A wildlife guide to Victoria, Australia

Victoria occupies a large cheese-shaped wedge of Australia’s south-east mainland. And while it might be known more for its glitzy nightlife and raucous Australian football scene, the state is also home to some iconic wildlife. Nocturnal ring-tailed possums and flying foxes are common in Melbourne’s city gardens, kangaroos graze on golf courses, seals play in the bay and little penguins draw crowds to St Kilda Pier at sunset.

Away from the city, road trips are the best way to see the state, with plenty of wild encounters to be found among the region’s highlands, rainforests, grasslands and estuaries, if you know where to look.

A good bet is to head west along the Great Ocean Road, a 243km drive that winds its way along the coast and through the lush Otway Ranges on its way to the Twelve Apostles. Look out for koalas, wallabies, yellow-crested cockatoos and rainbow lorikeets hiding among the scrub, or stop in at Wildlife Wonders, a sanctuary outside Apollo Bay working to protect local wildlife. Further west, you can join an Aboriginal cultural tour at Tower Hill, a huge dormant volcano where kangaroos roam freely.

From April to November, Victoria’s coastline turns into the ‘humpback highway’ as tens of thousands of humpbacks, southern right whales, blue whales and orcas migrate from Antarctica to give birth in warmer waters. They can be found all along the coast, but Logan’s Beach, near Warrnambool, is a hot spot thanks to its sheltered waters, which make an ideal nursery for calves.

Eventually, the whales migrate east, drifting past Phillip Island, which is famous for its population of nearly 40,000 little penguins, the smallest of the 18 penguin species. They spend around 80% of their lives in the water, though return to their sandy burrows in the evening for a spectacle known locally as the penguin parade.

Further east lies Wilson’s Promontory, a national park in Gippsland, which is laced with walking trails, surf beaches and camping grounds where you can run into resident emus, echidnas, potoroos (a smaller cousin of the kangaroo) and tiny gliders.

Australians are very protective of their biodiversity and typically obey the cardinal rules of wildlife watching: keep a safe distance, don’t drive after dark in rural areas and – most important of all – avoid petting the cuddly critters.

7 top spots to see wildlife in Victoria, Australia

The Otway Ranges form a primordial stretch of rainforest extending like a green blanket from Lorne to the Twelve Apostles. It’s one of the wettest places in the state, but the consistently damp and misty landscape has created a unique habitat for wildlife to thrive. Visit at night to find glow worms, which are usually hiding under ledges and boardwalks at Melba Gully.

For a memorable stay close to the ranges, spend a night at the historic Cape Otway Lightstation and learn about the area’s maritime history.

Highlight: The tannin-tinted rivers and lakes are a good place to find platypuses. Otway Eco Tours offers dawn and dusk canoe excursions in search of this unusual duck-billed monotreme (platypustours.net.au).

Occupying the far north-east, up to the border with neighbouring New South Wales, Victoria’s High Country is a landscape of tumbling waterfalls, alpine forests, and mountains disappearing into the distance beneath a haze of mist. This is kangaroo terrain, and they can be found here year-round, but the granite hills are also home to echidnas, wombats and eagles.

Highlight: The High Country is where keen-eyed (and fortunate) visitors can see rare mountain pygmy-possums, the world’s only exclusively alpine marsupial.

Little penguins may be the star of the show on Phillip Island, but there’s a whole supporting cast of creatures. Koalas can be found dozing in eucalyptus trees; however, head to the Koala Conservation Reserve for an elevated boardwalk trail among the gum leaves. Seal Rocks, a rocky outcrop off the island’s south-west point, is home to an estimated 16,000 fur seals, making it among Australia’s largest colonies. One of the island’s newest residents is the nocturnal eastern barred bandicoot, a species that is thriving after a successful reintroduction programme.

Highlight: Join Wildlife Coast Cruises for a two-hour boat trip past Seal Rocks, keeping an eye out for dolphins, terns and oystercatchers along the way (wildlifecoastcruises.com.au).

Mornington Peninsula

This peninsula is a popular summer holiday spot for both locals and underwater wildlife. Pop on a snorkel to look for resident weedy seadragons clustered around Flinders Pier, or join a boat tour to see dolphins and seals.

Raymond Island

This is part of a network of small islands inside the Gippsland Lakes, three and a half hours east of Melbourne, and is one of the best places to see koalas. Catch the ferry from Paynesville and hike the easy 2km Koala Trail for a close encounter of the fuzzy variety.

Grampians (Gariwerd) National Park

Rising suddenly out of Victoria’s western grasslands is the hulking Grampians National Park, which is known for its resident emus and wallabies. The mountains echo with the peal of laughing kookaburras at dawn and dusk.

The Murray River

As one of the world’s longest navigable rivers and a busy watering hole, encounters are almost inevitable along the mighty Murray. The best way to experience it is on a houseboat, languidly cruising past skipping kangaroos as platypuses forage in the water below.