There are thought to be just 300 koalas left in the wild around Port Stephens, down from thousands, and New South Wales' koala population overall could collapse by 2050 if habitat loss, disease and bushfires keep up their pace. During the 2019/20 bushfires, roughly 30% of the region's koalas died. Yet travel writer Yvette Cook's recent trip through the state's mid-north coast shows how tourism is quietly funding a fightback — and why this stretch of coast now makes a genuinely rewarding trip.
Her route ran four hours north of Sydney to Port Macquarie and Guulabaa, a koala facility in Cowarra State Forest whose name means 'Place of Koala' in the Biripi language. The site blends a Bunyah Local Aboriginal Land Council-run cultural centre and café with a breeding centre run by non-profit Koala Conservation Australia, plus the temporary home of the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital — Australia's first, operating for over 50 years. An elevated boardwalk lifts visitors into the gum trees, where residents like Nigel, a three-legged koala, doze in improbable shapes. The real hope lies in a wild breeding programme, the first of its kind: 24 disease-free koalas in a protected forest raising joeys for release. It was set up with a viral appeal that raised AU$8 million (about £4.2 million) and now depends on visitor fees and donations.
Further south, three hours away, the Port Stephens Koala Sanctuary — opened in 2020 after the fires — offers glamping tents with proper beds, en-suites and a pool, set inside koala habitat. Every dollar of profit goes into the adjacent rehabilitation hospital, and guests get a dawn tour before opening hours. Resident ambassador koalas like Tilly, treetop skywalks included, make this about as close to a wild encounter as responsibly possible.
The Indigenous dimension threads through the trip. Wajaana Yaam Adventure Tours, owned and operated by Gumbaynggirr people, runs paddleboarding and walking experiences around Niigi Niigi (Sealy Lookout), pairing bush foods and stories with an explanation of cultural burning — the traditional low-intensity fire practice now returning to some forests to prevent the kind of infernos that devastated koala country.
Bigger things are coming, too. The proposed Great Koala National Park would link state forests into a protected corridor more than double the size of the UK's Lake District, with legislation hoped for by the end of the year. Koalas are an umbrella species, so protecting them shields whole ecosystems — which means the corridor would safeguard far more than one animal.
For travellers, the practicalities matter. Koalas are camouflage masters: scan tree shapes at dawn and dusk rather than expecting movement, and pack binoculars. Drive carefully at twilight, when wildlife is most active. And choose experiences that put money directly into conservation — the Port Stephens sanctuary and Koala Conservation Australia's sites are exactly that. Distances on the map deceive in NSW; plan slower days and linger.
Wanderlust