Wild Wombats and Kangaroos Wildlife Day Tour from Sydney

The South Coast escarpment and Macquarie Pass National Park

About an hour south of Sydney, the tour pauses at a clifftop viewpoint roughly 1,400 feet above the coast, with a sweeping 180-degree view over the beaches, lakes and towns of the South Coast and the Pacific Ocean beyond. It is a short stop with snacks and a first chance to spot birds along the edge of the escarpment.

From the coast the road climbs through Macquarie Pass National Park, a narrow strip of subtropical rainforest on the steep Illawarra Escarpment. The winding pass rises around 600 metres in a series of tight bends, with fig trees, cabbage palms and tree ferns hanging over the road. It is one of the most scenic drives in New South Wales, and your guide shares stories about the early settlers who cut the route up the cliffs.

Robertson and the Southern Highlands

At the top of the pass you reach Robertson, a quiet farming village on the Southern Highlands plateau known for its rich red volcanic soil, green paddocks and potato farms. The village is famous among road-trippers for a large country pie shop, where the tour makes a stop. On the 12:00 departure lunch is at your own cost, so this is the time to try a classic Australian meat or vegetable pie.

The Southern Highlands are a favourite day trip from Sydney for locals, with cooler air, rolling hills and patches of old rainforest. Around Robertson you may see cattle grazing beside dairy farms and old timber farmhouses, a very different landscape from the coast an hour earlier. It is a good place to stretch your legs before heading into the national parks.

Waterfalls of Budderoo and Morton national parks

The tour then explores two national parks on the edge of the highlands. Budderoo National Park is known for Carrington Falls, where the Kangaroo River plunges into a deep sandstone gorge, and for walking tracks through tall eucalyptus forest. Further on, Morton National Park covers a huge area of plateaus and gorges and contains Fitzroy Falls, one of the highest waterfalls in the region at about 81 metres.

At the waterfall stops you walk short, well-made paths to fenced lookouts, with time for photos of the water falling into the valleys below. Keep your eyes open for superb lyrebirds scratching in the leaf litter, laughing kookaburras, crimson rosellas and other colourful parrots, and maybe a shy echidna. Your guide knows where to look and explains how fire and water have shaped this landscape.

Wild wombats and kangaroos at dusk

As the light fades, the tour reaches a quiet grassy spot inside the bush where wild animals come out to graze. Bare-nosed wombats are stocky burrowing marsupials that can weigh more than 30 kg; they sleep in their burrows during the day and come out at dusk to feed on grass. Eastern grey kangaroos gather in the same open areas, often in mobs with joeys peeking from their mothers' pouches.

These are wild animals in their natural habitat, so there are no fences and no feeding. You watch quietly from a respectful distance as they graze, and the guide shares facts about their behaviour, such as why wombats leave cube-shaped droppings. Before the wildlife viewing, you sit down to a hearty sunset dinner of country classics, such as fish and chips or a crumbed chicken schnitzel, at a historic country restaurant.

Stargazing under the southern sky

On the drive back towards Sydney the guide pulls over at a dark spot well away from town lights for a stargazing stop. On a clear night the Milky Way stretches across the whole sky, and you can pick out the Southern Cross, the two Pointers and the soft glow of the Magellanic Clouds, neighbouring galaxies that can only be seen from the southern hemisphere.

The temperature drops quickly after sunset in the highlands, so bring a warm layer for this part of the night. The stop lasts long enough for your eyes to adjust to the dark and for a few photos with a phone on night mode. It is a peaceful end to a long day before the bus returns you to central Sydney late in the evening.