Warrawong Wildlife Sanctuary’s Junior Keeper Experience
Does your child love animals and being outdoors? Maybe they want to be a zookeeper, vet, or wildlife warrior when they grow up? Well, we have found the perfect activity for you in the Adelaide Hills.
Review by Jo Parkinson
Warrawong Wildlife Sanctuary’s Junior Keeper Program is a 4-hour, fun filled and educational experience that allows children to get up close and personal with the furry, scaly and feathery friends of the park. But don’t think it’s just patting and feeding…kids get an exclusive behind the scenes look at what it takes to be a wildlife keeper, and that includes some messy jobs too!
We made our booking online through Warrawong’s website, where the process was simple and clear. Junior Keeper is for children aged between 6 and 15 years. It is offered most days of the year, except for public holidays and runs from 11am until 3pm. There is a minimum of 2 children required for a session to go ahead and it caters for a maximum of 5 children. Having small groups is ideal as it keeps the experience more personal.
When booking, added extras such as lunch and merchandise are offered. We recommend adding the lunch in, as your Junior Keepers will have worked up an appetite by lunchtime, plus the meals were delicious! There is no BYO food, but The Shed Café has a great range of food options available.
The Shed Cafe
From the moment we walked in, we noticed the positive and inviting atmosphere of the Sanctuary. We were greeted by friendly staff on arrival and introduced to our guide for the day. The Junior Keeper program is set up for kids only. Your guide will take care of them and supervise the whole time, while you take some time out and enjoy the peace and quiet!
The Shed Café is a great place to relax in while the kids are off on their adventure. It is set up so comfortably, with plenty of couches and tables, and more seating outdoors too. It’s perfect for enjoying coffee (or wine!) and having lunch with friends.
Impressive floor to ceiling windows provides a lovely backdrop so you can watch the different varieties of wild birds outside. There are also plenty of reptile enclosures around the cafe that you can check out, as well as a gift shop selling all sorts of merchandise.
This is also a great opportunity to buy a park entry fee and explore the peaceful surrounds of the Sanctuary. There’s a gorgeous walking track that loops around, plenty of kangaroos, emus, lakes with turtles and platypus, and even a rainforest.
Junior Keeper Experience
Our group had the lovely Amy as their guide for the day. She was friendly, engaging with the kids and full of knowledge. Over the 4 hours, she took the group around the park, spending time with a wide range of animals.
She educated the kids about habitats, feeding, and caring for animals.
Some of the activities included:
- Patting koalas and sweeping up their poo!
- Feeding the birds
- Holding snakes (or patting, for those who are not feeling so brave)
- Having a lizard sit on your head
- Calling a cockatoo to land on your arm
- Learn how birds are trained to talk and watch them dance to their favourite songs (ACDC and Shania Twain!)
- Feed and pat kangaroos, emus and ducks
- Be shown around the area where the animal food is kept, and help wash the empty food containers
- Pat possums and potaroos and help feed them
- Go inside the dingo enclosure, pat them and let them lick your hand
Halfway through the experience, the group headed back to the café for a lunch break. They sat together and chatted with their guide, whilst eating their food. Our kids chose yummy chicken tenders with chips, fish and chips and finished with ice cream and a cookie for sweets.
At the end of the session, the kids are brought back to the Shed Café to meet their parents, collect their belongings and are presented with a Junior Keeper certificate.
The Junior Keeper Experience is professionally run, great value for money and loads of fun. Four hours was a good amount of time to see all the animals and do the activities. Our highlights were going in the dingo enclosure and being entertained by the talking and dancing birds.
The kids couldn’t pick a favourite thing, they said they loved it all. In fact, as soon as we got in the car they asked if they could do it again! Every staff member we encountered was so friendly and we could tell that they genuinely care for the wildlife, who all seemed well looked after.
Location:
47 Stock Road, Mylor
We highly recommend this fabulous Junior Keeper experience and spending the day at the wonderful Warrawong Wildlife Sanctuary.
For more information, bookings and all enquiries please visit the Warrawong Wildlife Sanctuary website.
At Play & Go Adelaide we make every effort to provide accurate information to the best of our knowledge at the time of publication. We recommend confirming times, dates and details directly before making any plans as details may be subject to change.
As per all our Play & Go reviews, this is not a sponsored post and our review is done completely independently. All photos are by Play & Go (unless specified).
Image Source: Jo Parkinson for Play and Go
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