Healesville Sanctuary

Of all the wildlife parks I’ve visited so far, Healesville Sanctuary is my favourite.

At Bundoora Park, you can see kangaroos and emus, but you can’t get close to them. The Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary has the best kangaroo experience, but it’s in Tasmania. The Melbourne Aquarium is terrific for seeing marine animals and the Werribee Open Range Zoo is great if you want to visit an African-themed safari-style park. But if you want to see Australian animals such as dingoes, native birds, deadly snakes, kangaroos and wallabies, koalas, and even a platypus, Healesville Sanctuary is the place to go.

Healesville Sanctuary is located at Healesville in rural Victoria. It’s is set in a natural bushland environment where paths wind through different habitat areas. Plan to spend to spend at least three hours. There are special animal presentations throughout the day, a fantastic bird show, and you can purchase a 10-minute close encounter with certain animals. There’s also a wildlife hospital, a gift shop, and three eateries.

My favourites were the dingoes, the amazing bird show, and the platypus. Healesville Sanctuary is one of only two places in Australia to have successfully bred a platypus, the other being Sydney’s Taronga Zoo.

Dingoes at Healesville Sanctuary.
A pair of dingoes
A Black-Breasted Kite using a rock to crack an ostrich egg.
A Black Breasted Kite using a rock to crack open an egg
Eclectus Parrot.
Eclectus Parrot
Long-nosed Potoroo.
Long nosed Potoroo
Mertens Water Monitor.
Mertens Water Monitor
Mulga snake.
Mulga snake
Taipan.
Taipan
A Tasmanian Devil.
A Tasmanian Devil
Wallabies.
Wallabies
A Brolga.
A Brolga
A koala resting in a tree.
A koala chillin

For more information about Healesville Sanctuary, please visit its website here.

What’s your favourite zoo or animal sanctuary in Australia?

6 thoughts on “Healesville Sanctuary”

  1. Our (decrepit) farm is out in the Dandenongs and every time we go out there, we pass by Healesville and I always say we should go there someday. Still haven’t done it. 🙁
    Maybe next weekend. 😀

    Reply
      • I finally went there this weekend. Woohoo! They used to have their magic moments for $35, but now that it is off-peak, they are only $10, so I did the feed the kangaroos thing and, needless to say, I was over the moon. We also did the bird show, which G loved.

        Reply
        • Good for you! I wanted to do the Magic Moment with the wombat, but he wasn’t available that day lol. The bird show is great! I’m glad you two had a good time.

          Reply

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