Day 5 - Meet the Animals - Healesville Sanctuary

Today we are heading off towards animal hunting at Healesville Sanctuary(HS).

Healesville Sanctuary is located in the stunning Yarra Valley region 65 kilometres or one hours drive from Melbourne. It is one of Australia’s most recognised attractions, showcasing more than 200 species of Australian wildlife, only one hour from Melbourne. It provides closser opportunity to Australia’s wildlife, featuring unique experiences with kangaroos, koalas and amazing birds of prey. This is Australian flora and fauna at its best! Go to this link for more information http://www.zoo.org.au/HealesvilleSanctuary

At 9.15am, we left from Glen Waverley and we stopped by a pie house - The Pie Shed, to get some food for our lunch afterwards at HS.

This was the first time that I see so many varieties of pies in front of me. The pies ranged from vegetables, fruits to meat. Most importantly, it is cheap! The price is between AUD 5 to AUD 8. At to my astonishment, they have Kangaroo Pie also! Uncle Martin got one Kangaroo Pie for himself, but for me and connie, we got ourselves a chicken and a pork pie respectively.



After we got our lunch packed, we headed off to our destination without wasting any time. We reached HS at about 10.45am. The admission tickets are AUD23.60/pax. The opening hours is from 9.00am to 5.00pm. Typical australian flexible working hours. I wished I can get a job in Melbourne too!

Along the journey, we stopped by and shoot some very nice scenery of wineyard.

Typically autumn feel~

We were provided a map of HS. One thing attracted me alot is the "Meet the Keeper" session. It provides a great way for visitors to understand more about the Australian wildcare. We started by visiting the "Meet the Keeper" - Kangaroos.

According to the spokeperson, The red Kangaroos we were seeing normally are more shy compared to the wallabies. There difference in between this 2 species that came from the same biological group. A red kangaroo weights more and it is more shy compared to the wallabies.



There was a session where we were allowed to touch and feed the wallabies! They are so cute and friendly. Greyish long fur and strong mucscle could be felt all around the body when we touched them. They are fed on carrots and leaves. These wallabies has a very strong white teeth which can be seen when they are chewing their food.



After the feeding session we headed towards the Birds of Prey - the highlight of today. Healesville Sanctuary's Birds of Prey is a stunning display showcasing our native Australian raptors.

We took some figs while waiting for the show to get started. Delicious!

Set in the park’s stunning outdoor amphitheatre, Birds of Prey is a thrilling aerial display demonstrating the magnificent flight and hunting skills of several iconic Australian species, such as the Peregrine Falcon, Black Breasted Buzzard, Barking Owl, and of course, the breathtaking Wedge-tailed Eagle.



Diving and soaring with speed and precision, these Birds of Prey have you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. These eagles are well trained and they have really a razorsharp eyesight where they wont lose out on anything eg the food thrown into the air by the trainers.


Right after the Birds of Prey session, they was a boomerang throwing session. Boomerangs originated from australia where the ancient ppl used it to hunt for food. Today, boomerangs are mostly used as sporting items. There are different types of throwing contests: accuracy of return; aussie round; trick catch and etc. I got a boomerang for myself too. It costed at a price of 10 AUD and i did managed to have a pic with the presenter. In my heart, I am thinking of where to practice my boomerang in Malaysia. Any suggestions? Haha.


One of the few scenery in Healesville.


The porcupine.



It is about lunch time, and we had our picnic session buy eating our pie we bought. The pork pie connie bought as a pig imprinted on it. So cute!



Took some photo around the carpark during out lunch too.

Brown Cuckoo-dove.

The Laughing Kookaburra.

We can see the grey headed flying fox and black winged stilt also.



Australian king parrot.

Superb lyrebird is a well singer.

Besides that, there are some reptiles on show in HS.

Can you differentiate where is the tail and where is the head? This is called the Shingleback.

The Eastern Bearded Dragon, very poisonous and a ferocious eater.

The Taipan.

Next, we hanged around the zoo and we saw koala's too. This time we got to see koala nearer compared to the one in Koala Conservation center in Phillip island.

See how near we are too them? They are enjoying their lunch while having some sun bathing. Very cute.

Look, how strong paws they got.

This is the animal clinic in HS.



In addition, we saw a person from national geographic sitting and recording the behaviour of a dingo.

The dingo are fed on meat. It is a type of dog. There are 1 pair of them.

Normally, dingoes do not bark as much as most domestic dogs, which can be very loud, and they howl more frequently. Three basic howls with over 10 variations have been recorded. Although humans are not natural prey for wild dingoes, there have been a number of instances in which people have been attacked by them. So better becareful of this species.


We departed from HS at around 530pm. We had our dinner at "The International" in one of the Bistro along the way back. In short, an enjoyable journey for today.