Night Walk in Cairns Botanic Gardens - Let's Go Buggin

Great Experience

Great experience, something I thought I wouldn't do, walking at night in the national park. But thoroughly enjoyed it. The orange jewel bugs all grouped together looked great. Also loved seeing the striped possum, bandicoot and red legged pademelons. A few highlights were the Papua Frogmouth and the net casting spiders and the way the spiders eyes glow when a light is on them. Highly recommended.

Incredible experience even for photography newbies!

I really loved this tour, far more than I expected to! Having never done any form of photography before, let alone macro photography, it was all new to me. Bridgette was great at giving me guidance to use the camera I rented, which was clearly of great quality because all the photos I took were so incredible! The photos literally captured the reflection of light in an inspects eye. We also saw a flying fox and a few other rainforest animals. It's so much fun hunting wildlife in the dark, and Bridgette is so knowledgeable about all of them. I highly recommend this tour, and it's so cool to walk away with loads of incredible photos to show my friends and family who couldn't believe I'd taken the photos myself!

Breathtakingly Beautiful Bugs!

Until you see them photographed up close, you have no idea how beautiful insects are! I did a night tour and a morning tour with Bridgette and both were fabulous, and we saw other creatures too (frogs, mammals, birds). I definitely recommend the first camera option for a beginner or a child, I hired the second camera option and although it took amazing photos it was a bit of a stretch for me as a complete novice. I highly recommend this experience! I think for me it may be the birth of a new hobby!

Breathtakingly Beautiful Bugs!

Until you see them photographed up close, you have no idea how beautiful insects are! I did a night tour and a morning tour with Bridgette and both were fabulous. I definitely recommend the first camera option for a beginner or a child, I hired the second camera option and although it took amazing photos it was a bit of a stretch for me as a complete novice. I highly recommend this experience! I think for me it may be the birth of a new hobby!

Best Nature night Tour in Cairns

I met up with Brigitte, Ros and 7 other keen visitors to walk around the Botanical Gardens at night. The weather had been wet the night before which was perfect for spotting lots of different insects, bugs, spiders, frogs, dragonflies, snails and mushrooms. We started off at the boardwalk at a leisurely pace immediately spotting a couple of sleeping rainforest snails, followed by all sorts of insects, moths, bugs, crickets, sleeping dragonflies, spiders. (I had especially wanted to see a net casting spider and Brigette didn't disappoint - I saw two during the evening, along with huntsmen, northern jewelled, wolf, and Australian tarantula and then came the frogs - amazing and lots of them. We also spotted the Papuan Frogmouth and a Pademelon - there was a lot of wildlife packed into a two hour tour. I highly recommend this for anyone visiting Cairns. Its close to the city, easy to access and very well run. Brigette is a great host. Thank you Brigette for an amazing evening.

Amazingly rewarding macro photography tour !

Bridgette’s tour was amazing. Her knowledge of the different bugs is spectacular from their names, locations, habits etc… She gave me lots of technical tips and we saw a myriad different bugs. I am seriously considering joining the yearly membership and look forward to our next meeting. I highly recommend the Lets Go Bugging Tour !

Incredible Morning Walk

I had an absolutely incredible time on this bug and nature walk in the morning. I was able to see many different types of spiders, moths, butterflies, beetles, etc. Bridgette is very knowledgeable and has a meticulous eye for pointing out the various insects and arachnids. I would recommend this tour to anyone!

A wonderful experience

It was absolutely a wonderful experience. I saw many unique bugs that I had never seen in my country, Japan & they were breathtakingly beautiful. Besides, having detailed explanations by a knowledgeable tour guide made me more understand & curious. Although I joined this tour with my boyfriend, it was much more fun to take around with other joiners from different countries.

Bug photography

Bridgette was fantastic If you want to photograph little critters then this is an excellent place to start.

Amazing experience

Bridgette knows her critters like the inside of her pockets, as we say in Italy. So much hidden biodiversity in such a small area, and right next to the city at that! Definitely recommend.

A fascinating experience among the wonders of the insect world.

The let's go bugging tour is a fascinating walk around the botanical gardens spotting all sorts of bugs, spiders, beetles, caterpillars and other insects. Bridgette is very knowledgeable and has a keen eye to spot creatures among the foliage. There is much to learn and the tour is full of wonders and surprises. The bugs are better in the tropics. I can highly recommend this tour.

Unforgettable experience with tremendous photos

Bridgette is a great guide and I took some amazing macro photos that wowed me and my friends and family. She absolutely knows where to look at and is patient in giving plenty of opportunity to get the right shot and find little critters to shoot. If you don't have good equipment, I highly recommend renting at least her medium package, which I did. It helped me see the difference that good equipment can make. I'm glad I did that instead of just using my DSLR (without macro lens or diffusion flash)

Great nocturnal nature walk

Bridgette and Ros are incredibly knowledgeable, funny, and compassionate guides. Not only do they bring their years of field experience to the tour, they have plenty of local expertise, so much so that they can point out a particular spider which lives on that tree to the left! A number of others on the tour were much more dedicated photographers than I am, and it seemed like they were having a great time. I was there more to learn about nature and the nocturnal side of the rainforest, and I really enjoyed that. It's very easy to find daytime activities, but much rarer to have a tour after dark. Highly recommended, it was a great way to cap off our week in Cairns.

Go bugging

Great time. Well worth it. Bridget really knows her bugs. Never knew so much existed at night. Will do it again next time I am in Cairns.

A must-do when in Cairns!

One of the highlights of my visit to Cairns was the amazing "Let's Go Buggin" walking tour of the Botanic Gardens with Bridgette. Her knowledge and ability to find an incredible range of spiders, beetles and bugs was amazing. I got into macro photography a month or so back but learnt so much during this tour from the composition and technical issues of using macro lenses, flashes and diffusers, to finding and identifying different insects and spiders. Added to this the Botanic Gardens has some of the most unusual and amazing plant species you will ever see. If you are in Cairns don't miss this fascinating tour - it will open your eyes to the micro world all around us! Next time I'm in Cairns I'll make sure to book the night tour as well!

Fascinating

Bridgette was amazing with her extensive knowledge of all the creatures and finding them in their habitat. We saw every critter we hoped to, Python, frogs, bandicoots, and thousands of spiders. It was fascinating to see them all in their natural surroundings.

Great photos, learned a lot about bugs and macro photography

Bridgette was able to locate and identify an amazing variety of species of bugs to photograph, she was very knowledgeable. I am glad I hired a camera from her, she was very helpful in explaining the best settings to get great macro photos and provided an SD card for me to take home. She followed up the same day with a field report of the species we saw. I will definitely do another tour with her next time I come back.

Bugga me nights!

How good is Bridgette! If you like doing more than just the normal tourist attractions, then this is a must do. Bridgette has an amazing eye for finding the bugs (better than a politician finding babies to kiss on election day)! Her knowledge of what we saw was exceptional and her presentation style was spot on. A magic few hours in a small group going ooh and aaah! Money well spent.

Discover another world

What a great experience ! Going out at night with a professional it's discover another world! The hidden nocturnal wildlife is impressive. Thank you so much, we had a lot of fun and we learnt a lot.

Let's Go Buggin Night Tour

Could not recommend Let's Go Buggin enough. Initially booked hoping to improve my macro photography skills, but the real highlight was Bridget and her endless knowledge of the area. You would think she lives in the Botanic gardens with everyone. You may never know what you will see, but you can be sure that Bridgette will spot what is anyone and make the most of it. The field report at the end was such a nice touch as well

Incredible rainforest night walk

The night walk was fantastic. Bridgette was kind, welcoming and super knowledgable. We saw so much more than we expected to see including huntsmen, possums, echidnas, frogs and we even managed to stumble across a flying Goliath moth. The postcards at the end were a nice touch! Thank you Bridgette. Will recommend to friends and would recommend to anyone considering the walk. Cam and Kasey

A unique and fascinating experience for all ages!

A unique and fascinating experience for all ages! Bridgette is an expert in macro photography with an in depth knowledge of insects and the many creatures that inhabit the botanical gardens. The "Let's Go Buggin Tour" allows you to explore another world that usually cannot be seen with the naked eye. You can bring your own camera or you can hire an camera Olympus camera that is equiped especially for macro photography. This tour piqued my interest as I have wanted to learn how to use my macro lens and take photos I could only dream of taking before doing the tour. For me this was an invaluable experience to have a hands on experience learning how to take macro shots whilst learning about captivating critters. This tour would be great for all ages and I think this would be especially appealing to children. If you are serious about macro photography or just want to learn about insects this tour is for you!

Fabulous night tour

Fabulous opportunity to see & photograph most of the nocturnal bugs, possum, frogs and crawlies - our guide was so informative & the 2 hours went by so quickly. Would definitely recommend it ( not an activity for children under 10 ) even with smart phone, our pics are great!

Worth doing

Bridgette was wonderful, easy to learn and picked it up really quickly to take detail photos of animals and plants inside the Botanical gardens.

Amazing!

Such a amazing experience. So great to see the forest at night and see so many critters. Bridgette was fantastic. Highly recommended for the whole family.

Think I’ve found a new hobby…

This tour experience was so good, I think it’s probably the best one I have ever done in any country. Being taught to use a camera for the first time and producing many photos that I’m blown away by, it makes the tour experience so much more interactive. Bridgette is a great host and very good at quickly getting you started with the camera. If you encounter any issues getting the shot correctly along the way, she can quickly remedy that for you too. Make sure to read the FAQ and take note of what to wear and what to bring. I wore long sleeves and trousers and still got a few mosquito bites - utterly worth it though. I think I have now acquired a new hobby from this tour. Hopefully I can buy a macro photography kit later this year and get deeper into it.

Seeing nature's tiny wonders with an expert guide!

I enjoyed this tour so much - highly recommended for nature enthusiasts! It's a gentle walk among beautiful tropical plants in Cairns Botanic Gardens with Bridgette's knowledge and skill adding a whole new dimension. Bridgette is super-good at spotting tiny insects that most people pass by without even noticing. She showed us gorgeous jewel spiders, tiny jumping spiders, runner mantis, rainforest mantis, native stingless bees busy gathering resin, a pink catydid perfectly camouflaged under pink flowers... and many more! Bridgette is kind and patient in helping people get started with macro photography or improve their technique if they have prior experience. I found it fascinating to see the amazing detail of these tiny critters when massively enlarged on my screen - this kind of photography could easily become addictive!

Great time

Bridgette was very experienced and knowledgeable about the insects and very patient with a newbie camera user. I enjoyed the quick activity and would recommend it to anyone interested in macro photography

Bugs and so much more in the Botanic Gardens

Two hours after arriving in Cairns I was enjoying a wonderful night walk through the Botanic Gardens with guide Bridgette. It was a fascinating experience and Bridgette is extremely knowledgeable about all the bugs and other wildlife. She really brought everything to life and helped us see as much as possible. Loved seeing the spiders and their beautiful webs and all the wonderful frogs. A fascinating 2 hours never to be forgotten.

Bugging was excellent!

A highlight of our two week visit to queensland. We learned a lot, and the rainforest and its creatures were spectacular. Bridgette is a great host and photographer! Highly recommend.

Lots of fun for the nature lovers and photographers!!

Bridgette’s night walk was great fun. I would recommend hiring one of her cameras as well if you don’t have your own. It was fun to try out macro photography on the insects, frogs and lizard we saw! I got some great photos and I’m no expert. Would do it again :)

I’m a macro bugging convert!

We saw so many amazing bugs in a packed 2 hour session. Bridgette really knows her critters and showed us how best to photograph them. I loved the colourful names - the leaping jumping spider, Marilyn Munro spider, elephant weevil, the ant hunting spider (that was actually feasting on a green ant!). Highlight for me was hiring the macro camera, lens and flash from Bridgette and the amazing pics I was able to get with this gear.

Awesome experience

I highly recommend the night tour - I went with my 14 year old son and we both really enjoyed it - really informative and interesting. Who knew so many species cohabited (relatively) peacefully?! Try this for something a bit different in Cairns.

Brilliant Tour

Excellent evening with Brigette who has amazing.knowledge an experience of the local rainforest. Its a,good way to get up close to the plethora of bugs and critters that hang out in surroundings. We loved the frogs particularly. The cameras are great and easy to use. Highly recommended. Also good for Brits who want to desenstize to the spiders Australia is abundant with . Some of the macro photos,we took are incredible .Thank you Bridgette

Great activity, awesome tour guide

Really enjoyed our wander through the Cairns botanic gardens looking for little friends. There are loads of things to see. Bridgette is awesome. She definitely knows her stuff but is not pushy or critical of people like me who are far from photography experts. She lets you do your thing, but is there to answer questions or give advice if you need/want it. She has obviously become very good at finding little critters and knows what most of them are. I was really glad we hired specific macro cameras as it makes the whole experience better. Great activity!

Fabulous Night Walk with Possums, Frogs and Spiders!

We had a great night walk with Bridgette and saw lots of spiders (never realised how many of them there were out there), possums, and gorgeous tree frogs. Bridgette was super knowledgeable and was able to show us many things we would never have seen otherwise. The kids loved it too.

A peaceful nature night walk

It was beautiful to experience the forest at night . Bridgette really has a great eye for spotting the teeny but very important creatures . She really knows her stuff . Normally we would have just walked straight past without noticing any of them . I was very happy to see white lipped tree frogs ( at home we just seem to have horrid cane toads! ) Many photos we took were over exposed as we used too much torch light. Possibly some photographic tips on route could be helpful.

Dragonfly photos

Had a fantastic time with Bridgette she is so knowledgeable with bugs as well as plants. Was amazed to get some fantastic photos of dragonflies with my Samsung phone. Highly recommend

Amazing experience in nature

This was a highlight of our holiday in FNQ. My son and I did the day and night macro photography tours. Bridgette is lovely, patient and her knowledge of everything we came across was exceptional. We hired the macro camera and the photos we captured were AMAZING. Saying that we also got some great photos on our iphone. I would say a must do for anyone.

See the rainforest at night!

Great experience to see, learn and take photos of bugs and rainforest at night time, as well as a super adventure for kids. Bridgette was a wealth of information on the the bugs and animals we saw and made every effort to make sure we saw as much as possible.. Advise all to give it a go!

Fantastic tour to see a whole different world at night!

The Night Walk with Aussie Macro Photos is a must-do for nature lovers and photographers in Cairns! Bridgette was an excellent and friendly guide - in particular, her enthusiasm really shone through and made the tour especially fun. She went above and beyond to find species that I wanted to see and pointed out many things I had never seen before. Highlights included a net-casting spider setting up its net, a striped possum, an echidna, a bandicoot, and various native frogs. Being on the rainforest walk in the darkness was a surreal experience. Finally, as a keen macro photographer herself, Bridgette was very accommodating of my photography and definitely helped to elevate my pictures. Overall, a lot of fun - the best thing to do in Cairns at night!

Awesome experience

We found lots of cool critters and I had a blast! I am so glad I was able to do this on my brief visit to Cairns where there are so many awesome insects and other inverts. On other tours, I wished I had more time to stop and look at the small details, but we were always on a tight schedule. The Let's Go Buggin' tour with Bridgette was exactly what I was looking for. 10/10 would recommend. Bridgette is knowledgeable about the critters in the botanical gardens and is very adept at spotting them. It was my first time using a macro camera, and she helped me adjust the settings when I needed. It was wonderful to be able to get up close and get a clean, focused shot, unlike with my phone camera!

An amazing look at what goes on in the rainforest at night

We saw a great range of animals on our night tour - snails, cockroaches, spiders, dragonflies, moths, frogs, striped possum! Bridgette was very knowledgeable about what we were seeing and pointed out lots of things we'd never have seen on our own. We'll definitely do another tour next time we're in Cairns.

Great morning out for photographers of all ability and bug lovers alike

What a great way to spend a morning in Cairns - putting a completely new perspective on a trip to the Botanic Gardens. Bridgette made sure everyone was able to find and photograph some Aussie insects and was a mine of interesteing information! She also mails out a crib sheet after the session so you can remember what insects you saw. Good for keen photographers and beginners alike as you can hire a camera with a macro lens. (I was very pleased with my spider photograph attached, just taken with an ordinary lens, not a macro)

Wonderful fun activity with children (9 & 11) - adult had just as much fun too!

Highly recommend this tour for kids and adults! Bridgette was amazing with her bug and camera knowledge, please see below for photos my 9 & 11 year old nieces captured with her hire cameras and instruction. Super fun and educational day out, we look forward to doing the night and Shrooming tours next!

Seeing through a different lens

Thank you Bridgette for a wonderful experience. I recommend it to anyone who wants to see the miniature wildlife of our beautiful, natural world a little differently. Through a different lens in fact. I thoroughly recommend the Let’s go buggin’ night walk with Bridgette of Aussie macro photos. We had a wonderful time exploring the Cairns boardwalk by night where we saw and photographed so many different creatures; spiders, many many different spiders, crickets, dragonflies, tiny frogs, fruit bats and micro bats. To name just a few. Check out Bridgette’s Instagram where she’s posted some images from our evening. We learnt how to take amazing photos of things we would never have seen without Bridgette’s help. She was professional, patient, encouraging and very well informed about these amazing creatures. Had we been by ourselves, we may have seen very few. They are so good at hiding in plain sight!

Fun experience in lovely surroungings

My son (not a photographer) and I joined Bridgette for this tour while staying in Cairns. Bridgette is very knowledgeable about both photography and insects and knew just where to look to find some interesting ones. She is also friendly and welcoming. I hired the camera and got some better shots than I would have managed on my own. It was definitely worth doing. Mark says: I really enjoyed the walk and I saw some little creatures that were very exciting to discover. It was all interesting.

Fun and informative morning in the Gardens

I spent a fantastic few hours on the Lets Go Buggin morning tour at the Cairns Botanic Gardens with Bridgette. Not only is she very good at spotting all sorts of bugs, she is very knowledgeable about them. And on top of that she can teach you to capture them with your camera. I really enjoyed this tour and would recommend it to anyone. I can't wait to get back to Cairns in the future and do a night tour or mushroom tour with Bridgette.

I saw the light

Seeing the eyes of insects light up, then to see the tiny creatures was fascinating. Thank you Bridget for a wonderful evening your such a lovely person

A fun nighttime walk

It was a fabulous evening spent searching for bugs. Bridgette was very informative and friendly and we saw a vast array of different bugs. What made the walk more special is the rare sighting of a echidna. We saw lots of species of spiders and some frogs too.