Golden Plains Zoo
Road trip: Sydney → Bells Line → Bathurst
Animals: Rhinos, giraffes, meerkats, emus
Did you know? Meerkats take turns standing guard, watching the sky for eagles while the others dig for food.
Home / Wildlife / Zoos, wildlife parks and sanctuaries
Zoos, wildlife parks and sanctuaries
Every road trip in Roo Road Rescue passes one place where you can meet animals. Some are zoos, some are wildlife parks and some are sanctuaries. They look different, and they do different jobs.
What is the difference?
Zoo
Animals from all over the world live here, next to Aussie animals. Each home is built to feel like the wild place the animal comes from. Zoos help people learn, breed rare animals so they do not disappear, and do science.
Wildlife park
Mostly Australian animals such as kangaroos, koalas, wombats and emus. It is more open than a zoo, so you can walk among the kangaroos and watch keepers feed the animals.
Sanctuary
Hurt or orphaned animals come here, like a joey whose mum was hit by a car. Carers help them get better and let them go back to the wild. Animals that cannot go back stay here safely for life.
In real life, some wildlife parks also call themselves "sanctuary", so the name alone does not always tell you what kind of place it is. Ask what the place does each day.
Quick quiz. A wombat with a hurt leg is found beside the road. Where does it go: a zoo, a wildlife park or a sanctuary?
Show the answer
A sanctuary. Carers there help hurt animals get better and, when they can, let them go back to the wild.
The places on each road trip
These places are made up for the game, but the animals really live in each part of Australia, and every fact is true. Drive past the gate to collect the postcard in your Journey Book.
Harbourside Zoo
Road trip: Manly → Sydney → Gerringong
Animals: Giraffes, fur seals, platypus, koalas
Did you know? A giraffe's tongue is about 50 cm long and dark purple.
Wattle Ridge Zoo
Road trip: Perisher → Cooma → Canberra
Animals: Red pandas, cheetahs, dingoes, emus
Did you know? Red pandas use their long, fluffy tails like a blanket when they sleep.
Banksia Hill Wildlife Park
Road trip: Perth → Cervantes
Animals: Western grey kangaroos, quokkas, koalas, black cockatoos
Did you know? Quokkas can climb small trees to reach leaves.
Sunny Gums Wildlife Park
Road trip: Brisbane → Gold Coast → Byron Bay
Animals: Koalas, rainbow lorikeets, kangaroos, echidnas
Did you know? Rainbow lorikeets have a brush-tipped tongue for licking nectar and pollen out of flowers.
Red Dust Wildlife Park
Road trip: Alice Springs → Uluru
Animals: Red kangaroos, bilbies, thorny devils, perenties
Did you know? Bilbies hardly ever drink. They get most of their water from the food they eat.
Gully Creek Wildlife Park
Road trip: Sydney → Penrith → Katoomba
Animals: Wombats, koalas, lyrebirds, kookaburras
Did you know? A lyrebird can copy the calls of many other birds, one after another, in a single song.
Mangrove Bend Wildlife Park
Road trip: Cairns → Port Douglas → Cape Tribulation
Animals: Saltwater crocodiles, cassowaries, tree-kangaroos
Did you know? A cassowary can run at about 50 km/h through the rainforest.
Coles Coast Wildlife Park
Road trip: Orford → Swansea → Wineglass Bay
Animals: Forester kangaroos, Bennett's wallabies, sea eagles
Did you know? The Forester kangaroo is the only kind of kangaroo that lives in Tasmania.
Devil's Creek Sanctuary
Road trip: Launceston → Sheffield → Cradle Mountain
Animals: Tasmanian devils, spotted-tailed quolls, wombats, pademelons
Did you know? Tasmanian devils have one of the strongest bites for their size of any mammal.
Otway Gum Sanctuary
Road trip: Melbourne → Lorne → 12 Apostles
Animals: Koalas, swamp wallabies, echidnas, possums
Did you know? Koalas sleep up to about 20 hours a day, because gum leaves give them very little energy.
Alpine Ash Sanctuary
Road trip: Wangaratta → Bright → Mt Hotham
Animals: Mountain pygmy-possums, wombats, platypus
Did you know? Mountain pygmy-possums hibernate under the snow all winter.
Saltbush Plains Sanctuary
Road trip: Ceduna → Bunda Cliffs
Animals: Southern hairy-nosed wombats, wedge-tailed eagles, shinglebacks
Did you know? Wombat poo is shaped like little cubes.
Granite Bay Sanctuary
Road trip: Esperance → Lucky Bay
Animals: Australian sea lions, western grey kangaroos, honey possums
Did you know? A honey possum weighs only about 10 grams and lives on nectar and pollen from flowers.
Visiting a real one? Look for places that care for animals well and teach you about them. Follow the keepers' rules, never feed animals unless a keeper says you can, and wash your hands after touching animals.
Meet more animals on the Wildlife page, or see the landscapes and Big Things along the way.