Melbourne Zoo
If you're looking for an excuse to spend time in the sun, a visit to
Melbourne Zoo is the perfect reason. Whether you're an animal lover, trying to come up with an inventive date location or just want to relax outdoors with a good book. The Melbourne Zoo will easily deliver the goods. As soon as you walk through the turnstiles, staff are ready to equip you with an easy to read map of the grounds, plus info about upcoming talks/demonstrations as well as having volunteers dotted all over the place to help with any questions you may have.
Zoo grounds
Zoo grounds
Once you're in the main grounds, you may want to relax on the grass for a bit as you decide whether to start with the butterfly house, the baboon lookout, the lion gorge or maybe head straight for the orangutan sanctuary. When deciding how to fit everything in, there are cafes and toilets dotted around the place, plus disability access isn't an issue and there's both wheelchair and pushchair hire if needed.
As for the finer planning details, parking is $2 for 5 hours, plus the 55 tram and Royal Park train station are on the doorstep and doors are open 7 days a week 9-5. All ticket prices are listed
here and a big bonus to be aware of is that children up to the age of 15 get free entry on weekends and public holidays and if you're a carer, you also get to go free.
Giraffes
Meerkats
Gorillas
Sleepy Hippo
So whether Gorillas are your thing, or you want to take far too many pictures of meerkats with their cute little head turns, or maybe you just want to walk through the grounds and spot the occasional bit of wildlife. Melbourne Zoo is the place to visit regardless of if you're Melbourne born and bred, just visiting or looking for somewhere different to hang-out.
