Breakfast With Koalas Sydney

"The breakfast with koalas sydney experience runs up on the rooftop deck before general opening, so it was just our small group, two keepers and about six koalas working through fresh eucalyptus. Darling Harbour was still grey and quiet below us with the first ferries only just moving. You stand beside the koalas for photos rather than holding them, which the keeper explained is a New South Wales thing."

"We booked the WILD LIFE Sydney Zoo koala breakfast on a cool June morning and were surprised how close the gum-tree perches let you get. The keeper talk covered how many hours a koala sleeps and why they will only eat a handful of eucalyptus species. Afterwards our entry let us wander through to the Kangaroo Walk-About and see Rocky the saltwater crocodile."

"Breakfast itself was quiet and the koalas were awake and shifting around, which our guide said is not guaranteed. Once the doors opened to everyone the Daintree Rainforest section filled up quickly and got warm and humid. Still glad we did the breakfast with koalas sydney tour before the general crowd arrived."

"From the rooftop you look straight across at the ICC roofline and the water, with the Sydney Tower needle off to one side. My daughter is seven and she stood next to a koala called Yagoona for her photo without any nerves at all. The eucalyptus smell up there is much stronger than you would expect in the middle of a city."

"We had our breakfast with koalas sydney tickets booked weeks ahead and check-in at the Darling Harbour entrance was quick even with the aquarium queue forming next door. A wombat came out with a keeper while we were still eating and the whole table went silent. Australian wildlife at that range before the crowds arrive is a completely different thing."

"Only about twenty of us were on the rooftop for the breakfast with koalas sydney session, and the keepers rotated positions so everyone got time at the front. They talked through the breeding program and how the animals are rested off display when they have had enough. Photos come out well because the sun sits low over the water at that hour."

"We joined one of the breakfast with koalas sydney tours in December and it was already warm at seven in the morning. The koalas were noticeably more active than the ones we saw at a Queensland sanctuary in the afternoon heat. Butterfly Tropics afterwards was humid, but the quokkas were the surprise of the day for us."

"The zoo is smaller than we imagined for a city site, stacked over levels rather than spread across grounds. The koala rooftop is clearly the strong part, and the guide answered every marsupial question patiently, including the odd ones from our son. We paired it with a slow walk around Cockle Bay once we came back down."

"Our boys still bring up standing an arm's length from a koala in the gum trees at WILD LIFE Sydney Zoo. Staff kept the group moving gently so nobody felt rushed or left waiting at the back. Cool morning air, gulls over Darling Harbour, and hardly anyone else on site yet."

"Two of the koalas stayed high in the branches and slept straight through, which is normal behaviour but a bit flat if you were hoping for movement. The keeper commentary on eucalyptus toxins and how the animals cope with them was the best part for me. A skip-the-line WILD LIFE Sydney Zoo entry came bundled with it, which helped once the Darling Harbour queues built up."