Edu-vation: how to combine fun and learning on your Queensland family holiday

Head west to Winton for a date with a dinosaur of epic proportions, but instead of just learning about how they came to be wedged way down in the dirt of Outback Queensland some 95 million years ago - let them sidle up beside the real life palaeontologists at Australian Age of Dinosaurs to learn how to dig them out.

Laboratory tours run daily and all ages are welcome, however if you really want to pop your budding dino-phile at the top of the prehistoric class - join them to qualify as a honorary technician at Prep-A-Dino. You’ll have to complete 10 days of prep (but doesn’t have to be consecutive), but like all things extra-curricular it will require some persistence and toil. You’ll be assessed by top technicians, but once you receive your honorary technician status, you’ll be welcome to return anytime to Prep-A-Dino free provided you do a refresher course for continued competence every 12 months. Suitable for ages 12 and above, and up to the age of 15 must be accompanied by an adult. Better together, right?

Reef Rangers for Real

Kids are the Great Barrier Reef custodians of the future, so why not arm them with the knowledge they need to know now? Enlist them to become a marine biologist for a day on both the southern and northern reaches of the Great Barrier Reef with Lady Musgrave Experience at Bundaberg and Sunlover Cruises in Cairns.

Under the fin of the resident marine biologist, kids will receive a fascinating insight into the creatures, habitats, rewards and risks that come with living on the world’s largest living organism. They’ll be encouraged to be curious and questions are met with the kind of answers a classroom teacher couldn’t even dream about giving. Their mission will be to collect valuable information that could assist the citizen-based science programs such as “Eye on the Reef” who monitor reef conditions and assist the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority to assess the ongoing health of the reef.

Activities may include counting marine creatures, checking out coral health and recording on a monitoring slate human interference and impact such as litter, water quality and other irritants or pollutants. Both programs offer time in the water with the marine biologist too and some on-land time at The Lady Musgrave Experience to see first-hand the unique symbiotic relationship that exists between plants, marine and bird species, from discovering the inner workings of an island to learning more about the important role they play every day, even at home, to help the reef to restore, replenish and re-populate through responsible consumer choices.

Heron Island and Lady Elliot Island also have junior ranger programs where you can enlist littles with turtle tracking, nest monitoring and bird and biology walks perfectly designed where aspiring Attenborough’s can quite literally soak right in.

Koala crusaders

Pack the kids’ hiking boots, and get ready to bump over the roads where the blue gums grow to track wild koalas in the Lockyer Valley. With over 12,000 acres of prime koala habitat, Spicers Hidden Vale has joined with the University of Queensland to conduct vital koala research with as many as 30 koalas currently being observed on their joint program.

You’ll take a tour of the research centre first before joining trackers to head bush in search of Australia’s favourite marsupial. Beside experts, kids will see the tracking technology that locates the koala’s whereabouts and once found, which is a scramble on foot through the terrain, they’ll sit in on a monitoring session to observe and record the health, activity and (kids will love this one) droppings…or as they will soon learn - pap.

Lessons in conservation along with an insight into disease and endangerment management are discussed in a child friendly way to sensitively share the struggles koalas face and the vital steps being undertaken to assist them regain their claw-hold in the wild.

Tours leave every day at 9am from Spicers Hidden Vale (except Monday) and usually last for at least two hours, but can be longer depending on how many koalas are found. A generous percentage of the tour cost is donated to fund ongoing research projects.

They call it Barradise

For a holiday with a fabulously fishy twist, take a trip up the Matilda Way or across the Savannah Way to Karumba, known by the resident Barra population (and the fishing-folk who catch them) as “barradise”

Sitting proudly as the region’s showpiece, The Les Wilson Barramundi Centre’s multi-million dollar interpretive centre is where everything you could possibly want to know about Barramundi (and more) is revealed. Take a wander through the centre to see the breed, feed, catch and release approach and while free to enter, if you do want to have a go at catching one of these frisky fishes, you can on the Barra pond for a small fee.

The centre’s goal is to educate and inspire; sharing the story of hatchery’s humble beginnings born from the vision of fishing forefathers who realised the fingerlings need to be replenished in local waterways as a responsible step towards securing future sustainability of the species.

While learning about the history, habits and ‘how to go about it’ so there can be plenty of fish in the sea for everybody but when the talking concludes, kids can also hook up their own plate of Barra bites in the on-site cafe (if they don’t have any issues tasting the talent).

Turtley-awesome little dudes

With so much of Queensland’s coastline and islands called home to six of the seven species of nesting sea turtles in season from November to March, there’s bound to be a few little guys that need a human helping hand.

And that’s just what the not-for-profit Cairns Turtle Rehabilitation Centre does, collecting turtles from outposts all up the Queensland coast and forming a triage to include intensive care and research at James Cook University in Townsville, Cairns Aquarium and Fitzroy Island Turtle Rehabilitation Centre. The latter is not only the place the turtles come when they are in their third and final stage of release, but it’s open to the wide-eyed public too.

Kids will see first-hand how the expert carers handle and help these little salty guys. Explaining the biggest threat to them is us (sadly), but also the ways we can adjust to ensure no plastics filter into the ocean, our beaches are clean and debris free and what gets pushed down our drains really does matter. Their fight for survival is inspiring and with some luck, kids might also get to see them swimming away after being successfully saved. And through the power of positive technology, can follow the turtles’ journey in real-time too through the Reef Tracks program online when they return home.

But wait – there’s more

Another great turtle edu-vacation experience is Mon Repos in Bundaberg on the southern tip of the Great Barrier Reef. An incredible interactive centre allows kids to switch into the role of scientist or marine vet, learning about egg incubation, dangers at sea and on shore and what it looks like from real life x-rays of turtles who have ingested plastic waste. Rounding out the experience, families can join the rangers on the beach afterwards (during the season) to hopefully see Loggerhead turtles clamouring up on the beach to lay their eggs.

Mon Repos is one of the largest rookeries for nesting Loggerhead turtles in the Southern Hemisphere - so the perfect classroom in our big Queensland backyard.

The story of stars 

What child wouldn’t be entranced spending a night under the Milky Way to gaze at stars and listen to stories? But not just any stories; these date back thousands of years as told by the Gangalidda and Garawa people, the Traditional Owners of Moungibi (Burketown) in the Gulf of Carpentaria. By joining the Yagurli Stargazing Tour, kids can gaze through the telescope to see the way stars were charted using the dark spaces between the light. Noongar, the six Indigenous seasons of Birak, Bunuru, Djeran, Makuru, Djilba and Kambarang, were mapped by Indigenous people as a guide to foraging food and partaking in the cultural traditions as passed down by their ancestors.

After spending the night on one of Australia’s largest cluster of salt pans, you can hit the road on a tag-along 4WD Marrija Cultural Tour tour the next day to see them by day. Kids will learn about the flowers, plants and animals that correspond to the seasons, how and when they’re eaten, and join in some bush tucker appreciation with a Gangalidda guide.

The afternoon is reserved for fishing, with a chance to bait up and catch a barramundi for yourself on the Malara Fishing Charter. The catch of the day is cooked up on the coals afterwards giving kids a hands-on insight into respecting and caring for country and how the Gangalidda and Garawa people have lived here sustainably for as many as 70,000 years.