Healesville Sanctuary

Healesville Sanctuary – Australian Wildlife

Visit Australian Wildlife in a bushland setting, see birds soar high in the sky as well as up close, check out the state of the art wildlife health centre, witness the reptile show daily and loads of other great animal encounters.

Where: Badger Creek Road, Healesville, Vic. 3777, click here for map.

When: 9am – 5pm every day of the year

Cost:  Zoo Members FREE, adults $26.10, child 4 – 15 years $12.90, child 3 and under FREE, buy your tickets online and beat the que.

Healesville Sanctuary

Review

Whilst Melbourne Zoo has an awesome Australian animal area these days – there is still an important place for Healesville Sanctuary, and if you haven’t been for awhile it makes a really lovely day trip with the family.

On a regular day Healesville Sanctuary offers a much sleepier vibe than its city cousin – mostly the crowd is school groups and a few tourists. But during school holidays on a beautiful day it can be quite a busy place to visit – so an early start to the day is recommended if you want to avoid the busy time.

Healesville Sanctuary offers daily shows – and depending on your interests these are definitely worth checking out.  Our little ones weren’t so interested in the Reptile Show – but loved the Spirits Of The Sky show (think parrots, owls, falcons etc flying overhead).

There are a couple of cafes dotted around, lovely walking paths between each exhibit and a lovely picnic area to stop at and catch your breath.

The on site animal hospital also has live displays of its patient consults – which obviously change day to day.  And Lunar’s Secret Forest is a bit of fun to stop for a bit of playtime and colouring in.

If you’re heading to Healesville we recommend two great venues which are family friendly for meals: The Innocent Bystander Giant Steps Winery at 336 Maroondah Hwy Healesville and The Yarra Valley Grand Hotel at 19 Bell Street Yarra Glen, check out our review of The Grand for Little Eats and also Little Eats review of The Innocent Bystander.

Visit the Healesville Sanctuary website.