Only an hour from Melbourne, Victoria the Healesville Sanctuary is a must visit destinations for anyone wanting to see Australian birds and wildlife. Not only do they have the usual kangaroos, koalas and emus, but also rarer exhibits such as platypus and bandicoots.
Getting There
We drove from Melbourne Airport directly to the Healesville Sanctuary, arriving just after opening time. An on-site car park makes it easy to park the car, although it would get filled quickly on a busy day.
Public transport is available by catching the train to Lilydale and then a bus to Healesville. Train and bus timetables change so check their website before travelling.
Tickets can be purchased on the day, or beforehand online. We chose the online method so as to have everything paid and ready to go when we arrived.
Weather
Unfortunately, Melbourne is known for its changeable weather and during our visit it rained all day. Not to let this stop us we had wet-weather clothes and walked around anyway. It actually made the visit more interesting because there were few other visitors and we were nearly always by ourselves at exhibits. Except at the café. It was busy with people staying dry and buying hot drinks.
Exhibits
Due to the rain, many animals and birds were under shelter, but we were still able to see most of them. The kangaroos were all staying dry undercover, but the koalas were all soaked, but sleeping soundly in their trees.
With the lack of other visitors, we had a great time during the bird feeding times in the walk-through aviaries. The keepers fed the birds fruit and, we were able to see them all up close.
A highlight of the sanctuary are the nocturnal houses for the marsupials and reptiles that only come out at night. We saw bilbies running around, platypus swimming and many others. Unfortunately, the red light used so that visitors can see doesn’t make for good photos, so we have none that are usable.
What Did We Think?
Despite the rain (or because of it?) we had a great time. Really enjoyed walking around and exhibits and finished it off with a nice coffee at the café.
Our photos are available for purchase on
For other places to visit in Victoria click here
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