I've been trying to put the final touches on our itinerary for 6 in Australia. We'll be in Sydney, Melbourne, Alice Springs, Uluru and Cairns. Of these cities, where do you suggest we see koalas and kangaroos in the wild? Or, do you suggest the Sydney zoo or the preserve in the Blue Mountains?

Thanks,

If you are travelling down the Great Ocean Road from Melbourne, you will see Kangaroos in the wild at Anglesea Golf Course and Koalas in the wild at Kennett River which is between Lorne & Apollo Bay.

Unfortunately we won't be able to travel down the Great Ocean Road. We will take a day trip to the Yarra Valley. Does that offer native animals in natural setting? Any other thoughts?

Healsville Sanctuary in the Yarra Valley is the perfect place to see native animals in a natural setting.

http://www.visitvictoria.com/display...080C476A90000/

misha2, I think that now you might be seeing the limiting nature of trying to visit too many places with not enough time in any of them to experience what they have to offer. I wish you all the best with your zoo experiences.

Hopefuly you'll be back and armed with information and time to see the wildlife in the wild.

If the weather should turn wild while you are in Cairns, stopping a reef trip, you could head up to Mareeba where there are Eastern Grey Kangaroos on the golf course and Granite Gorge where the Mareeba Rock Wallabies will want to eat out of your hand. From there drive south to Tarzalli Lakes where they have a no see no fee guarantee on their platypus tour. After this have a look at some of the waterfalls and one of the crater lakes before heading back down the hill to Cairns.

The Healsville Sanctuary is a wonderful opportunity of combining a visit to the Yarra Valley & sampling some of our best wines, with a guaranteed viewing of all sorts of native animals, in a really beautiful setting. http://www.zoo.org.au/Healesville/Map

What many people don't realize is that most Australian native animals rest in the day, coming out to forage in the early mornings & late afternoons, so the odds of seeing them along the roadsides at other times are pretty low in most places.

We took an afternoon/evening trip to the Atherton Tablelands from Cairns with Jonathan Munro http://www.wildwatch.com.au/Home and saw a number of species of wallabies, kangaroos, tree kangaroos, a platypus and a couple of species of possums after dark. You could also do this on your own but you'll see more with a guide. The wallabies and kangaroos were the easiest to spot.

We're heading back to Australia and will be in Melbourne and are thinking about going on this http://www.echidnawalkabout.com.au/savannah.html. If anyone has taken this tour or has comments about it, I'd love to hear.