinosaur bones in the outback

This is your chance to become a paleontologist and uncover the remains of the dinosaurs that once roamed our vast Outback Queensland backyard 95 million years ago.

Make your way to Winton’s Australian Age of Dinosaurs where you can get hands-on in a number of ways, from the field to the lab. The ‘Dig-a-Dino’ experience is a seven-day project (meals and accommodation included) where you’ll learn how to dig and differentiate bones from rocks, then spend your days looking for fossils at the dig sites – you can also have a go at plastering the specimen you have dug out and get it ready for the trip to the Museum’s Fossil Preparation Laboratory.

More interested in what happens after the fossils are found? Sign up for the ‘Prep-a’Dino’ experience instead (1, 3 and 5 day packages available), joining scientists in the most productive Fossil Preparation Laboratory in the Southern Hemisphere, learning how to prepare real dinosaur fossils for display.

Dig experiences are for those over 18 years of age, while ‘Prep’ experiences can include participants from 12-15 years old if accompanied by an adult. Australian Age of Dinosaurs has plenty of other family-friendly ways to explore, while Richmond’s Kronosaurus Korner also offers ‘Digging at Dawn’ fossil digging for families.

Discover more places to see dinosaurs in Queensland here.

Keep an Eye on the Reef

Contributing to reef research can even be as easy as downloading an app. If you’re planning a Great Barrier Reef holiday, you can help contribute to the long-term protection of the Reef via Eye on the Reef and ReefSearch. Simply keep your eye out while snorkeling or diving on the Reef – surveying reef health, marine species, or pests like crown-of-thorns throughout the day. Record your sightings in the program afterwards, which helps scientists monitor changes in coral over time.

Help clean up

Join the Eco Barge Clean Seas crew – a team on a mission to collect marine debris in and around the islands of The Whitsundays to assist in the prevention of man-made litter entering precious marine environments.

Take a volunteer holiday  

If it’s not enough to dedicate a day or so to citizen science, No Limit Adventures offers one of Queensland’s most exciting voluntourism experiences. Take the opportunity to provide hands-on support at the Cairns Turtle Rehabilitation Centre on Fitzroy Island, or embark on a 12 day research adventure on the Great Barrier Reef where you'll dive and undertake rapid monitoring surveys on the reef with Master Reef Guides.

Bringing the kids? Here are some of the best ways to turn Queensland into a classroom on holiday.