I visited a great wildlife park yesterday during the day which is moonlit Sanctuary so I think I might give.l a tour and review the place however I won’t be able to review the whole thing as it was raining and had to rush through some parts as my family stayed in the gift shop. The pricing is reasonable not cheap and not expensive. Although I didn’t get encounters most of these look appropriately priced with the exception of the orange bellied parrot but I do understand that if something goes wrong in an encounter they need funds to book them up. Upon waking out of the entrance the first animal you will spot is the adorable southern hairy nosed wombat which was resting in a hide making an extremely easy view point and was in a decent enclosure with burrows and enrichment. Common wombats next door were in a simmalar enclosure also seen easily. I then saw an amphibian research centre with signs in it but I am unhappy to the fact that it has a no entry sign on it as it is the only place where amphibians are in the park. I did see signs for the growling grass frog and several other terrariums. Next is an amazing little aviary with a multitude of species and I saw all but one. The species list for this area is the Banded Lapwing, Eastern whipbird, a woodswallow which I forgot the species, superb parrots, zebra finches and the critically endangered regent honeyeater which I didn’t see. A very good aviary. Next exhibit was a parrot aviary which in my opinion was a little bland but houses red tailed black cockatoos, yellow tailed black cockatoos, gang gang cockatoos, major mitchell cockatoos and an eclectus parrot. The next exhibit is for the lace monitors which was a smidge small but still very very good and had tons of hides where the lizards are still viewable which is great. Next door is an exhibit I have some complaints with and that is the mixed herptile exhibit. It has a whopping 5 species but the distribution is out of whack. There are Wayyyyyy too many Gippsland water dragons in proportion to other lizards in there. I saw blotched blue tongues and eastern blue tongues. Cunnighams skinks were absent. Great exhibit for the long necked turtles though. Next I’ll speed through some assorted avarius thorought the park as there are a lot all with very good exhibit quality. There are exhibits Barn owl Barking owl Satin bowerbird Orange bellied parrot Helmeted honeyeater, swift parrot, bush stone curlew Sacred kingfisher, black winged stilt (didn’t show up) Rainbow lorikeet, green catbird Tawny frogmouth, bush stone curlew Wedge tailed eagle Laughing kookaburra (no show) These avaries had good exhibit quality and a good but not excellent species list however there are some highlights in there such as helmeted honeyeaters, swift parrots, green catbird, sacred kingfisher etc. Next exhibit is for the koala. I’m not a big fan of koalas and I personally think the park has too many but that is just dislike for the massive amount of funding it gets despite being LC. The exhibits are very good The emu exhibit is decent but is a little small and only has one emu in it. Tasmanian devil exhibit is pretty good but the animals were a no show. A terrarium next to a building houses shinglebacks, spotted tree monitors and a bearded dragon. A little on the small side. The kangaroo free range exhibit was pretty good with five species all marked appropriately with swamp wallabies, eastern grey kangaroos, red bellied pademalon and two other wallabies I can’t remember. I saw two shows the python show and the animal training show or whatever at 2:20. The python show was exceptional and probably the best wildlife show I’ve ever seen. Only got one fact wrong, was open to questions and shut down people who interrupted him. The one fact that he did get wrong was that there are no pythons in Victoria but the carpet pythons range does seep into northeastern Victoria but no big deal. BHP the black headed python was also very well behaved. The other show was good but unfortunately we only got to see two animals as the rain was coming down like no tomorrow but the animals were well behaved and showed curiosity especially the tawny frogmouth. There is also a drawing carpet python in the gift shop/ cafe which is decent. The best enclosure in this park is the dingoes. They had a large exhibit and were easily viewable. Before I talk about the giant lake I’ll do a pros and cons list Pros Signage is excellent, best signage I’ve seen in any facility. Swift parrots Species selection is good in some areas. Wetland area is great Exhibit quality is good all around and much better than Phillip island wildlife park Cons Lacks cassowarys, venemous snakes and echidnas. Needs signs that say don’t feed the wild birds Emu enclosure needs an upgrade The wetland area is just a large lake full of bird life which is a joy watching I saw Australian shellducks, Pacific black ducks, chestnut teals, Cape barren goose, purple swamp hen, dusky moorhen, Eurasian coot, a swift species, grey butcherbird, noisy miner, common Bronzewing, crested pigeon and magpie lark possibly more too. Also saw a couple invasives including the common myna and spotted dove. Final verdict. This park was very good and a great visit. Is a little lacking in some areas but excels in others. 8.5/10.
