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Tips for Visiting Oakvale Wildlife Park, Port Stephens

March 17, 2021 / Australia, NSW, Port Stephens, Travel / 0 comment

Tips for Visiting Oakvale Wildlife Park, Port Stephens

Meet native Australian and exotic animals at Oakvale Wildlife Park. Hand-feed roaming animals and enjoy the water park or a bbq lunch.

Oakvale Wildlife Park is 100% Australian owned and operated, and has remained a family business since opening in 1979 as a farm by the Samson family.

Set across 25 acres of bushland, Oakvale Wildlife Park strives to help teach visitors about native wildlife and how we can protect it. Over time, the family acquired various Australian wildlife species and decided to dedicate the park to wildlife conservation.

Oakvale has established multiple endangered species breeding programs where they release threatened and endangered species back into the wild for future generations to enjoy.

The park is quite large and entails a fair bit of walking to get around to see all of the animals and exhibits. The animals living at Oakvale Wildlife Park range from Australian native, domestic farm and exotic animals such as koalas, kangaroos, Tasmanian devils, goats, sheep, rabbits, alligators and ostriches.

Oakvale has put a lot of thought into the activities available for guests, ensuring that a visit is a whole-day activity. There are free roaming animals to be hand fed, keeper talks, feeding shows, two fenced, shaded playgrounds, free BBQ facilities as well as an onsite cafe, plus the excellent Splash Bay Water Park which is open year-round.

Pick up a schedule when you enter the park in the morning to ensure you don’t miss any of the activities.

FEEDING STADIUM

Daily at 11.00am & 2.00pm. Bottle feed baby farm animals and an opportunity to milk a cow.

TRACTOR-TRAILER RIDE
Departing at 11.15am & 2.15pm daily – free.

SHOW TIMES
Due to the health and safety of our guests, staff and animals and adhering to strict guidelines we will not be holding keeper talks during the NSW School Holidays.

ENCOUNTERS
There is the chance to engage in more intimate and personal animal experiences by purchasing individual Wildlife Animal Encounters.

There is plenty of free parking available, and the park has pathways to provide easy access for prams, wheelchairs, mobility scooters and walkers. The Tractor Trailer Rides provide great assistance for less mobile guests. Disabled toilets and showers are located on-site and there is a JennSwing in the playground (a full support swing seat for children with physical disabilities or special needs).

The Oakvale Cafe is located inside the main entrance and serves a selection of freshly made sandwiches and wraps, burgers and wedges, plus other hot and cold options from 10.30am – 3.00pm.

Oakvale Wildlife Park is Ecotourism certified and ZAA members.

Oakvale Wildlife Park
3 Oakvale Dr, Salt Ash NSW
oakvalewildlife.com.au

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A Glamping Stay at Port Stephens Koala Sanctuary

October 13, 2020 / Australia, NSW, Port Stephens, Travel / 0 comment

A Glamping Stay at Port Stephens Koala Sanctuary

See koalas in their natural habitat and help support the care of sick and injured koalas at the Port Stephens Koala Sanctuary.

The Port Stephens Koala Sanctuary was founded in mid-2020 in partnership with Port Stephens Council to create a first-class facility with urgent care for koalas in need as well as support long-term rehabilitation, preservation and conservation in the wild.

Set in stunning bush lands near Anna Bay, the Port Stephens Koala Sanctuary offer visitors the chance to peek inside the state-of-the-art Koala Hospital with Intensive Care Unit treatment rooms and holding pens, take a stroll down the Sanctuary Story Walk, a 250 metre in length meandering pathway offering an immersive educational experience telling the story of koala and its habitat, and enjoy a stroll up the 225m Newcastle Airport SKYwalk elevated pathway and viewing platform, for a ‘tree top’ perspective into the koala’s natural habitat.

The Fat Possum Café onsite offers basic food like pre-made sandwiches, pies and sausage rolls (several vegetarian varieties on offer) plus pastries and muffins, drinks and a range of souvenirs.

For a really unique stay, try the overnight glamping experience like we did. The four-star glamping tents are set within the sanctuary grounds, in the shade of beautiful tall trees.

The glamping tents fit groups of two or four people – our deluxe tent had a queen bed and two single beds. Each tent has its own ensuite and kitchenette with fridge, toaster and microwave.

Also included in the stay is a breakfast hamper and a mini bar full of local treats. We highly enjoyed the wine, beer, cheese and snacks on our verandah while we watched the suns et through the trees.

Other facilities for overnight guests include a swimming pool with a heated spa and BBQ facilities.

Accessible glamping tents are also available.

The following morning, a guided tour is offered to overnight guests where a staff member takes the group on a tour of the sanctuary and gives a great personal talk on the role of the sanctuary, the plight of the local koalas, and incredible information on these unique creatures.

We learned so much in this tour, including how fussy koalas are about eating only the particular types of trees in their area, which makes it hard to transport and treat them elsewhere, and how the population has dropped significantly from 30K koalas in the area only 30 years ago to a few hundred today.

The hospital has an ICU section with around 15 koalas receiving medical treatment for injuries, mostly from motor vehicle accidents, or sickness, which is most often chlamydia, which flairs up when a koala is under stress and can cause blindness.

While the aim is for the koalas to be rehabilitated and released back into the wild, there are times when a koala isn’t able to be released because their sickness or injury is too severe. These koalas are offered a permanent home at the sanctuary.

In the future the sanctuary hopes to embark on a breeding program to then release more koalas into the wild and build back up the local population.

If you are keen to stay but not keen on glamping, there are also a range of standard rooms available for a more conventional accomodation choice.

The Port Stephens Koala Sanctuary is located around an hour from Newcastle or a 2.5 hour drive north of Sydney. There is a shopping centre a 5-minute away in Salamandar Bay with an excellent supermarket for stocking up.

Check in for overnight is from 2pm. I suggest checking in around then to leave yourself enough time to get settled into the room, look around the sanctuary, and leave plenty of time for relaxing in the pool before sunset drinks and dinner. Check out time is 10am the following morning.

Port Stephens Koala Sanctuary
562 Gan Gan Rd, One Mile
Hours: Daily, 9am-5pm
pportstephenskoalasanctuary.com.au

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Nine Awesome Things To Do In Port Stephens

September 14, 2018 / Australia, NSW, Port Stephens, Travel / 0 comment

Eight Things To Do In Port Stephens

Located 2 1/2 hours drive north of Sydney, the area has a stunning 26 beautiful beaches and bays to explore. Port Stephens is renowned for whale and dolphin watching, sand dunes and gourmet restaurants. There are so many thing to do in Port Stephens that I suggest staying for at least three days, more if you can.

I’m reluctant to write about Port Stephens in a way because it’s a little gem that has been off the tourist radar so far, and it’s kind of nice that way! Both hubby and I have spent a lot of time of the years at Port Stephens and it’s an area very dear to our hearts.

Nelson Bay

Nelson Bay is the heart of Port Stephens. The beautiful marina is a popular spot for waterfront dining, cycling and scooting, as well as being the location for departing water tours. Nelson Bay is the main township in the area so has the best selection of accomodation, restaurants and other facilities.

Oakvale Wildlife Park

Meet native Australian and exotic animals at Oakvale Wildlife Park. Hand-feed roaming animals and enjoy the water park or a bbq lunch.

Read more about visiting Oakvale Wildlife Park.

Little Beach

One of the best family friendly spots in the area is Little Beach, tucked between Nelson Bay Beach and Shoal Bay Beach. The flat water is calm and perfect for littlies, and there is loads of soft sand for building sandcastles. We have spent many hours here floating in the water and relaxing. It’s heaven!

Nelson Head Heritage Light House Cottage and Reserve

You can drive or walk up to the Nelson Head Lighthouse Cottage and Rescue Station Reserve.

The headland was chosen as the perfect spot for a lighthouse in 1875 thanks to its unparraleled views of Port Stephens. It’s a great spot for tea and scones in the Tea Rooms, kookaburra spotting and taking in the view.

Tomaree National Park

Get some easy exercise with the Tomaree Head Summit walk. A short, invigorating (read – steep uphill!) walk 161 metres above the entrance to Port Stephens, the reward from the lookout at the top is a stunning view of the coast as far as Cabbage Tree and Boondelbah islands. From the south platform you can see Box Beach, Fingal Island and Point Stephens Lighthouse.

Fingal Bay

This beach is a near-perfect C-curve and is a popular spot to set up for the day with a picnic to just relax. BYO shade shelter as there is no shade on the beach! Walk north to the sand split that links Fingal Island.

Our fave secret spot is to walk over the dunes when the tide is too high to pass over the sand split to the secret beach on the other side.

Additional image of Fingal Split courtesy of Destination NSW.

Stockton

Famous for its length, Stockton Beach is 33km long, making it the longest beach in NSW. Known for its magnificent sand dunes which, at 100 metres tall are the longest mobile sand dunes in the Southern Hemisphere, Stockton is a sleepy seaside town with some beautiful 19th century cottages. It’s secret gem we love to visit.

One Mile Beach / Anna Bay

A popular beach spot, One Mile Beach is a small town located between Boat Harbour and Nelson Bay. It has basic amenities and a small kiosk, plenty of parking and shady picnic areas.

Shoal Bay

Families love visiting Shoal Bay for a very good reason. As well as being stunningly beautiful, it’s a quiet town with a relaxed vibe. Shoal Bay Beach stretches 2.5lm between Nelson Head and Tomaree Head, protected by both to offer calm swimming waters lapping against the white sand. Kids have been jumping off the jetty for generations!

With so many things to do in Port Stephens it’s hard to spend only a few days in this gorgeous slice of paradise.