Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary or Taronga Zoo?

[tnr]

We are on a Regent cruise Jan 2013. We will be overnight in Melbourne before going to Sydney. We will also be staying 4 extra nights in Sydney. One of the excursions in Melbourne is Puffing Billy, Wine Tasting, and the Healesville Sanctuary....8 1/2 hours. I would love to be "up close and personal" with the native wildlife. Should we wait until Sydney and go to the Taronga Zoo? I just can't tell which would be the best option. We are also planning on going to the Serandip Open Range Sanctuary in Melbourne.

[Waynetor]

We have been to several Australian wildlife parks but not the one on your tour. The great thing about them is you can great up real close to the kangaroos and wallabies. Many also have up close presentations. The zoo in Sydney was very nice with great views back towards the city. It is built on the side of a hill which can make walking around a challange for some people. It is more of a traditional zoo with animals from many parts of the world, not just Australia.

[DrKoob]

We had to miss Healsville as our ship was late getting in but we did go to Taronga and take it from someone who grew up going to the San Diego zoo, Taronga is the most amazing zoo that we have ever been in. Check our complete report with pics at http://www.jkbellomo.com. Taronga was amazing!

[MJC]

Thank you for posting your album -- great photos! We plan to visit Taronga Zoo in November and now we're even more excited to see it.

[room010]

If you are staying 4 days in Sydney why not do Healesville in Melbourne (that is a very full tour itinerary BTW) and Taronga in Sydney? It's worth it for the magnificent ferry trip alone. Taronga is a more traditional zoo, but very well done while Healesville is more focused on specifically Aussie species. If you have time I'd do both.

[CJcruzer]

We went to taronga zoo, where you can also see their flight show (birds) -healesville has a similar birds of prey show.. We also went to Featherdale Wildlife park, along with Blue mountains outing -at Featherdale you can pet kangaroos, take photos with and pet koalas, even penguins there....

[tnr]

Thank you all for your input. DrKoob, your report is amazing. I have also been to the San Diego zoo many times, so your insight to Taronga means a lot. So it seems that Taronga is a must, and I will probably do Healesville also. That just means 2 very long days in Melbourne. Oh well, I can rest when we get home.:D

[joysav]

Hi

 

Tas and I have been to about 30 to 40 zoos over the years

and they all have their good points.

 

Some were brand new (Indianapolis) and others a bit tired.(SFO)

 

At that time we also saw Pandas in Washington DC, Sydney ,

Beijing and was it London ?? or San Diego ??

 

Using San Diego as a benchmark I would go to Taronga and

Melbourne Zoos.

 

Both have some really new exhibits and are easy to get to

by Ferry (Taronga) and Tram ( Melbourne Zoo)

 

The Ferry and Trams are nearly worth the effort alone.

 

We love Healesville but it is a bit of an effort to get there :(

and more like a wildlife park than today's high tech zoos

 

Joy

.