Penguin Parade, & Wildlife Encounters Eco Tour from Melbourne
Description
Enjoy a personalised and informative experience with expert guides on small group tours of up to 24 guests, enhanced by a multilingual audio guide application available in 16 languages, including German, Italian, French, Russian, Spanish, and more.
Tour Options
Itinerary
Photo opportunity of Melbourne's most colourful attraction!
Explore Moonlit Sanctuary where you have the opportunity to feed Kangaroos and Wallabies under the supervision of Sanctuary staff plus view many famous Australian animals. Moonlit Sanctuary is dedicated to helping save Australia’s endangered wildlife from extinction. Many of the animals kept at the Sanctuary are threatened with extinction. However, just keeping and breeding rare animals is not enough, they must interact with programs aimed at saving them in the wild.
Visit the Nobbies, spot native wildlife, and experience the iconic Penguin Parade!
Stop by this stunning surf beach at Cape Woolamai! We visit this spot only during the summer.
Enjoy a dinner stop in Cowes, offering a variety of dining options! We only stop at this spot during the summer.
Beautiful views across the ocean while you spot the local seal colony
The nightly spectacular event! See the cute little penguins waddle ashore to their nesting grounds.
Highlights
What's included
Pickup Locations & Times
Pickup is only available from the list of hotels provided upon checkout. Your pickup will be between 10am-11am (non-daylight savings, AEST) or 11am-12pm (daylight savings, AEDT), depending on which hotel you selected. Your exact meeting time will be provided after a booking is placed. This tour returns to Melbourne between 9pm-12am midnight depending on the season.
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Service animals allowed
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Specialized infant seats are available
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- Photography of any kind is not permitted at the Phillip Island Penguin Parade
- Large bags, strollers, prams, baby capsules, luggage & walkers cannot be brought on board
- 2 Tours + FREE City Tour option: This package includes 3 seperate tours, Great Ocean Road Day Tour, Philip Island Penguin Parade Tour & Melbourne City Discovery Half-day Tou
- 2 Tours + FREE City Tour option: Please note that you will be booked as follows: Great Ocean Road Day Tour, on the date selected. Phillip Island Day Tour, on the following date. You may choose any date for your Melbourne City Tour by contacting us directly
Reviews(4,039)
Really really nice trip with Aleks today!! Aleks is a very nice guide and also a very good driver. At the beginning she asked me and my girlfriend’s English names and even wrote them down. After that she really remembered our names for the whole day haha. It is a small thing but makes us feel very nice and welcomed. Also you will NEVER lose Aleks because of her watermelon hat 🍉😂 It is super easy to find her everywhere. And at night she put some LED lights inside the bus, so when there are so many similar buses in the dark parking area, we can find our bus very easily. Very smart and creative idea! The music on the bus is also very good. I don’t know how to describe it but the songs just fit the road trip very well. We slept very comfortably on the way hahaha. Penguins are of course super cute 🐧, but another big surprise for me is the sky on Phillip Island. There are sooo many stars and this is actually the first time in my life I saw the Milky Way by my own eyes!! 🌌 I really didn’t expect this before coming here. Aleks also helped us take photos and surprisingly she is quite good at taking photos haha 📸 She also told us many interesting things during the trip and always tried to make everyone comfortable. The whole trip is quite long but I didn’t feel too tired. Thank you so much Aleks!! Really happy we joined this tour and met you. The penguins, Milky Way, watermelon hat and the lights on the bus will definitely stay in my memory for a long time 😂🍉🐧🌌 Highly recommend!
We had so much fun in our tour. Aleks is a delight, and we had spectacular weather! Great tour for families with kids!
Guide Ben was fantastic! Highly recommend
Had a great tour led by Rhys who was informative, friendly, and humorous. He gave great information about the best way to tour each site and especially for the penguin parade - and even had tips for post drop-off locations to try out in Melbourne.
Our guide Jai was the best!!! We learned so much. Loved his enthusiasm. Very knowledgeable and organized.
The day didn’t start particularly promising. It was cold, wet and murky, and the pick-up was about 15 minutes late, which initially made us a little apprehensive. But what followed was an absolutely amazing experience. Our guide, Kevin, was a gem. Articulate, knowledgeable and genuinely passionate about what he does, he kept us engaged throughout what is a fairly long day. He shared some fascinating insights into Melbourne’s history and culture, and as an immigrant himself, his own story was also a wonderful reflection of Melbourne’s vibrant multicultural character. The Moonlit Sanctuary was fantastic, but the absolute highlight was the Penguin Parade. This wasn’t my first visit to the Penguin Parade, and I’ve been on several tours before, but I have rarely seen a guide so meticulous with his instructions. Kevin explained exactly where to position ourselves and what to look out for so that we could get the best possible view of the penguins. That attention to detail genuinely elevated the experience and was one of the highlights of the day for me. Full marks to Kevin for that. Watching the penguins emerge from the ocean and make their way ashore was phenomenal and almost surreal. Despite the weather and the slightly shaky start, this turned into a truly memorable day. It is a long trip, but absolutely worth it — and Kevin played a huge part in making it so special.
Thanks so much for such a thoughtful review! We’re really glad you stuck with us through that cold, wet and rather gloomy start — it sounds like the day certainly made up for it in the end! It’s wonderful to hear your kind words about Kevin. We love that you mentioned not only his knowledge and passion, but also his own story and the way he brought Melbourne’s multicultural character into the day. We’ll be sure to pass that on to him. And we’re especially pleased to hear that his tips at the Penguin Parade helped make such a difference, particularly as you’d visited the penguins several times before. Getting the best possible view can make those few moments when the penguins come ashore even more special, so it’s fantastic to know Kevin’s careful guidance helped you enjoy the experience that much more. We’re also glad you enjoyed Moonlit Sanctuary and, despite the shaky beginning, came away with such a memorable day. We’ll take the “absolutely worth it” as a pretty good ending! 😄 Thanks again for choosing Go West and for taking the time to share such a detailed review. We’ll be sure Kevin knows how much you appreciated his efforts. Safe travels!
Excellent service by Alisha and all on time and really liked it
It’s a long day, but the tour was great. The penguins are a must see, and visiting the wildlife sanctuary was a nice stop along the way. Alicia, our guide, was very knowledgeable and did a winderful job. Highly recommend (just bring gloves, hats, and warm clothes for winter).
Israel excellent guide and driver ..********* Very funny guy!!
Best part of Melbourne by far, got to chat with a cool lad about Australia, it's history, politics and community. Helpful and personality that made the long adventure well worth it
