Symbio Wildlife Park is a great day trip from the inner west.
Located in Helensburg, it’s just over an hour’s drive south of Sydney. There’s a great selection of native Australian animals to observe, as well as cheetahs, marmoset monkeys and meerkats. If you want to make a day of it, there’s a playground and waterplay area too.
The coming months will see some additional facilities open at Symbio too, including a building dedicated to the wildlife park’s frog conservation work, and a new entry building, cafe and shop.
After seeing many recommendations from our members, The Inner West Mums team decided it was time to visit Symbio. Here’s how we found it.
Getting there
Symbio is located just off the Princes Highway and there’s easy parking right outside the entrance. Tickets can be purchased online or at the gate. Don’t forget to pick up some bags of animal feed for $2 at the start – they’re not sold elsewhere in the park.
Located in a rural setting, this is a great park to walk around. It is super accessible with wide paths and no steps, so it’s very friendly for prams or wheelchairs.
We arrived around 10.30am and although we had to wait a few minutes to enter the park, once we were inside it didn’t feel at all crowded and offered lots of different pathways for us to explore.
Animal encounters
Symbio houses many of Australia’s most loved animals, including koalas, kangaroos, emus and the gorgeous Millie the wombat. New enclosures now give visitors a chance to see Tasmanian devils and echidnas up close.
We start our visit at the Koala Sanctuary where we are just metres from these adorable creatures, perched up high munching away on gum leaves.
From there we moved on to the Kangaroo Walkthrough, a large field where kangaroos and wallabies loll about or bounce around, interacting with visitors. The contents of the food bags purchased at the beginning are happily consumed by the animals. This was definitely one of the highlights of the day. My two girls loved being able to pat the kangaroos and hand feed them.
The animal food is also suitable for many of the farmyard animals so we saved a little to feed the goats, alpacas and sheep.
Seeing a cheetah was a first for me – I have never had the opportunity to be so close to this majestic animal. We were all captivated by its strength and agility as it leapt from the ground to the top of the rest platform.
From there we walked to see the red pandas hiding in the trees, checked in with the cotton top tamarins and pygmy marmosets, and stopped for a good look at dad’s favourite, the meerkats.
Food and drink
By this point we were starting to get a little hungry so retrieved our picnic from the car and very easily found a picnic table in the shade. There are picnic tables and benches dotted around the park, as well as grassy areas for a picnic rug, so it’s very easy to find a spot to sit and eat lunch. We chose to sit near the large playground, which the girls enjoyed using while we unpacked the food. There is also a kiosk selling hot food, coffee and ice-cream if you prefer not to bring-your-own.
After lunch the girls were desperate to try out the splash park. It is located near the entrance of the park and has dedicated changing rooms. The splash area consists of squirters, tunnels, spray guns and many other installations to keep cool on a hot day. For parents there is ample seating and lots of shade.
Baby change facilities
There are family rooms with a change table and toilet near the cafe. Other toilets are located in between the farmyard and cheetah enclosure. There’s a change table in the ladies toilets there.
After Symbio
We refueled at the Gelato Man, located a short 5 minute drive from the park in Helensburgh. The white chocolate and salted caramel flavour was a popular choice.
The verdict…
We had a great day at Symbio and the girls have already asked when we can visit next, so I’m sure we will be making further trips.
Symbio Wildlife Park
When: Open daily 9.30am-5pm (excluding Christmas Day).
Where: 7-11 Lawrence Hargrave Drive, Helensburgh
Tickets: Adults $39, Children (3-15 years) $25, Students $37, Seniors $35, Pensioners $37. Family passes are also available.
Details: symbiozoo.com.au
Symbio Wildlife Park was reviewed by Liz Wellman, inner west resident, mother-of-two and owner of Cake That By Liz.