Breathtaking Phillip Island: Ultimate Penguin & Koala Tour

Our guide José was lovely and did everything to make the experience unforgettable for us; his enthusiasm was the best! Our guide Scott was able to tell us a lot about the wildlife on French Island as well and knew exactly where to go for the perfect sightings.

A relaxing, no-hard-selling tour experience. A very comfortable trip for us to wind down indeed. Our guide Stuart was always on time, gave lots of best practices tips on what to do/ look out for on site and during the road trip, good music in the bus, knew when to speak/ when to be quiet, passionate about preserving the nature and the animals. No rush from one place to another. We got to touch the koala and feed the kangaroos/ werribees/ ducks in Moonlit, witness the magnificent waves and wonderful little penguins in Philip island. Though meals are not included in the package, we got to buy nice food on premise and in the Cowe town.

We enjoyed the day- it was an easy pickup from the Mail Exchange hotel, then a seamless drive to the Moonlit Sanctuary (we got to feed so many wallabies and kangaroos), a few other less memorable stops, then Phillip Island for the smallest penguins in the world. We had a wonderful time seeing the animals, and I also appreciated that our guide/driver gave us an additional information about the city sights as we drove to the different drop-off locations.

A very good tour . Driver and guide was awesome . Enjoyed the tour and the penguins . It was a delight to see them walking together

I glad I took the tour, it was lovely experience to feed kangaroo, see the ocean..thank you for organizing everything so well. Taira

Make sure you dress as warm as possible. We bought some extra knit hats at one of the souvenir shops. The souvenirs were cheaper in Cowes than the penguin center too. We regretted not paying for the Penguin Plus option as we couldn’t see anything with general admission though we did see a few penguins along the boardwalk.

This tour really is amazing. We had a fantastic time and we don’t have any regrets about choosing this company. The only reason I’m not giving it 5 stars is because we didn’t stop at all the places listed on the itinerary. Our first stop was Moonlit Sanctuary. We had the perfect amount of time there. We were able to walk the entire reserve at a leisurely pace and see everything, plus grab lunch at the cafe without feeling rushed. I paid extra for my daughter to do the koala encounter and she loved it. We also bought food to feed the wallabies and I really appreciated that the Sanctuary staff suggested we start off with one container to share rather than one each in case the wallabies weren’t hungry, as we didn’t finish a whole container (but the wallabies we did feed were soooo cute). We then drove to Phillip Island and briefly visited a surf beach to get photos (just a short visit, so don’t bother filling your bag with swim suits and towels like we did as there is no time to swim.) I was expecting a stop at Cowes town to walk along the pier and explore the Esplanade, as written on Explore Australia’s website, but this didn’t happen. (Possibly because it was Easter Friday and the traffic to Phillip Island was hideous so we arrived there later than planned? Or maybe this stop was dropped off the itinerary and their webpage was never updated?) We then headed for the Nobbies and I was really looking forward to walking along the boardwalk there, but our bus was not allowed to stop there because another company had booked out the bus parks. Our driver Kat tried to make the best of a bad situation and drove really slowly out of the park, pointing out wildlife that we passed (including a penguin that had come ashore early, very cool to see). But it was really disappointing that Explore Australia hadn’t pre-booked a bus park, seeing as they come here every day and booking is apparently possible. Our final stop was the Penguin parade. I expected to enjoy it but even I was blown away by the sheer number of penguins that waddled past - over 600. It was incredible. We purchased the “penguins plus” tickets and I thoroughly recommend this. We were in the front row on the side that most of the penguins walk past (I asked the staff which side was the best), so we had an incredible view. The penguins were literally right in front of us. It was a holiday highlight. Despite the things that were missed off the itinerary we still had an incredible time, so I did consider still rating this tour 5 stars, but I think ultimately people need to be aware that they won’t necessarily get to do everything written on the itinerary.

This trip was well organised and very informative. We got to feed wallabies, see a wealth of native Australian animals and see an amazing penguin parade at dusk. Stuart our guide was very friendly and so enthusiastic about the animals and his love and appreciation of Australia. He gave us lots of useful tips and things to look out for throughout the day. Thank you so much.

The bus was very small. Sanctuary was ok, have to pay extra for encounters with animals. Nobbies were so busy could hardly walk down walkways. Penguin parade fun but people were continually walking by and standing up so hard to see penguins and even when asked to not take pictures they would try and do it, very rude.

We had an amazing time, our first experience at ‘Moonlit Sanctuary’ & ‘Phillip Island’, loved every minute!! Billy was a great guide, showing us all the wild native animals along the way, have never seen so many echidnas in one day & there were certainly no shortage of wallabies on Phillip Island either!! The penguin parade is something we’ll never forget, thanks so much for taking us Billy, thank you for everything you did for us 🤗