We will be traveling to Western Australia (Gold Coast, Melbourne, Sydney) and Tasmania (Hobart, Cradle Mtn, Freycinet) in February. We want to visit some of the animal/ wildlife parks. I've done some research and there seems to be a lot of them, but I'm having trouble figuring out which are the best/ not to be missed. Our preference is a wide open area where the animals are not all caged up (as in a city zoo). We have a car in Tasmania, so we can hit spots between the three locations.
Any suggestions? Thanks!

Are you going to Western Australia OR Gold Coast, Melbourne, Sydney?

If it's the Gold Coast, Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary is great. It's spread over a wide area, lots to see, animals and birds. There's also a koala hospital but I don't think that's open to the public.

If you're going to the west, where will you be - Perth, south, north?

East Coast! Sorry about that! my itinerary likely got people scratching their heads!
Melbourne, Sydney, Gold Coast and Tasmania. Thanks for the Gold Coast suggestion. Any others?

I just assumed you didn't know your left hand from your right; your East from your West.
This map of Australia may be of interest/use.
Australia – size map: https://www.virtualoceania.net/austr...ustralia.shtml

If you're going to Melbourne (Victoria - East Coast), you might enjoy Healsville Sanctuary https://www.zoo.org.au/healesville
And Phillip Island, where you can see wild fairy penguins come in from the ocean at night.
PHILLIP ISLAND
https://www.visitphillipisland.com.a...o/things-to-do
https://www.penguins.org.au/attracti...ation-reserve/
Phillip Island Map: http://tinyurl.com/3353y6y7


Generally speaking, Australian native animals are crepuscular so you're not likely to see many during the daytime. And it's not recommended you drive during their prime feeding hours - between dusk & dawn. Hence, you'll need to visit a Sanctuary or Zoo to see a good range of them. Note: Australian Zoos are nothing like the ghastly things I've seen oversas.


Here's maps of Sydney & Melbourne.
Sydney map: https://goo.gl/maps/PFmeA45BAKXruh4F8
Visit Sydney: https://www.sydney.com/
Indigenous Sites – Sydney: https://www.visitsydneyaustralia.com.au/sites-lns.html

If you have the time, you could take a drive west from Sydney to Taronga Open Plains Zoo at Dubbo. You can stay overnight ("Zoofari", I think) within the zoo.

If you do that, allow a day (preferably an overnight too) for the spectacular Blue Mountains on the way.
BLUE MOUNTAINS: https://tinyurl.com/yc28vadd

Visit Melbourne: https://www.visitmelbourne.com/

Melbourne Map: https://goo.gl/maps/3iDQCJqzVdjtVGXL6
Melbourne CBD: https://tinyurl.com/mvpku5ak

From the Gold Coast, you could also drive to Brisbane (1 hour) and visit the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary which has an excellent range of other native Australian animals.

BRISBANE MAP: https://tinyurl.com/496kd2ed
https://www.brisbane-australia.com/m...sbane-cbd.html
Mirimar Cruises: https://mirimarcruises.com.au/daily-cruises/
Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary: https://lonepinekoalasanctuary.com/

You will need Visas. Use this link if you don't already have yours approved & you're coming within the next 12 months.:
https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visa...sa/visa-finder
If your passport nationality qualifies - you may wish to use this App.
APP: https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visa...rity-601#HowTo

We loved the 2.5 hour night tour at the Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary in Brighton, Tasmania

We loved our visit to Trowunna Wildlife Sanctuary when we visited Tasmania. We are from the USA and our dog's vet had recommended it. She had visited it while touring Tasmania with a veterinary group.
https://www.trowunna.com.au/

B2 - My directional problems come from living on the west coast of the USA. Ive spent my life traveling back and forth to the East Coast (USA) and Europe for work and pleasure. So... if the country is the other way, it's all west for me! I just need to get out more!
A lot of great information! I spent several hours researching your links. Very helpful. I plan to stay off the roads at night. It's hard enough dealing with the other side of the road.
Question/s - I was planning on a trip to the Blue Mountains. It would be a day trip. If I don't rent a car, is there an easy way to get there and back? Is there transit in the park that gets to different hiking spots? Have you taken the train there?

Martharap - thanks for the information. How did you get there - personal car, or bus?

Thank you BarbAnn! I think we will visit on our way back from Cradle Mountain.

Too bad for the mix-up, I had a few suggestions for Western Australia.

HaHa Amysdad1 -Glad to see your're getting out more ... and over to our side of the world this time. I can get lost in a shopping centre carpark, so I'm not the one to throw asparagaus/ aspersions or even gladiolis at you for your East/West mix-up. Gladiolis - Look up Dame Edna Everage & Barry Humphries when you have a spare minute or three.

Blue Mountains: You could certainly go by train - lots of people commute to Sydney for work & back daily, so there's lots of trains.
However, once there, you're really limited to the not-terribly-frequent bus service or Uber to get around and more or less limited to the touristy bits including "Scenic World". The best of the Blue Mountains is reached by car & then hikes/ (we call them bushwalks) and there's a world of difference between what you can see & do that way compared with what a day-trip on a train would offer.

I would seriously encourage you to drive. It's a freeway going up, well signposted and if you use your Google Maps, couldn't be easier. Yes, it will take you a while to get used to driving on the left. Same as it takes me a while to get used to driving on the right when I'm in your country or Europe. If you're a competent driver at home, you will be absolutely fine here. We tend to obey the speed limits (it's very expensive if we don't) and are generally fairly courteous on the roads. Yes, we have our quota of Brain Dead Morons too, but they're a small %.

I'd also encourage you to make it a day & night trip if you can stretch your Itinerary to fit it. It's really a unique area.
If you really can't stretch your Itinerary & I can't cajole you to drive, there's a couple of better-than-average Tour Operators you might consider for a day trip. I'll see if I can dig up a link later today. If you think that may be a good option for you - just avoid the ones that go to Featherdale Wildlife Park. It's a touristy suburban zoo and a waste of time you could be spending in the Blue Mountains.

Also: Trip Advisor's Australia Forum is much more active than Fodors, so I suggest you hop over there & have a look. Melnq8, a couple of other Fodorites and I post on both, under our same pen names.

That's enough to confuse you further for a while

AmysDad1 - Have a scroll through this posting from TA. Pietr is our resident Blue Mountains expert and lists a few Day Tour operators as well as giving very solid information.

https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/ShowT...uth_Wales.html

Personal car.

Great idea on the personal car. I rented one for the trip out to the Blues.

Thanks!!!!

If you'll be driving from Hobart to Freycinet NP (or vice versa), you might consider visiting Maria Island National Park. You can also visit it as a day trip from Hobart with East Coast Cruises. Maria Island is super-interesting. It's a wildlife haven. It has geological attractions, including the patterned-sandstone Painted Cliffs and the former limestone quarry of Fossil Cliffs. It's home to the Darlington Probation Station – a World Heritage Australian Convict Site. Finally, it has beautiful walking tracks and beaches. I spent two nights there (on my second trip to Tasmania) in rustic accommodation (the former penitentiary; there are no hotels or motels on MI, I think the only full-time residents are the rangers). On my final day took an island circumnavigation cruise with East Coast Cruises, which also included a wildlife tour of the island (which I didn't really need as I'd already spent two days there, but we ended up seeing big groups of kangaroos, so that was good). I have never see so many wombats! Because I spent two nights, I was also able to see a Tasmanian Devil in the wild. Previously,.I'd only seen them in captivity and this was my main reason for going there. They are not native to Maria Island, but were taken there to establish a face-tumour-free population. They flourished and many have since been sent to the Tasmanian mainland; they also ate a lot of Maria Island's native birds.

We loved our day trip to Maria Island!

there's a conservation park called Tasmainain Devil Unzoo in Taranna Tasmania-gets good reviews.

We loved seeing the fairy penguins arriving at dusk after their day at sea on Phillip Island. We did a day trip there from Melbourne.

you acn also see little penguins at St Kilda a few kms from the ciry of Melbourne