Our coach will depart from Melbourne City and head southeast for approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes, with our first stop being the Koala Conservation Reserve on Phillip Island.
At the Koala Conservation Centre on Phillip Island, guests will have 45 minutes to explore the lush surroundings and stroll along the elevated boardwalks that wind through the treetops. Here, you’ll have the chance to get up close to koalas in their natural habitat, spotting these iconic creatures as they rest in the eucalyptus trees. The knowledgeable staff will provide fascinating insights into the conservation efforts that protect these beloved animals. It's a peaceful and educational experience, offering fantastic photo opportunities and a chance to immerse yourself in the beauty of Australia's wildlife.
Phillip Island boasts a population of approximately 15,000 which is boosted during the busy tourist seasons. There are three main settlements being Cape Woolamai, New Haven & Cowes. Our stop at Cape Woolamai beach is seasonal subject to weather permitting and mostly visited during summer season.
During summer time we often make time to wander through the coastal township of Cowes. Sheltered alongside the calm Westernport Bay this township was named after Cowes on the Isle of White. Beautiful seaside scenery, unique stores to peak into and many nice restaurants to purchase food. This stop is only due to timing restrictions in winter as there are less hours of day light.
Next, we arrive at the Nobbies Rocks where you can take a walk down the boardwalks to see the rocky coast and spot Penguins nesting in their burrows. Then we travel along the Phillip Island backroads through Phillip Island Penguin Habitat. Enjoy incredible views of the coastal cliffs on your way to the Phillip Island Penguin Parade.
The main attraction of Phillip Island tour has always been the Little Penguins doing their daily ritual of penguin parade. These little friends are the smallest of its kind in the world. Enjoy sunset at the Visitor Information Centre and choose the right seat to have a great view of the main spectacles of the day — the Penguin Parade!
After the Penguin Parade, we will begin our journey back to Melbourne, with the return time varying depending on the penguins' arrival time. As the penguins make their way back to their burrows, we’ll allow time to fully enjoy the experience before heading home. Please note, the timings for the day trip may vary to maximise the sunset experience, particularly in line with the time of year and daylight savings.
It is an amazing experience. If you love nature and animals, don’t miss it. We got to see the koalas in the conservation center, even a baby on mom’s back. The penguins were soooo incredibly cute, coming out of the water at sunset and finding their way up the hill. It was crowded but well organized, everyone got to see them. Vicky , our tour guide gave us good tips. Thank you Vicky.
The tour was well worth the money. Well organized The Penguins decided to come out after 8:30 So one should be prepared to stay out in the cold for an hour or so. More than a thousand of them came from the ocean. Our guide was very friendly and good. He explained everything and guided us where to take our seats to get the most out of it Highly recommend this tour
Good knowledge of the trip area. Got to see wallaby and kookaburras in the wild.
Very cold. Stops for dinner. Koala sanctuary also very impressive. Don’t get back until 11pm during daylight savings
I had a great day on the Phillip Island tour- Kiwi was a fabulous guide who was very informative and great throughout! Penguin experience was amazing !!!!
Vicky was excellent, not just as a guide but also as a driver.
We enjoyed a fantastic day with Sam, our driver and tour guide. Lunch at Tooradin made a break in between Melbourne city and Phillip Island. Sam was extremely knowledgeable, and had a great sense of humour which was appreciated by all. The Koala Conservation Centre was enjoyable, and we saw 3 koalas. A drive around Phillip Island was also enjoyable before we set up ready for the Penguin Parade. Not so many penguins on the night we were there, but still a great experience
Loved everything about this day. From booking to calling information and having our questions answered , Kiwi our guide and driver to our experiences, we could not fault anything. Helpful, kind, informative, professional, safe and accurate. Our second trip with Autopia tours - the first one was from Darwin to Kakadu also excellent. Will book with them again in the future.
Great experience! Our guide Kiwi was amazing very knowledgeable funny and friendly. The koala sanctuary was amazing and the penguin parade was totally awesome. I highly recommend this tour for kiwi. He's a great guide.
The overall experience was amazing but know it is a very long day. They do break is down in very nice increments and stops. We loved the koala sanctuary and even got to see a mama and baby up close! Then a beautiful view at the knobbies with a nice walk to keep stretching out the legs. The highlite is the penguin parade which didn’t disappoint. Seeing the little guys come out of the water and scurry by was so adorable. Along the boardwalk in the way back to the bus you can take your time and watch them waddle back to their nests. Very cute and enjoyable. Our guide was also so knowledgeable and kept us interested the whole tour
We had an amazing day with Peter, our tour guide. He gave us ample time at every stop for our experience. He had an amazing sense of humour - we especially loved driving along the coast, seeing the wallabies and geese while the Jurassic Park theme played! He was also so knowledgeable and could answer any questions we asked of him. Seeing the little penguins was a once in a lifetime experience and I would recommend this tour 100%. Thank you Peter and Autopia tours for an unforgettable experience! ⭐️
We had lots of fun on this tour with our 2.5 year old, and despite still being on the winter schedule (due to shorter days) we saw and learned a lot on our way to the Penguins. The parade itself was great and our tour guide made sure we got there in time to have the best seats possible! He was also really knowledgeable and helpful and kept use entertained throughout the long day :)
Wonderful tour! Anthony provided excellent organization. He shared his expertise about Phillip Island which really enriched our experience. Besides penguins and koalas we saw wallabies, grey geese, a wedge tail eagle, a bandicoot, an echidna, and a possum. Penguin plus viewing is well worth the extra cost for seeing penguins exit the sea and following them along the boardwalk as they find their homes.
It’s good. The tour guide Chris is super friendly, really good at supporting passages. Kudos to Chris.
The tour was great! Every stop had a beautiful view and our guide Kiwi (Chris) was very friendly, informative and even took us to extra lookout points along the Nobbies sinse we were early for the Penquin parade. Would definitely recommend this tour to family and friends!
Good, the experience has result many interesting because we love nature
Such a privilege to see these amazing creatures up close. Added bonus was visiting the koala sanctuary. Our driver on the day was just the best. She was concious of our special circumstances and she looked after us so well. She went well and truly above and beyond and we will never forget her kindness. Sadly I can't remember her name but I want her and her employer to know that she was a true highlight of, not just our day but our whole holiday
We traveled via comfortable bus learning some History about Melbourne and surrounding areas which was great! The beachside town of Cowes was very nice and we had time to explore and eat. The Koala Sanctuary was amazing! We got to see so many of them but the best part was seeing the newborn Joey and Mom!!! The penguin parade was the only disappointing part. Unfortunately we cannot control nature and we only saw maybe 4 penguins. But that definitely made it less than 5 star experience since that was the main reason we purchased tour. However, our driver/tour guide Lauren was wonderful and we were blessed with the koala experience and beautiful weather and temps.
Great tour and Vicky was a great guide. Highly recommended
Had a great trip from the booking until the end of the trip Joe our guide was absolutely superb and made our day memorable 😎
The excursion experiences were great and Vicky, our tour guide, did a nice job narrating the trip; would definitely recommend this one.
It was a great experience, our guide Chris aka kiwi was so friendly and helpful, even helping me to take some pictures. He explained everything with detail. I highly recommend this tour if you’re in the city and want a different experience close to Melbourne.
We got to see cute penguins at close range with the Penguin Plus. Chris (Kiwi) was a great guide. Wifi and charging points on bus was a plus.
Jo was a great guide and driver for nth trip. Absolutely loved The little penguins coming ashore in darkness amazing!! I saw lots of excited couples meeting up and mating (penguins!). Def book penguin plus in advance. Cant video / take photos so as to not upset penguins so have amazing memories of rh sight and sounds of them !!
Joe was a phenomenal guide - clear and concise, funny and educational and above all extremely kind! I would highly rate his tour - it was incredible value for money and such an enjoyable day out with lots of wildlife and sights to see!
This tour was absolutely fantastic and a true highlight of our trip to Australia! The excursion is incredibly well-organized, with all the stops perfectly structured, providing more than enough time at each location, and the guide was always available and helpful.We spent a wonderful afternoon getting close to the native wildlife, seeing koalas resting in the trees, and interacting with dozens of friendly wallabies. I highly appreciated that there were different options along the way to buy lunch. Also, the restaurant at the penguin visitor center was excellent for a hot dinner.The big finale was the Penguin Parade at sunset. It gets extremely cold and windy on the coast, but we were perfectly prepared by layering a plastic raincoat over a warm jacket, which completely blocked the freezing wind. Watching the world's smallest penguins emerge from the ocean was pure magic. We even witnessed a deeply moving moment when the park rangers rescued a little penguin with an injured leg—it was incredible to see how they care for the wildlife. A perfect 10/10 experience!
Chris “Kiwi” is an amazing guide! This is a must-do when in Melbourne. Safe driving, so knowledgeable, and saw so many animals. Definitely book this!!
The tour guide Kiwi is very passionate and helpful.
Our guide, Anthony, aka Ant-Man, was fantastic. Very knowledgeable with a great sense of humor. Fun day, all around.
The penguin experience was amazing. The guide was really nice and the koalas part was really surprising. All the tour was amazing. I will repeat it for sure
Great trip to Phillips Island to see koalas (@ Koala Conservation site) & Penguin Park. Pick-up spot was easy to locate and tour bus arrived on time. Hosted by Joel, the trip was informative and fun. We stopped for lunch - trying sausage rolls and several types of pies, plus fancy donuts. The Koala Conservation Center had elevated boardwalks that meandered through the canopy where we spotted 8 koalas, getting very close to several (nice photo op). tour stopped at the Nobbies at the tip of Phillip Island - windy with dramatic views of the coast line and we also spotted several penguin burrows. Last stop was the Penguin Park - dinner and boardwalk through the hills leading to the water. Penguins leave the water after sundown. Seating gave us a reasonable view, although some folks around us had trouble remembering to sit down. Walking back along the boardwalk we spotted multiple groups of penguins walking through the vegetation on the way to their burrows.
Really enjoyable tour to go and see the penguins on Philip Island. Joel was our tour guide and was really informative and personable with a great mix of facts about the local area but also some time for quiet reflection/viewing the scenery. Plenty of upfront information on when and where we'd stop, the food options and facilities available, and clear notice on when to come back to the bus to head onwards. We loved the koala conservation sanctuary and seeing the Nobbies (and a few bonus penguins there!) before heading onto the penguin parade. Again, clear communication on when to come back to a lovely warm bus and back to Melbourne. Would absolutely recommend, it's been one of the highlights of our holiday.
Penguins are very cute. The natural scenery was beautiful, and seeing koalas and penguins up close was an unforgettable experience. I’d never seen them that close before.
We had a fantastic day on Phillip Island with Fiona. Her knowledge of the local wildlife and passion for nature made the tour both informative and enjoyable. The highlight was the Penguin Parade, which was a truly unique experience.
Incredible experience that won’t be forgotten. Our guide Fiona was fantastic and very knowledgeable and the amazing views, koalas and in particular the penguins is definitely worth seeing.
I had an amazing day. Our guide was knowledgable and shared good information regarding the places we visited. I am very happy with all the places we visited during this tour.
This was such a wonderful tour! They gave a variety of pickup and dropoff locations that were conveniently located in the CBD. Sam, our tour guide, was amazing. He has a great sense of humor and was knowledgeable about a variety of topics related to our tour. The tour was organized, and not too rushed. The bus was comfortable, had charging ports, and strong, free wifi. We had a nice variety of stops with great vantage points, cute koalas, and penguins! Definitely worth your time and money. I enjoyed this experience with Autopia so I booked another impromptu tour with them (which was also great).
It was a wonderful day. Our guide was awesome. The day was fun and the was memorable. Highly recommend.
What an amazing trip! Our guide/driver/experience guru, Fiona, was outstanding! She is friendly, personable, and incredibly knowledgeable. I upgraded to the premium penguin viewing and it was absolutely worth it! I have friends coming to Australia later this year and I will definitely recommend they take this excursion!
Fiona is so knowledgeable and made the tour fun. She's very passionate and shared so many cool facts about Australian wildlife and the area! The penguin parade was an amazing experience and the koalas were so close to you.
Great day out! I can absolutely recommend the trip. Our guide, Kiwi, is very knowledgeable about history, nature and how to assure that his guests are getting the most out of the trip.
loved the Koala habitat and could have used another 15 minutes or so there! it was a foggy evening and we did not see the 450 penguins that were predicted to come out of the water to their burrows. we saw about 20, and that was at too much of a distance.
Thanks to Joel (our guide) for a very informative and well organised trip. Got some good pictures at the Nobbies and saw a lot of penguins at Philip Island (sat in the general viewing area at the front).
This was a great day out! Joel was a fantastic driver and host, he was so informative and kind! Really recommend! The Penguin Parade can get quite chilly so I suggest bringing an extra jumper!
Excellent trip and Joel is a very experienced and nice guide
Fiona brought us to Philip Island and our family had a great day. It was a very nice experience seeing all the penguins and koalas!
Thank you Fiona for the great experience. She told us where to find the best viewing spots for the “Penguins Plus” option.
We had a wonderful day trip to Phillip Island, including visits to the Koala Reserve and the famous Penguin Parade. The entire experience was well-organised, enjoyable, and perfect for visitors wanting to experience some of Victoria’s unique wildlife. A special thank you to our tour guide, Anthony, who was friendly, warm, and incredibly accommodating throughout the trip. He shared interesting information along the way, made everyone feel welcome, and was always happy to answer questions. Anthony also gave excellent recommendations on how to make the most of the Penguin Parade experience, His tips really enhanced the experience and helped make the evening unforgettable.
Great day out with an informative friendly guide (Joel😃)
This was an enjoyable full-day tour. Kiwi was an excellent guide sharing lots of interesting facts along the way. The tour was definitely a good value for the money. The Koala sanctuary and the Penguin Parade were great experiences.
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