I have done the car trip from Melbourne to Canberra, either way, many times over 4 decades. It depends if you are doing it as a direct trip, in which case it is about 8 to 10 hours driving time. That can be one day or I often stop overnight at Chiltern, just south of Wodonga, which is probably the best birding spot (and a nice historic village) that is only about 5 km off the main highway. The drive from Melbourne to Wodonga is now freeway almost the entire stretch, so it is possible to stay on the highway and see very few birds (some raptors, galahs, magpies, etc). From Albury to Canberra and Sydney is also mainly highway. Not a lot of places to stop between Canberra and Sydney, best known is Roses Lagoon and Lake George before you get to Goulburn. Otherwise there are plenty of other nice spots on the ranges but they all involve significant detours off the highway, so that depends on your timing and plans. As for once in Canberra, I suggest you look at the Canberra Ornithologists Group (COG) website http://canberrabirds.org.au/ under “maps, forms & lists” or any other page that you think may help. As urban birds go, there are many more birds in Canberra than in Sydney, not to mention that Canberra is a much nicer city! Canberra also has large populations of Grey Kangaroos, that you won’t see in Incline Village, NV (I’m guessing that is somewhere in USA) or in Melbourne or Sydney and we have many more parrots of more species (except perhaps for Rainbow Lorikeets, that are far more common in Melbourne and Sydney). Most foreign visitors are impressed with these.
Philip Veerman 24 Castley Circuit Kambah ACT 2902
02 – 62314041