We decided to book a day tour with AAT Kings out of Melbourne, that included taking a ride on the Puffing Billy Steam Train and Healesville Wildlife. This was the best way for us to travel out, this far out of Melbourne, and see both locations on the same day. The tour was well organized and kept us on a good time schedule. We would book with them again. Click here to see our ADR Video!
We were picked up at Federation Square at the corner of Flinders St and Russell St. As we rode through the Ferntree Gully to the Dandenong Ranges we made our first stop at Grants on Sherbrooke for morning Devonshire Tea and hot scones and to see the wild birds.
Sarek capturing the wild birds on the Go Pro (look for video footage later)!
Next we made our way to ride on Puffing Billy, Australia's oldest operating steam train, through the spectacular rainforest of tall mountain ask, eucalypts and fern filled gullies. The primary starting point, operations and administration centre, and ticket sales are located at Belgrave station.
The railway was originally one of five narrow gauge lines of the Victorian Railways opened around the beginning of the 20th century. This train ride was so cool! As you can see in the pictures we took many passengers could sit inside with their legs dangling from the side as the train rode on. It was such a neat experience. As we filmed through the open panels on the train the ash / coal just blew on by.
Then onto Healesville Wildlife for our tour.
Once we arrived we ate lunch at the cafe, and then enjoyed a guided tour of one of Australia 's most famous wildlife parks. Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary, home to over 200 species of Australian birds, mammals and reptiles, all in a natural bushland setting.
We walked through large aviaries to view native birdlife and watched dingoes and Tasmanian Devils at play, birds, as well as echidnas and goannas. This day was a hot one. We were glad to have packed our hats and our water! This was probably our favorite animal adventure of the entire trip!
Note: We knew 100% that we wanted to go here so we made sure to contact Healesville months ahead of our trip to book the private Wombat Pat & Play time for Sarek! The time slots daily are limited and sell out quickly so once we secured our spot and paid for our wombat time we were thrilled.
This was the BEST PART of the DAY! Individual time with the Wombat. To pat, play, feed, learn about it! AWESOME!
Wombat Facts: DID YOU KNOW?!
- Wombats leave their cube-shaped poop as territorial signposts on the tops of rocks and logs.
- Wombats are native only to Australia.
- Wombats are nocturnal grazers, that eat mainly grasses and roots.
- Short-legged, muscular marsupials
- Wombats grow to about 40 inches long and can weigh between 44 and 77 pounds.
Wombats have tough behinds. One of the wombat’s primary defenses is its toughened backside, which is mostly made of cartilage. When threatened, a wombat dives headfirst into a tunnel, blocking the entrance with its rump. This sturdy rump, and lack of a significant tail, make it difficult for a predator to grab on.
This was a GREAT day! Make sure you check out our Youtube account to like, share, comment, and subscribe so when we get all our travel videos edited and ready to go you will be notified... you won't want miss out, especially seeing the Wombat on video! Click here to see the video!