Healesville Sanctuary: VIP Wildlife Connection Journey

Had an absolutely lovely visit yesterday. Lots of interactive displays , especially for the children. Very impressed with the commitment to research and conservation.

The VIP experience was not different from the regular experience. Koalas were cool to see, but not particularly happy. Whole experience was ok.

Jay was a fun and informative animal ambassador!! We were able to get up close to a koala and feed and pet a Kangaroo. He supplied entry of animal information to make our visit educational.

Before you book this, beware the sanctuary is 60 miles from the central business district in Melbourne. There is no taxi, public transportation, or Uber for a return trip! Once we resolved our transportation issues, the sanctuary was awesome and the experience was spectacular.

We had the VIP tour and it was a big waste of money. There was no “close encounter” at all except the feeding of the echina. The only “value adding” was the stories about the animals.

This is an amazing experience! Knowledgeable and friendly guide and memorable animal encounters. Highly recommended.

We took our children to visit Healesville Sanctuary during school holidays and had a great visit behind the scenes. The hospital was the highlight of our visit.

This is the best sanctuary I have ever seen in my lifetime. Try to watch the Koalas during feeding times because they move only once a day. You can feed kangaroos and watch tasmanian devils as well as platypus. I recommend to plan the whole day for a visit. There is a nice restaurant in the sanctuary where you can watch animals while eating. I can highly recommend this attraction.

We found time to take our grandchildren to this delightful sanctuary. Though we didn’t see all the wildlife nurtured here, we managed to see what we were keen on, the kola and the kangaroo. We also saw the Emu, Platypus, Dingko and a number of colourful birds. A few names have been forgotten. The Sanctuary is well laid out in every aspect. A number of cafes are available at suitable intervals. It was fun to watch the Magpies dive through the protective net to get a bite of whatever they could see. We really loved the cheerful Australians all along.

We spent about four hours at the Healesville Sanctuary, even on a rainy and unusually cool Saturday afternoon in February. You wouldn't expect to see all the animals, but we saw enough to feel satisfied. The highlight was definitely the raptor and parrot show, which justified the somewhat steep admission price. (But if you can prove you're over 60, why can't you get a seniors' ticket? Because imposing a bureaucratic requirement that you have to have a particular concession card makes the place an extra $4 - not a good look, Healesville Sanctuary: please reconsider.) The range of food available in the cafe appeared to be limited to chips and pies, but that was what we needed that day. And we saw a platypus.