The Hunter Valley Zoo is located in the vineyards near Cessnock New South Wales. There is a small car park near the entrance as well as parking on the road outside.
Although a small zoo, it has a wide range of animals ranging from native Australian to lions, cheetahs, meerkats birds and reptiles. If you are local or an international visitor it’s a fantastic place to visit.
The staff were all friendly helpful, letting us know what was available to see and when various displays were happening. A map of the zoo is included in the entry fee, to help find your way around.
Food
There is a good variety of food and drinks available inside the admission building. A spacious grassed area is available for visitors to use, and has a free gas BBQ. Families are encouraged to being eskies and have a picnic in this outside area.
Feeding the Animals at Hunter Valley Zoo
The admission building sells animal food so that kids and adults can feed animals. Staff will tell you which animals can be fed, but generally it was any enclosures that you could enter.
There is a petting zoo where visitors can get up close to some animals and feed and pat them. Animals here ranged from kangaroos and deer to farm animals.
Getting Around the Zoo
All tracks at the Hunter Valley Zoo are dirt and grass and constructed to make them wheel chair friendly. As it’s not very big, getting around is very easy.
All enclosures have steps for the kids to stand on to see animals better. This is a great idea, even for shorter adults.
During the day there are scheduled shows for different animals. These are great as they give an inside into the animals and there needs.
Koala
Cheetah
Lion
Ostrich
Albino Kangaroo
Animal Encounters
The zoo offers encounters with the meerkats and some of the smaller monkeys. For a fee, you get access to the enclosure with a guide for twenty minutes. Participation is limited to groups of four. We went into the meerkat enclosure and had a great time. They climbed all over us, ate from our hands and even perched on top of our heads. If you can afford it, we highly recommend the experience.
Meerkat Encounter
A Meerkat on Lookout Duty
Other Facilities
The toilets were clean with disabled access and change tables.
There is a good souvenir shop near the entrance.
The zoo is busier in school holidays as families take the opportunity to visit with their children.
To see what else there is to do in the Hunter Valley, please see some of our other stories.
There was nothing to do last Sunday afternoon, so we decided on a two and a half hour drive down to Sydney to visit Taronga Zoo. The only tricky bit with driving was making sure you were in the right hand of three lanes when exiting the Warringah Freeway, so as to be able to get onto Military Road towards the zoo. If you are using Google Maps, it takes you to the staff entrance for the car park. Just turn left, and you will see the undercover multistory public car park. Take your ticket with you as you will need it to pay for parking before returning to your car. There is not an option to use a credit card at the gate.
If you are in Sydney, the best way to get there is by ferry. There is one that goes direct from Circular Quay to the zoo and return with no other stops, so you will not get lost.
Zoo Entry
Entry From the Car Park
Entry is through the beautiful old building in the photo below. You can go through the ground level entrance to the right of the steps.
Taronga Zoo Main Entrance
Inside the entrance to the right is a ticketing office, toilets and information booth. You can wander around a large area here without buying a ticket, including the cafe and gift shop.
The staff at the ticket office took our money ($46.00 each) and handed us a receipt. Keep this handy as it is your entry ticket and you will need it later. The information booth can provide you with a map of the zoo’s layout. Quite good maps, with the suggested trail to follow marked on. Even better, the trail is marked on the walking paths as big green circles.
Just down from the entrance is a series of manned gateways which is the entry to the zoo proper. The friendly staff will ask for you ticket and stamp your hand. Then it’s off to explore.
Entry From the Ferry
The ferry wharf is near the lower entry gates, where you can either take the chair lift, or enter through the gift shop. If you choose the chair lift, it will take you to the upper section of the zoo and you can walk back down. There is an option to take the chair lift from the upper level to the start if you don’t want to walk back.
Lower Entrance
The Animals at Taronga Zoo
The zoo is built on quite a steep piece of land near Sydney Harbor. Some of the pathways can be a bit of a climb, but there are plenty of rest areas and things to look at, so no need to rush and tire yourself out.
The first animal we saw was this gorgeous tree kangaroo up in its tree. It was not very active and looked like it had either just woken up or was about to go to sleep.
Tree Kangaroo
Reptile House
Not far from the tree kangaroo was the reptile house. Basking outside was a Komodo Dragon. A very impressive representative of the world’s largest species of lizard. The rest of the reptile house has many cages and cases with numerous snakes, lizards and turtles.
Komodo Dragon
Iguana in the Reptile House
Giraffes
Not far from here were the giraffes. They were very active, eating and walking around their enclosure.
Giraffes
Giraffe
Squirrel Monkeys
The squirrel monkeys are in a large open cage, where small groups of visitors can walk through on a board walk. The monkeys wander around, climbing and eating and generally ignore the people. It was excellent to be able to get close to them without bars or perspex in the way. A guide accompanies you into the cage, answers any questions you might have and makes sure you all exit before the next group is admitted.
Squirrel Monkeys
On a detour from the main path of green circles, we went to see the Barbary Sheep, Bongo, Zebras and Himalayan Tahr.
Himalayan Tahr
Meerkats
Taronga Zoo has a nice little meerkat display. It was still early and they were all out scratching around the cage. The front of the enclosure is perspex, so you get a really good view of them. Many of them come right to the perspex.
Taronga Zoo Merekat
Walking towards the elephant display, we by-passed the Australian section, as we have seen many kangaroos and wallabies over the years. Next stop was for a snack at the View Restaurant.
After a coffee and cake we headed for the seal show. The presenter was overly enthusiastic, and we soon realized the show was tailored for kids. Nothing wrong with this and the kids there were certainly enjoying themselves. However, we decided to give it a miss and went to see the Condor, deer and seals (those not at the show). From the pathways, there are some spectacular views of Sydney Harbor.
View of Sydney Harbor
Gorilla
Gorilla
Elephants
From the seals we took the rain forest trail back up. This is a nice leafy area, and would be very nice on a hot day. This trail exits near the elephants. Two of them were having their morning baths and checkups with staff. This was an excellent opportunity to get quite close to them, and talk to staff. Even better, the young male trumpeted as he was leaving. This was one of the highlights of the day, as we had never heard an elephant before,
Taronga Zoo Elephant
Baby Elephant
Taronga Zoo Tigers
Part of the redevelopment of the zoo, the tiger enclosure is well laid out and spacious. To ensure that visitor numbers are controlled, a line outside, only permits a limited number of people in at once. This is great and the viewing areas were not crowded and everyone there as able to see. Large perspex windows allow you to get up close to the tigers as they wander around.
Tiger
Looking Through the Perspex Window at a Tiger
Tiger
Chimpanzees
Home to a large group of chimpanzees, this enclosure is a fun pace to stand and watch as the chimps play and wander around the area.
Chimpanzee
Leaving the Zoo and Heading Home
After four hours, we decided it was time to leave for the car trip home. Car parking fees were $18.00. Getting home was straight forward. The only tricky part being (if you are heading north) is to make sure you are in one of the two right hand lanes when leaving Military Road for Falcon Street, as they turn right onto the freeway. If you get stuck in the left two lanes, keep going until you reach the Pacific Highway and turn right.
What Did We Think?
What did we think? Not too bad. Entry price was what you expect to pay. Parking is expensive as is the food. We loved the new tiger enclosure and International tourists will be going to see the Australian section, which looks extensive. Locals will want Australian and international animals. Overall a fun day out.
To see what else there is to do in New South Wales, please see some of our other stories.
