Yarra Valley Wildlife & Wine Day Tour from Melbourne with Healesville Sanctuary

We had a wonderful trip. We were first picked up at our hotel by Shane, our guide and driver for the day, who took us through the origins and history of the city of Melbourne. His extensive knowledge of its history was extensive and fun to listen to. First stop at the Healesville Sanctuary was informative and enjoyable. Helen, the volunteer guide at the sanctuary was lovely and entertaining. Her depth of knowledge of both the plants and animals in the sanctuary was impressive. She showed us around as much as she could, and even had us feed the different types of birds there. The bird show was totally awesome too. Our questions were always promptly answered and we really appreciated that. We were then picked up again by Shane, and headed for the wineries. His knowledge of the different wines, their respective aromas and undertones was truly amazing. He was not only well versed in the history of each of the wineries but also of Yarra Valley. He was a great help to us amateurs who knew little about the types of wines. Lunch at Yerring Station was of good quality and delicious. It was paired with a glass of wine of our choice, with Shane offering useful suggestions which was greatly appreciated. He was cheerful, warm and friendly, attentive, helpful and very passionate about wines. In all aspects, both of them were wonderful and excellent guides. We absolutely enjoyed ourselves. Time allocated for all the individual stops and activities was adequate and the pace was not rushed nor too long. Once again, thanks for the really fantastic time!

Our tour guide, Steven, was excellent. Experienced and knowledgeable. I felt that he made sure we got the most out of the day particularly at the wineries. Picked up right on schedule just before 9am but as we were the last picked up we were "stuck" with the least desirable seat at the back of the van. A bit cramped and got the most of the bumps. Sit toward the front if you can. Fairly quick trip to the Yarra Valley (approximately an hour) but peppered with insights throughout. Dropped off at the Healesville Sanctuary for almost 3 hours of exploring. Nice facility throughout. Was able to see all of the "traditional" Australian wildlife. This was not our first trip to Australia so we've been to other sanctuaries that we could compare it to. This would be lower on our list for koalas and kangaroos, however, the highlight for us was the Platypus exhibit. Go to the presentation and get to see a a platypus up close and in broad daylight. That was the highlight for us. Steven picked us up right on time and we went to Yering Station Winery for a private tasting and lunch. Both were excellent. Lunch was a little later in the day than we Americans would typically do so be prepared with a snack or get something at the Sanctuary. Beautiful view of wine country from the large windows of the restaurant. Finished the day at De Bortoli Winery. Even better tasting paired with great cheeses as well. Beautiful property and the vineyards seemed endless. Back to Melbourne and arrived at the hotel around 6pm. All in all a great day and was able to see a new area of Melbourne for us. Great tour company and tour guide!

My mom and I were looking for a day trip from Melbourne and were thrilled that we decided on this one. We did a lot of research into different options, looked at some that were purely wildlife-focused and some that were entirely winery-focused, and booked this one after deciding that we wanted some of both. It was the perfect combination, and the perfect amount of each! The sanctuary visit was wonderful. We both care a lot about animals and conservation and really liked what we saw there. The two vineyards were also incredible. We got to sample a good amount of wines, the tastings were fun and informative, and the lunch at the first one was delicious. Our tour guide, Paul, was fantastic the entire day. He was extremely knowledgeable, personable, friendly, and experienced. He went out of his way to learn each of our names, and he shared an incredible amount of information. The small group size (ours was 9) was also a plus...small enough that you get to know the other travelers, especially over lunch. The tour is a good value for what you get. If we had done the day on our own, it would have been at least as expensive, and we wouldn't have gotten the benefit of the guide and the group to travel with. Overall, a fabulous experience! We are so happy we did it, it was one of our favorite days in Australia!

Though there were 10 people in our tour, the guide Paul remembered our name and talked with us very nicely. The lunch at the Yering station was quite much better than we expected. Even though you feel the tour is little bit expensive, it’s much worth for the prices.

Very nice trip. You get to see the most important animals of Australie : Bush Kangoroo, Wallaby, Koala, Platipus.... A little bit more time could have been spend at the wineries. Now we did have two tastings, but little information about the wineries itself.

Shane was a great guide. He was very knowledgeable about Melbourne and the Yarra Valley wines. The tour exceeded our expectations!

Had a great time on the Wine and Wildlife Tour. Stephen our guide was first rate, knowledgeable, and thoroughly informative. The lunch at the winery was also top notch. I would highly recommend this tour!

This is an outstanding trip. The guide, Rob, was incredibly knowledgeable and friendly. The Healesville Sanctuary is an amazing collection of Australia'a unusual wildlife,and the wineries were first rate, as was the lunch at one of them

Fabulous! Adrian was a great tour leader. Lunch was great in a beautiful setting. Wine and cheese tasting was fun

This was an awesome trip. The trip to the sanctuary was beautiful nice close encounters with wildlife. The vineyards were wonderful outstanding wines at both Yering and DeBortoli. The lunch at Yering was exquisite followed by tastings. However, one of the best parts was our tour guide Rob. Rob was charming ,eloquent, professional and handsome. He provided wonderful insight to the territory all along the way and made all of us feel very special. Cheers to a wonderful day.