Canberra: Tidbinbilla

Tidbinbilla is one of my favourite places to go. At Tidbinbilla you can go bushwalking, picnic and see lots of animals in the wild.

Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve sits at the northern end of the Australian Alps (National Heritage listed) and was gazetted as a nature reserve and national park in 1971. About 45 minutes from Canberra’s CBD, the park is home to a range of Australian animals including kangaroos, koalas, platypus, echidnas, wombats, emus, lyrebirds and many more who live in the diverse sub-alpine habitats including wet and dry forest, woodlands, grasslands and wetlands.

Tidbinbilla plays a vital role in wildlife management and protection, in particular the breeding programs for the endangered Northern Corroboree Frog, the Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby and Eastern Bettong.

There are many different bush walks you can do at Tidbinbilla, of varying length and difficulty. We love to visit and have an annual pass. Below are photos from our most recent visit (January this year) as well as some from a (white) magical visit we had in 2013, plus a promotional video released by the ACT Government.

In late July, 2013  we’d heard there was a chance of snow down to 700m. At that time the kids had never seen snow. So, believing the glass-half-full version of the weather, we got up early and headed to Tidbinbilla. We could see snow capped peaks as we drove closer and, sure enough, as we drove through the Reserve we found snow (in fact it was still falling when we got there). There wasn’t a lot on the ground but there was enough for snow ball fights, tobogganing, and a very Aussie snowman (it’s eyes were kangaroo poo). We had about 2 hours of snow play before the sun came out and quickly melted our playfield. We spoke to a ranger who said in the 15 years he’d worked there it was the lowest level he’d seen snow. Pure magic!