What a beautiful place. If you are on Phillip Island, this is a must see. When we visited, the…read morevisitor center was closed for construction so we walked the boardwalk. I'm not sure it could be windier or chillier than when we visited. Brrrrr but so worth it to see the views. The power of the ocean brought huge waves into the shore. The green of the grass contrasted with the dark rock created stunning views. As you walk along the boardwalk, don't forget to look in the grass along the way to see the Cape Barren Goose and its babies. So cool. Pictures can't relay the beauty you this natural area. Put your camera down and just watch. You won't be disappointed.

Having been a half dozen times, it's time I review this place and in all honesty it is one of the…read moreislands best views. It's free, free parking and wether cold and windy or bright and sunny the view comes to life in different ways. The more wind and waves the better. You can see the waves smash against the black textures rocks bursting white as the waves crash and filling the air with a mist of salt. It beautiful. On your journey down the raised track you will encounter sea gulls, rabbits and if your lucky even the baby penguins which inhabit the island waiting for their parents to come back and feed them. During certain months of the year the platforms become a viewing deck for the Wales that migrate through the bay and if you have binoculars you can glimpse at the seals which live of the far island. If your on Phillip island, just go!

OK, this is not a zoo. No groomed pathways and cages. Wallabies & kangaroos and birds roam freely,…read moreso that means poo on the ground and animals scratching themselves and other natural acts. What this means for you is real hands on ability to touch and feed animals, from Eastern Grey Kangaroos and emus to small Pademelons and wallabies. What an amazing thing to do! They have a huge facility that most people don't realize. From a building for venomous snakes, dingo, echidna, Tasmanian devil, wombat and other enclosures to multiple aviaries scattered throughout the park. I especially enjoy the huge back enclosure where easily a hundred kangaroos live, breed and carry joeys in their pouches. With your entrance fee you get a free bag of feed, buy more for .50, you will use it. I have been here several times over the past 4 years and while at zoos, you can only look, here you can interact and get a real FEEL for the animals and their natural environments and habits. Pet a wallaby and find the sweet spot on a Roo where they love to be scratched. I just wish they were open longer hours and I could work there!

Love love love this place! It's really for the animals, and it shows! No yelling, running, etc., or…read moreyou have to leave. The purchase includes a nice size bag of food for the Wallabies, roos, and emus. Follow the rules and how you, and you'll be fine. It was a dream I didn't know I had, and one of the most amazing experiences of my life.

A wonderful hidden little strip of nature. A wonderful respite from the hustle and bustle of…read moresuburbia, parks like this are largely underappreciated. Brought the wife and kids down here a couple months ago for some live jazz, and whenever we visit friends nearby we picnic with their family here too. Today I brought my laptop and got some work done in the shade, listening to the water fowl play, and the other murmurings of a park. A pleasant reminder that I should share my love of this special place with my fellow suburbanites. Pros: Proximity to life, great walks around the lake, wildlife, great for sunset/sunrise walks. Cons: No Swimming thanks to pollution.

It is amazing how Melbourne's suburbia hides away little pockets of nature. You can be driving…read morealong with the trees on the nature strip and eventually you realise the houses themselves are gone, replaced by the sprawling expanse of a sanctuary. Blackburn Lake Sanctuary is on of these many magical places. Tucked in from the train line and busier surrounding roads, it is near a number of schools, so it's no surprise their field trips will include walking through the park and looking for wildlife. With open park area and play ground for kids, there is perfect space for picnics and events. Community music events - like a jazz festival in February - will often set up shop here for people to attend and listen for free. And after you've stuffed yourself with nonna's best home cooking and cleaned up the paper plates, what better way to burn it all off than with a walk around the lake itself. Not so big that the whole family couldn't do it, there are several smaller paths leading to different places outside the realms of the park. One school actually backs on it, as does a nearby church. All manner of wildlife can be found - ducks, birds, even a fox once or twice. Don't swim - apparently in the 50s they used to, but sadly water pollution has turned that idea quite sour. However, sitting by the water and watching life go by has never looked better.

Pretty good local park. The playground, BMX track, and picnic area attracts a lot of families…read more The football field is used for organized sports most weekends. The best feature of this park is that it connects the fully separated bicycle paths that link the two primary schools, the train station, and the supermarket.

This park has not come up in my radar before despite its location, and what a shame that was!!!…read moreI managed to visit on a day off and sunny winter Melbourne day with the dog. Amazing great space and there's access to the water for the water loving dogs to dip in and out as they please. There's a few different sport zones ( soccer field, golf ) so you have to be mindful of visiting when there's a sporting event/ match. Otherwise it's a free run for the dog. There is also a no dog golf zone so watch out for stray golf balls of around this zone. Bike path runs next to the river and lots of benches to sit on. Love it and I will definitely visit more!

A firm favourite with our dogs! A truly enjoyable experience for all. Our dogs have many regular…read morefriends who visit, from Cavaliers to English Mastiff's! All dog owners are respectful.

I wasn't sure what to expect as I thought you may or may not see koalas, but it was one of the best…read moreinteractions we had with koalas. We started in the info center to review the displays and educated ourselves about koalas. They have an elevated boardwalk which allows you to be 'in the trees' with the koalas. Their koalas are rescued from various situations and while they are free to come and go, they seem to stay because they have a great gig. We saw koalas sleeping, eating, walking, climbing,... given they sleep 20 hours of the day, I was so excited that we saw them so active. They had a wonderful volunteer that ensured the visitors stayed a safe distance from the koalas but also helped us learn more about these super cute animals. We also walked the nature trail and saw a ton of birds and several wallabies. The gift shop had several great options and we bought a cute book for our granddaughter. Great stop.

Such an exciting interesting place to visit! Our tour brought us here for the afternoon to walk…read morethrough the area and experience the trails, trees and see some koalas in their home. Learned a lot here, all the money raised goes into research, environment and educational programs. Staff is super invested and wants to be here helping these super cool animals. Walking on the pathway looking for these adorable koalas was a lot of fun. They were east to spot, but majority of the time they were sleeping or moving at their slow pace enjoying life. They are well taken care of here.

An ancient gem. Ahuge, vast old volcano /parkland hidden off the Calder Hwy…read more You drive in through the gates and the noise of the highway disappears and is replaced by bush sounds. Peace and quiet are valued and other park attendees respect each others' space and individual nature experiences. Walkers, joggers, hikers, day trippers, locals; all types are here and hanging out. Those that walk down the steep mountainside are greatly rewarded with a view of The Pipes. An old volcano stood here eons ago. Soo Ancient this place is We are the guardians' of this sacred place, treat it as you would your own home. Soo much sacred geometry to view here, for those that can see. I'm lucky to live within 5kms and get to frequent this place. I can see how some people might get bored here but you have to explore every rock, path, grass mound, butterfly, organ pipe, river, etc with a open, childlike engry to get the most out of this place. I often see wallabies and kangaroos; side note: I hit a roo on my way out one night, driving at low speed at sunset. Roo was fine. Car had acouple scratches. Roo was jumping in a pack then randonly darted in the direction of the road and hit me. Best be careful of the inhabitants and respect their home. Cows grazing on the other side of the mountain Beautiful river flowing down the bottom. Snakes are around, my friend has seen them but I sadly have not. Take sandwiches, crackers, water, snacks for lunch or dinner down by the river or in the picnic area. Take a bag to take your rubbish home, no bins. Bascic, clean bathrooms located in the carpark. Free parking. No attendants work here, its unmanned. Police drive around occasionally. Enjoy the place and remember, you are where you are suppose to be, trust the process & explore

This national park is right off the Calder Freeway, and with all those fast cars, make sure you…read moredrive carefully. As we rode on up, we saw a truck just outside the gate with a official looking man and thought - you've got to be kidding me, as he was closing the entrance gate. Asking him, he said the gates close at 4:30 but we can park outside and he can't stop us from going inside. Lesson learned and we did just that. We followed the pavement leading to the actual car park, then followed the track downwards into the valley. There were a few different walks, 80m to the right are the Organ Pipes. 240m to the left are the Rosette rock and the Tesselated pavement formation. To any one who knows rock talk formation stuff, this can be a learning experience. I, on the other hand, read some of the info boards and thought okay cool, this looks different, and how weird. I'm sure there is more to be appreciated here. Anyways, there are a ton of picnic benches here, so come for a picnic and a walk. Because I was here after closing times, it was the time of day that rock wallabies and kangaroos were out and about. And that was by far cooler than the cool rock formations I saw, it added to my time here. For a small park, its good for a drive up and a few hours of sunlight to picnic in and see some different formations. This park really defines the Aussie landscape, hilly, rocky, dry with kangaroos. Oh and its opposing the Calder Freeway, so even with being guarded by hills, you still get the noise factor from the cars.

I'm glad that I discovered this place while working out where I wanted to go while wandering around…read moreFrankston because these gardens turned out to be really quite delightful. In fact, it is quite surprising to find such a lovely place in an outer suburb, but here it is. Then again, I do notice that is adjoins the Frankston hospital, so there is probably a reason as to why these gardens exist. Still, they are definitely worth checking out, or even having a picnic in.