For 2022, our expedition participation costs are significantly cheaper than in the previous years, due to additional funding that we have received. Your payment includes all food & accomodation from the first to the last day of the expedition. More details are in the booking form which is available for download once the deposit has been paid. 

East coast expedition – Airlie Beach / Whitsundays coast / Mackay In 2022 we finally commenced sampling east coast locations in central Queensland. Over the last few years, we have received many submissions of potential sawfish sightings from the region, and some locations that we are targeting are truly spectacular. We will be camping in camp grounds the whole time. Hurray hot showers!!

East coast expedition – Lakefield (Rinyirru) National Park In late 2020, we commenced our sampling program in Lakefield (Rinyirru) National Park, together with the Rinyirru Aboriginal Rangers, the Laura Aboriginal Rangers and the local Parks And Wildlife staff. This year’s Lakefield expeditions is limited to two or three field assistants, as our sampling team is quite large. The insights you will gain by working with such a diverse team will be quite unique. We have found sawfish in the National Park, and the nearby Laura region is famous for its Aboriginal rock art, which includes sawfish. On this expedition we will be camping self-sufficiently in the bush.

East coast expedition – Cooktown region in 2022, we will commence our collaboration with the Yuku Baja Muliku Rangers who are active in the Cooktown region. We will be targeting both sawfish and freshwater whiprays during this expedition. Freshwater whiprays which are found in marine areas in the region, can grow up to 2m disk width. We will be camping on country, self-sufficiently. The expedition is limited to 3 field assistants, as we will be working in a large team with the rangers and potentially even junior rangers.

Mid- Gulf expedition – Kowanyama – This Indigenous community is located about half way along the west coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria. The country that we will be accessing is under exclusive Native Title and so we will be working closely with Indigenous Land and Sea Rangers as well as Traditional Land Owners (TOs), for the 6th year. The expedition is both exploratory (sampling locations that we have not sampled before) as well as targeting sawfish for our “Daily Diary” study. Access to Kowanyama is by dirt road only, which can easily become impassable after heavy rains. During this expedition there are no public campgrounds beyond Chillagoe and we are self-sufficiently camping in the bush near our sampling sites.

Southern Gulf expedition – Burketown Our fieldwork locations in the southern Gulf of Carpentaria are more accessible than those up north, as Cairns and Normanton are connected via a bitumen road. The drive typically takes 7–8 hrs, and there are several outback towns along the way with campgrounds. As the expedition is taking place towards the end of the year, we will be renting air-conditioned cabins, as the temperatures in the Southern Gulf at this time of the year soar and make camping uncomfortable. We will be sampling the Norman River and the vast sand flats of Karumba.

East coast sampling days – Cairns  Please stay tuned while we work out details on how to start a sampling program in our home region!