Puffing Billy Steam Train, Yarra Valley and Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary Day Tour

Melbourne, Australia

Enjoy a day tour in the Victorian countryside just outside of Melbourne. Start your tour chugging along on the Puffing Billy Steam Train through the cool fern gullies and rolling countryside of the magnificent Dandenong Ranges. Then experience the beautiful verdant hills and prosperous vineyards of the Yarra Valley and visit Healesville Sanctuary and its 200 species of native Australian wildlife.

Australia's most renowned steam train, Puffing Billy, winds its way through lush ferns and towering timbers. Victoria's wine region unfolds beyond the mountains, offering great wine and cuisine. Nestled in the foothills is Healesville Sanctuary where you can stroll amongst koalas, kangaroos, platypus, kookaburras, dingoes and more.

Your tour includes the following highlights:

• Enjoy the lush ferns and dense forests of the nearby Dandenong Ranges
• Beautiful Sherbrooke Forest is home to lyrebirds, crimson rosellas, cockatoos and kookaburras, look out for these native birds
• Enjoy a traditional morning tea of Aussie billy tea, lamingtons and vegemite crackers
• Ride the restored Puffing Billy Steam Train for a memorable journey on Australia's most notable narrow gauge railway
• Tour the Yarra Valley's beautiful verdant hills and prosperous vineyards
• Enjoy a delicious spit roast lunch at Fergusson Winery while sampling some local wines
• Relax as you sample superb regional wines and take in the stunning views of the vineyard
• Visit Healesville Sanctuary, home to over 200 species of Australian birds, mammals and reptiles
• Wander among Australia's unique birds and animals in the natural bushland setting of Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary, Australia's premier wildlife and nature sanctuary
• Get up-close to koalas, kangaroos, wombats, emus, cockatoos, parrots and much more
• Witness the amazing and exciting Eagles Fly demonstration within the sanctuary

USD $143.39

Review by: sarahc	March 2012
healesville wildlife sancturary is more like a farm, with just 2 wombats, n a few kangaroos._br/_ the train felt like any other trains, other than the steam part, scenery along the way was ok not nothing spectacular

Review by: Raymond T	March 2012
Our tour of Puffing Billy, the Yarra Valley and the Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary Day Tour was magnificient. Pick - up from our appointed spot was punctual, the driver was a ball of knowledge and he went out of his way to help people. Puffy Billy brought back many memories of the steam days and the lunch was extremely tasty. Time spent in the Wild life Sanctuary was rewarding also.

Review by: john granlund	February 2012
Very nice day with a good guide. The train and wine excursion was nice but the wild life park was not ackording to our expectations compared to f.i. Featherdales wildlife park.

Review by: Roger S	February 2012
Most enjoyable trip. Excellent lunch at the Ferguson vineyard with wine tasting afterwards. The Wildlife sanctuary guided tour was excellent. _br/_ The coach trip to/from the locations was also enjoyable with excellent commentary from the driver.

Review by: NEIL B	February 2012
Fantastic day, very informative

Review by: Simon R	January 2012
superb day out...just a shame the steam train was not longer

Review by: Peter P	December 2011
Overall a great experience - tour guide Shane was extremely entertaining.

Review by: Carole C	December 2011
What a fun day! From the morning walk in the rain forest, to the great lunch and wine tasting at Ferguson's, to the fun train ride with our feet hanging out through the woods, and the exciting visit to the animal sanctuary, where we saw many amazing animals, we thought this day was perfect!

Review by: Cherrie C	December 2011
The coach was sexcellent and the driver Frank was so good with his commentries. enjoyed puffin billy and the wine in the Yarra Valley. beautiful scenery. but Healsville Sanctuary needs a bit of upgrading, I think our scantuaries in Perth are lots better, on the whole very good.

Review by: Caroline S	November 2011
Excellent tour. Puffing Billy was amazing, though the trip could be a bit longer. Yarra Valley was very nice and so was the sanctuary, but a little rushed due to tour time limits. Our driver was fantastic, very funny. Highly Recommended.

Review by: Alexander B	November 2011
Awesome Awesome tour, I just wouldn't know where to begin. The views along the dandenong forrest, while chugging along in Puffing Billy, was just breath taking and the lunch at Fergusson valley was just exquisit. Cudos to the tour guide for delivering interesting facts as well as having a real hoot of a sense of humour. Would recommend this tour to anyone whos after a good nature trek out!!

Review by: Jennifer F	November 2011
Great trip, excellent driver, children were wanting a longer trip on puffing billy good lunch

Review by: Anne K	November 2011
Enjoyed the day, well organised, good tour driver/guide

Review by: Robert F	November 2011
Great day out, but train journey very short - splendid countryside and good guide.

Review by: Keith E	September 2011
An impersonal and commercial experience which did not live up to the usual Viator standard.

Review by: Phillip P	August 2011
A very well organised and friendly tour. A must to do. Staff were excellent. Try also the wineries visits! Will use again!

Review by: June D	May 2011
Had a fantastic day well worth doing. Peter our driver and guide for the day did a great job.

Review by: Susan L	May 2011
Great day, my Aunt has bad legs and is 79 but still had a wonderful day. The birds at morning tea, Puffing Billy was fun and very pretty, lunch very enjoyable at Ferguson's Winery and we finished the day at Healsville Animal Sanctuary, the bird show was amazing. The whole team of workers from the start of day to finish were so helpful and very informative. Thank You

Review by: Pauline B	May 2011
Highlight of our trip!!!_br/_ Our tour guide Adrian didn't stop with great info all thru the day,he was a true asset to the trip.Puffing Billy was magic.The lunch @ the winery was great value.Great day for young and old.

Review by: christine d	May 2011
Excellent full day trip.interesting,entertaining,a must do!

Review by: Juliana W	May 2011
the children enjoyed the puffing billy greatly and we enjoyed the wine tasting the coach driver was very talkitive and could have been less opinionated it spoiled the bus trip

Review by: David	May 2011
Excellent value and a great day out ideal for any age group and gives you a great country side view of Melbourne, the winery lunch is an option worth taking.

Review by: Christina S	May 2011
This is the second time I have done this Trip. Loved it , so relaxed. Driver was awesome. Dropped all his passengers off to their hotels, had lots knowledge of area. Spit Lunch was lovely. Would recommend to family and friends

Review by: John B	April 2011
Not bad, but a bit too much time on the coach.

Review by: Dave H	March 2011
Enjoyed puffing Billy and Healsville, felt a little stifled over lunch venue, no alternative available-middle of no-where, would have preferred a town site lunch where you could explore during lunch. Morning tea and driver were superb.

Review by: Rhonda W	March 2011
Morning tea of vegemite and lamingtons, I would forget the vegemite, our overseas guests did not like it. Would have preferred a longer Puffing Billy trip and less time at Healsville Wildlife Sanctuary. Lost the guides at Sanctuary and missed out on the attractions. Bus driver was very informative.

Review by: Michelle J	December 2010
Beautiful trip through the Dandenongs. Lots of photo opportunities.

Review by: John W	December 2010
This was an excellent trip made even better by the driver, Roger. He was knowledgeable and very personable. A good selection of sites were visited and the Puffing Billy was a fun diversion to the old days.

Review by: TOON LU, HELEN F	November 2010
Booking through Viator is convenient PLUS lots of savings! It's so easy and the pick up is so convenient altho it is not at my destinated hotel. I thought it was a kiddy stuff with my boys but 80% of the puffing billy were adults! It is a very nice experience to go thru Denenong with it. The Yarra was a short sight seeing on the bus which is ok but the lunch is superb. Anyone wants to book on this trip make sure take the lunch version. However, the Healesville was a disappointment to us as it was raining and all the animals are in the shed probably starring back at us thinking these group of stupid people with umbrellas, breakers come to 'look' at us on raining day. Anyhow, the overall tour was great, the coach was great. I wished that when we arrive at Puffing Billing, we should have been told to browse and buy the merchandise store as the trip will not take us back to where we started. My kids miss buying the books and the toys of billy.... Btw, did I say the quick make shift morning tea (& biscuits & cakes) at denanong feeding the parrots and all other wild beautiful birds were great !

Review by: Neil S	November 2010
Enjoyable

Review by: Dianne N	October 2010
The weather was very bad this day, so everywhere we went was wet, puffing billy I'm sorry to say was very over rated and wet, the countryside was nice, would have been even better if it had not been wet. Lunch was good and warm which was much needed, the wildlife park was also not that great, the wet and cold day made it quite miserable. the bus driver was excellent and he was very thorough with his information. Next time I think I would go to just the wineries.

Review by: Kendall B	September 2010
The train was silly and fun; the Yarra Valley wasn't very interesting and lunch was good but not great; the Healesville Sanctuary was great!

Review by: Katie B, New Zealand	April 2010
I am from Melbourne and took a freind over to show them the sights. The trip was fantastic, extreamly well organised and hassle free. It would of been even better if we could of stayed at Healesville Santuary a little longer but no complaints.

Review by: Deborah C, Australia	April 2010
We had a really great day out. All parts of the tour were interesting and enjoyable. We were lucky to see some unusual things at Healsville and we thought the scenery was lovely.

Review by: David H	April 2010
Nice day out, well organised.

Review by: Rohan B, India	January 2010
It was awesome, especially being able to hand feed the sulfur-crested cockatoos in the morning. Puffing billy and Yarra Valley winery tour were also up to our expectations. Definitely worth the price.

Review by: Louise J, United States of America	December 2009
I loved the steam train ride! Healesville was great, but the lunch was a bit pricey!

Review by: Carmelo P, Australia	December 2009
Trip and scenery was great. Didn't like the wine tasting as it seemed very unorganised. Bus driver was a very knowledgable person and kept us all well informed duting the trip. Well done.

Review by: Paul C, United States of America	November 2009
A lot of fun even when the weather was a little off.

Review by: Thelma Y, Australia	October 2009
I always use Viator great way to get around. From New York City to Singapore, New Zealand and Melbourne. The drivers are full of information. This trip is the second one I've done love the train! Puffing Billy Steam Train.

Review by: Rhonda F, Australia	September 2009
We were disappointed in the train, after having been on the ABT railway in Tasmania we were expecting more and at least some commentary about the area. The train trip was exceedingly short. More time could have been spent at the Zoo, if we go to Melbourne again we will make it an individual tour. Lunch was good. The bus driver was very informative and pleasant.

Review by: Anonymous	September 2009
We were disappointed in the train, after having been on the ABT railway in Tasmania we were expecting more and at least some commentary about the area. The train trip was exceedingly short. More time could have been spent at the Zoo, if we go to Melbourne again we will make it an individual tour. Lunch was good. The bus driver was very informative and pleasant.

Review by: Anonymous, New Zealand	August 2009
We were not advised that we would be left in the middle of the city in rush hour traffic after the tour. As we were picked up at a hotel, we expected to be returned to the same place.

Review by: Rayanne H, Canada	August 2009
Fun-filled day.

Review by: Robin B, New Zealand	August 2009
A most enjoyable day, I wouldn't mind doing it all again!

Review by: Don D, New Zealand	July 2009
An excellent tour, everything was very professional!

Review by: Jens S, Germany	July 2008
Great tour, liked it very much!

Review by: Carolyn U, Australia	June 2008
Everything about the trip was great, beautiful scenery, tour driver very knowledgeable and friendly. Lunch was terrific. Enjoyed it immensely.

Review by: Charles H, United States of America	April 2008
It was day well spent. All aspects of the tour were enjoyable and well done. Excellent tour for someone like me who has one free day to see what Australia has to offer in the Melbourne area.

Review by: Janet S, United States of America	April 2008
We had a fabulous day on this tour. Our driver was very knowledgeable and informative. He even found kangaroo grazing in a field and stopped for us to have a look!! The Healesville Sanctuary was terrific. I would definitely recommend this tour to everyone.