Best places to see Koalas?

[WESTEAST]

Started researching opportunities to see koalas and of course, kangaroos for our upcoming Jan/Feb 2020 cruise and would appreciate any feedback on:

1.  visit Sydney Zoo or, Melbourne Zoo (or both) to see koalas (sightings guaranteed)?

and,

2.  shore excursion Kangaroos & Koalas Adventure (sightings not guaranteed) out of Melbourne to You Yangs National Park at sundown or, similar adventure from Melbourne to Serandip Open Range Sanctuary during the day? Thinking sundown is better as koalas are nocturnal?  

 

Thank you!

[SinbadThePorter]

Koalas can be seen in all the major city zoos. They are mostly just asleep, sometimes they will wake up and give a grunt.

 

Koalas are very difficult to see in the wild. You need to be in an area with lots of them and have a very good eye. Of course the darker it is the harder they will be to see, unless you spotlight them. Which you shouldn't.

 

Koalas in captivity cannot be handled by visitors in the states of NSW, Vic and Tas. You can handle them in SA and Queensland, although it is expensive.

 

Various species of kangaroos are in all zoos. In the wild they are a danger to traffic and not unusual, but it's hard to say where to find some at any given time.

[GUT2407]

I think I’ve seen three Koalas in the wild, and I’ve lived in Australia all my life and spent a lot of time bush walking when I was younger, so a zoo or wildlife park is the go.

 

Kangaroos I see in the wild pretty much every day, but that’s not in the city, so probably the same zoo or wildlife park is the best bet.

[Chiliburn]

7 hours ago, WESTEAST said:

Started researching opportunities to see koalas and of course, kangaroos for our upcoming Jan/Feb 2020 cruise and would appreciate any feedback on:

1.  visit Sydney Zoo or, Melbourne Zoo (or both) to see koalas (sightings guaranteed)?

and,

2.  shore excursion Kangaroos & Koalas Adventure (sightings not guaranteed) out of Melbourne to You Yangs National Park at sundown or, similar adventure from Melbourne to Serandip Open Range Sanctuary during the day? Thinking sundown is better as koalas are nocturnal?  

 

Thank you!

Koalas is the wild are hard to find and are a bit of a letdown.

They have a cousin,the drop bear ,a bit more exciting.

[beatleman]

12 hours ago, WESTEAST said:

Started researching opportunities to see koalas and of course, kangaroos for our upcoming Jan/Feb 2020 cruise and would appreciate any feedback on:

1.  visit Sydney Zoo or, Melbourne Zoo (or both) to see koalas (sightings guaranteed)?

and,

2.  shore excursion Kangaroos & Koalas Adventure (sightings not guaranteed) out of Melbourne to You Yangs National Park at sundown or, similar adventure from Melbourne to Serandip Open Range Sanctuary during the day? Thinking sundown is better as koalas are nocturnal?  

 

Thank you!

If you are anywhere near Brisbane I would head to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, they also have Platypus. The Sanctuary is also devoid of Drop Bears.

 

[sippican]

One of the behind the scenes tours at the Taronga Zoo in Sydney features a Koala encounter (but you cannot touch them).

https://taronga.org.au/sydney-zoo/animal-encounters/koala

First come, first served.

Edited September 11, 2019 by sippican

[Tansy Mews]

And what about kangaroos? We will be in Sydney, Melbourne, and Eden, Australia. I read that there are kangaroos on the golf course in Eden. The ship is having a tea and kangaroo excursion, using golf carts. But it is $104 CAD or $79 USD for an hour and a half! Any suggestions? Can I just lurk near the golf club?!! 

[possum52]

1 hour ago, Tansy Mews said:

And what about kangaroos? We will be in Sydney, Melbourne, and Eden, Australia. I read that there are kangaroos on the golf course in Eden. The ship is having a tea and kangaroo excursion, using golf carts. But it is $104 CAD or $79 USD for an hour and a half! Any suggestions? Can I just lurk near the golf club?!! 

You can but most likely the kangaroos are not going to be close to the entrance so you would have to enter the golf club and then are you trespassing? Also how are you going to get to the golf club? It is a 3.5 km walk from the wharf. 

 

Kangaroos can be found at zoos in Melbourne and Sydney.

 

Leigh

[GUT2407]

On 9/11/2019 at 4:02 PM, Chiliburn said:

Koalas is the wild are hard to find and are a bit of a letdown.

They have a cousin,the drop bear ,a bit more exciting.

Looks like a tame droppie to me.

[GUT2407]

18 hours ago, Tansy Mews said:

And what about kangaroos? We will be in Sydney, Melbourne, and Eden, Australia. I read that there are kangaroos on the golf course in Eden. The ship is having a tea and kangaroo excursion, using golf carts. But it is $104 CAD or $79 USD for an hour and a half! Any suggestions? Can I just lurk near the golf club?!! 

If you can see koalas you can bet they’ll have Roos too.

[GUT2407]

Kangaroos, in the wild are most likely to be spotted early morning or late afternoon (dusk). Mrs Gut sees a mob or two most mornings on her way to work, had a few close calls.

[Chiliburn]

22 minutes ago, GUT2407 said:

Looks like a tame droppie to me.

Yeah 

 Theirs a small colony that’s at Sydney airport for the tourists.

They do keep them sedated because they have to catch them and wash the blood off all the time.

Edited September 12, 2019 by Chiliburn

[sippican]

And the Aussies are still waiting for some poor gullible fool to reply about the Drop Bears 😂! Nice try.

[Chiliburn]

1 hour ago, sippican said:

And the Aussies are still waiting for some poor gullible fool to reply about the Drop Bears 😂! Nice try.

Only a matter of time 

[sippican]

3 hours ago, Chiliburn said:

Only a matter of time 

 

Okay, so I might have just Googled it.

[GUT2407]

28 minutes ago, sippican said:

 

Okay, so I might have just Googled it.

But check out the Australian Museum site for the facts.

[sippican]

1 hour ago, GUT2407 said:

But check out the Australian Museum site for the facts.

 

That is awesome!

Well then, we'll be sure to apply some Vegemite behind the ears just to be safe.

[Chiliburn]

2 hours ago, sippican said:

 

Okay, so I might have just Googled it.

 

WE GOT ONE FELLAS 

[sippican]

6 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

 

WE GOT ONE FELLAS 

 

I love the "facts" on the museum site!

[Chiliburn]

51 minutes ago, sippican said:

 

I love the "facts" on the museum site!

Well you saw it on the internet,so it must be true.

 

 Australian Geographic has a interesting article.

 Apparently you’re accent is a big factor .

 Locals have a low chance of being savaged but people with very annoying accents are in extreme danger.

 

So I’m thinking English or a Texan would be living very dangerously.

[GUT2407]

https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/news/2013/04/drop-bears-target-tourists-study-says/

 

And hers the official stuff

[Chiliburn]

1 hour ago, GUT2407 said:

https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/news/2013/04/drop-bears-target-tourists-study-says/

 

And hers the official stuff

Nasty piece of work.

He probably had a South African accent.

[GUT2407]

Here’s our trip to Mrs Gut’s work

[MrsWaldo]

So I would have said no hope for Koalas BUT  I'm sitting on my back deck tonight with a K in our gum.  No idea how he got there but i do know we've had a colony in the nearby National Park for a while.  I'm 20 mins from the city.  We often get Echidnas... never had a roo or wallaby as there isn't any grassland