Healesville Animal Sanctuary

Just over an hour’s drive from the city centre of Melbourne, and situated in the midst of stunning Yarra Valley wine-producing country is Healesville Animal Sanctuary. Within the boundaries of its thirty hectares, over 200 of Australia’s best-known and best-loved species can be found. One of the first things we managed to catch on our way into the park was the Birds of Prey exhibition. Swooping quickly (and heart-stoppingly closely!) over our heads were a wide variety of native raptors, precision trained to return with the smallest whistle. Next we met a member of the local Murrindindi tribe, a native guide who gave us a quick demonstration on how to play a didgeridoo before settling into his main presentation, which was a fascinating insight into the carving and throwing of boomerangs (we found his hand-carved boomerangs made excellent souvenirs). After that, it was on to everyone’s favourite, the koala, for a bit of oohing and awwwing before the highlight of our trip - the Platypusarium, where the notoriously shy (and surprisingly tiny!) creatures could be seen swimming around in their darkened habitat. Compared to other zoos, Healesville feels incredibly alive; the animals all seem healthy and happy in their environments, they have loads of space to play around in and the whole experience is overwhelmingly positive and enriching as a result.