Puffing Billy Steam Train and Penguins Wildlife Tour

A well-deserved shout-out to our tour guide/ driver anthony! Friendly, knowledgeable, and incredibly patient with the kids, making the whole experience enjoyable for everyone. Thank you for keeping the tour fun, engaging, and family-friendly. Highly recommended!⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Trip as good especially our guide Anthony ❤️

Puffing Billy was great……absolutely loved it……but not much to do before going to the penguins. A few stops, and some interesting local information. Unfortunately the weather gods were not on our side and it rained just as the penguins were coming ashore. Despite being told multiple times to not use umbrellas or take photos, everyone around us did which made it difficult to see anything. Pretty disappointing.

Got to spend the day with our tour guide, Stuart, who was absolutely phenomenal. He provided detailed and engaging commentary throughout the entire trip, explaining every area we traveled through and always giving clear directions whenever we had free time to explore on our own. Our group consisted of seven people, and every single one of us agreed that Stuart elevated an already incredible experience to another level. Highly recommend him! The Puffing Billy Steam Railway through the rainforest was the perfect length and truly unforgettable. The scenery was breathtaking, and the train itself was fantastic. Many passengers chose to sit on the ledge with their legs dangling outside the carriage — completely safely, of course, as that’s part of the authentic Puffing Billy experience. For those who prefer to stay seated inside, the seats were very comfortable and didn’t take away from the experience at all. The Penguin Wildlife Tour was a genuine bucket-list experience. Coming from Canada, seeing penguins in the wild is something we simply don’t get to experience back home. Most of our group, myself included, upgraded to the Penguins Plus package, and it was absolutely worth it. We were seated right on the beach and witnessed hundreds — possibly over a thousand — little penguins waddling right past us, only feet away. It was incredible. Even after about 30 minutes, we had already watched four separate waves of penguins come ashore. On the walk back to the main building, several hundred meters from the beach, we were still able to walk alongside these amazing little animals as they waddled up the hillside toward their burrows. Photos and videos are not allowed because penguins are extremely sensitive to light, and protecting their environment is important. Honestly, though, this experience is something that will stay with me forever regardless. I HIGHLY recommend Explore Australia and especially Stuart to anyone considering this tour. Thank you all for an unforgettable experience! Best regards, Mike from Canada

Our tour guide Michael was the best—such a cool guy! He even remembered everyone’s names. I’m a big fan of Michael.

The tour delivered above our expectations. Our tour guide Gina was enthusiastic, professional and very knowledgeable. We would highly recommend this tour. Book with Explore Australia

Very interesting and exciting experience, for puffing billy stream train, recommend to sit inside as the view will be better than sitting near to the door side. Feel very lucky to have good weather during the day. Saw quite a number of penguins during their way back to their nest, no photos nor videos allowed to protect the wildlife. Food inside the visitor centre slightly expensive and only can pay by cards.

This excursion checked off a few things on our bucket list while visiting Melbourne. There were no issues booking the tour or with communication. Pick up was on time and exactly where stated. Make sure to read your confirmation email as different times of the year have different pick up times. Pick up for us was at 10 am and we returned around 10pm. It is a long day, but broken up with stops along the way. Our tour guide Gary was very informative and chatty. Got us to all the places on time and back safely. The Puffing Billy train was a simple ride in an old fashion steam train. It’s nothing fancy or fantastic, but there are some nice views along the way. Our expectations were low, as we were prepared for the touristy train ride and because of that we had a pleasant time. For us it’s a one and done sort of thing but we got some great pictures and the ability to say we’ve been here. Next stop was the Nobbies. A beautiful landscape of nature to see here. Other than walking the boardwalk (with hundreds of others) there isn’t much to do but enjoy the scenery. The penguin parade was quite full. Hundreds of people all waiting to see the penguins emerge from the ocean and waddle up the banks to there burrows on land. Our night the penguins arrived around 6:40pm and not too may to see but none the less we saw some! We were then able to see them close up walking to their burrows as we walked the boardwalk out. All in all the excursion was good. I’d recommend it if these are things you want to see. I feel the price was a bit steep but again if you want to see certain things outside of the city without having to navigate them yourself then this is the way to go.

Other than the weather the trip was fan it was about an hour's drive to the puffing billy train had enough time to wander the area a little then aboard for the scenic railway gun journey then another drive about an hour to the penguin experience . First was the coat boardwalk no toilets so going at the railway is important but saw an Acidna very sweet and great coastline Then onto the penguin watching of note you have about an hour before the sun sets and could stop to eat but I'd suggest if needed but take away and get get down to your zone early otherwise you find your not sat together or your sat away from the best view of the penguins emerging from the sea I went straight there so had a great seat and left ved the experience Also they say don't take photos as it scares the penguins and some silly boy had his flash on and didn't know how to turn it off but kept going for a shot so annoying! Otherwise great day a long day so ensure you have snacks and water and also if in the autumn take a jacket or something a bit warmer to wear Our driver was fab friendly and informative. And felt safe as a driver .

Had the best time doing both these attractions. The experience on the train was amazingly fun and the atmosphere was great the penguin experience was great I thought we would have seen more penguins then we did but waking back up afterwards we seen a lot more