As I had a ticket that allowed me into two Merlin Entertainment venues, I decided to visit WILD Life Sydney as well as SEA Life Sydney. WILD Life Sydney is a part of the same complex and I visited the two on the same day. Whereas the rain made the aquarium a great escape, it wasn’t such a good thing for the Wild Life exhibit as many of the animals were outside. I visited in June 2019 and there was also work being done on the venue which meant the exit was also being used as the entrance and there wasn’t a natural flow to navigating the exhibit.
The first animal I saw was a big old Croc. You could go underneath it’s pool and see it up close although it seemed just to be basking there and not moving too much. Next, there were some creepy crawlies before going outside to see the Koalas. With the Koalas, you could pay a premium to go in and see them up close – the downside to this was that if you didn’t pay, you were at a distance with people in between blocking a clear view.
The nocturnal animals were next and whilst interesting to see them scurrying around, as can be guessed, the visibility isn’t great and where some tourists forget to turn their flash off, it sent the critters scurrying. The platypus were next and this was a cool exhibit where you could see them swimming around and scavenging the bottom for food.
After viewing the Croc (same as before) from above, we then saw the Kangaroos and Wallabies. As it was raining, both of there had the animals seeking shelter and huddling for warmth under the lights. This was a bit of a shame as there was a walk through for the Kangaroos which would have let you get up close if they’d been about. The Tasmanian devils were pretty awesome to see too. There were several exhibits for lizards and birds on the way too.
Overall I felt this wasn’t anywhere near as good as the aquarium and from what I’ve been told Torronga Zoo is the place to go despite the temptation of the cost saving of a double entrance Merlin Entertainment ticket. Having a zoo in the centre of the city didn’t seem to allow for the space that it felt like it would have been nice for the animals. It wasn’t a bad experience but for 1/2 an hours entertainment it didn’t seem to be worth it in my opinion.