It is hard to miss the brightly painted giant bump rising up out of the green farmscape as you drive along the Bass Highway. As we later discovered Aboriginal artists had spent many painstakingly long hours working on the eye catching marker that heralded our arrival at the Wildlife Wonderland, located on the corner of the Bass Highway and Acton Road in Bass, approximately an hour and a half's drive from Melbourne.
It has once again become the salvation of travel weary children when hearing my own son's excited, "Look mummy, what's that?" coming from the back seat brought back my own childhood memories; only it was known as the Giant Earthworm then.
Entry to the animal attractions is through the cafe and although it was a little confusing, there are overhead signs showing you where to pay for your admittance to the park. Surprisingly the admission prices are very reasonable and easily affordable for the one income family.
Starting at the wombat enclosure gives one a warm fuzzy feeling that the Wildlife Wonderland is not just a 'zoo' when you learn that the park takes an active role in preserving our native animals by taking in orphaned wombats and working with local volunteer wildlife carers to release the wombats once they reach maturity.
We found most of the animal exhibits to be very accessible for those in a wheelchair or like us you have a small child in a pram and there were plenty of photo opportunities and interactions at the lower pram level with the kangaroos and wallabies.
Wallaby at Wildlife Wonderland, Bass
There are undercover concrete walkways as well as man made dirt tracks through the open paddock areas, but on the day we visited it had rained the night before and the going was a bit tough to push the pram with sixteen kilograms of toddler on board. Eucalyptus trees dot the open paddocks providing plenty of shade spots for both the animals and visitors, and if you are patient enough to stare up at the tree tops you may be rewarded with a glimpse of a koala in its most natural state - sleep.
Major Mitchell Cockatoo at Wildlife Wonderland
There are large flight aviaries containing a variety of birds - Major Mitchell Cockatoos, Galahs, Sulphur Crested Cockatoos, Pheasants, Peacocks, Kookaburras, Emus, and other parrots whose names I do not profess to know. The Sulphur Crested Cockatoos made the biggest impression on our young son as they were so noisy and had a few rather cheeky words that had to be explained away. Our tour of the Reptile area with its slower paced inhabitants did not inspire much enthusiasm from our toddler son, with the one exception being the Freshwater Crocodile.
Adult visitors to the park would be able to get around to see all the animal exhibits comfortably in a couple of hours making it an ideal place to break up your drive to Phillip Island or beyond, but for those of us with young children, as we discovered first hand, allow a lot longer for them to meet the animals they may have only previously experienced in picture books.
Needing a reviver coffee and a bite to eat we returned to the cafe where we deliberated for some time over the fully loaded menu boards before deciding on freshly made sandwiches washed down with coffees for mum and dad, and an apple juice for our young man. With our enthusiasm restored we wandered through the gift shop adjacent to the cafe and found ourselves hard pressed to walk away with just one item.
