Travel

Hats Off for the Butterflies: Melbourne Zoo 2026

Level of Challenge

★★★★★

Gentle challenge

A Black Butterfly on My Arm

The butterfly that landed on me was black, with white circles ringed in bright blue on its wings. It stayed long enough for me to look properly at the pattern. At most zoos I never get that close to anything.

All around us in the Butterfly House at Melbourne Zoo, people were gasping and laughing as butterflies settled on shoulders and sleeves. Then I noticed where most of them were heading. The two girls with us, aged six and eight, were wearing hats decorated with flowers, and the butterflies had taken them for the real thing.

I suggested they take their hats off and hold them out. They did, and the butterflies came down onto the flowers one after another. The girls were absolutely delighted, and so was I.

A Yellow-Brown Shape

I have sight loss, and zoos have become harder for me to enjoy. The reason is a good one. Modern zoos give their animals the closest thing they can to a natural habitat, with shelter and space to get as far from people as their enclosure allows. The animals use it. Many are well camouflaged, and many are a long way off.

A grey koala curled into the fork of a tree, its face pressed against the pale trunk and its thick, fluffy fur filling the frame. One long arm reaches around the trunk, and its body rests on a dark, rough branch running across the bottom of the picture, with green leaves behind. — A koala tucked into the fork of a tree in the Australian Bush, face turned to the trunk. Grey fur against grey bark is exactly the kind of camouflage that makes animals hard for me to pick out.

So I meet animals through their moving shapes. I fill in the rest from what I already know about how each one looks and behaves. My friend read the signs to me, as he had on our other days out in Melbourne, and told me roughly where in each enclosure to look. From there I could usually find the animal myself.

At the dingoes, I knew to look for a yellow-brown shape. I caught one running across the enclosure before either of my friends had seen it. “How did you see that?” one of them asked.

The reptiles levelled things out. They are so well camouflaged that sighted visitors were peering in and asking each other where the animal was. I was in good company.

I had especially wanted to see the Australian animals, and the kangaroos made me very happy. The Tasmanian devils were harder. They were down in a burrow you could look into, but it was too dark inside for me to make them out. The platypus house was closed altogether, with a sign explaining that the platypus was resting. It seemed fair enough.

A tall emu with shaggy, speckled brown and cream feathers stands side on in a bare earth enclosure scattered with gum leaves. Its long dark neck curves forward to a small head with patches of blue skin. Behind it are a pile of soil, logs, rocks, a green lawn and wooden shelters, with visitors at a fence in the distance. — An emu in the Australian Bush. The Australian animals were the ones I had most wanted to see.

Following a Voice Through the Wombat Cave

The wombats live partly in a cave, and visitors walk through it to look in. Inside it was extremely dark. Within a few steps I had lost all sense of where I was, so I stopped and stood still, trying to work out which way the path went.

My friend called out to me, and I followed his voice until I was through.

That cave was not built for me. It was built for the wombats, and I think that is exactly how it should be. A zoo has to be a place where animals are protected, cared for and allowed to live as close to their natural existence as possible. If that means a dark cave I need help to get through, I can live with that.

Being there with two children reminded me of the other half of the bargain. People need to see these animals in real life. That is how children learn to care about them, and that care is what the survival of our planet depends on.

Listening at the Orangutans

We stopped outside the orangutan enclosure, where a keeper was giving a talk. We sat and listened. It was genuinely fascinating.

The keeper was miked up, so I could follow every word even with crowds walking through the space. Visitors kept interrupting with questions, and the keeper was more than happy to answer them all. I didn’t ask anything myself. I was content to listen to everyone else’s.

Growing up, my biggest dream was to work with animals, and being a zookeeper would have been my dream job. Sitting there, I could hear exactly why. For a talk like that, you don’t need to see much at all.

Room to Breathe

It was the school holidays and the zoo was busy, but it never felt crowded. The main paths are wide and smooth, and there was plenty of room to move even with lots of people around. Only one or two of the smaller trails off the main path would be difficult in a wheelchair.

A tall giraffe with bold brown patches on a cream coat stands in a sandy yard, stretching its long neck to feed from a hay basket on a high metal stand. A second, smaller giraffe beside the stand reaches up to feed too, and a third stands partly hidden behind them. A covered shelter, a concrete building and tall trees fill the background under a pale sky. — Giraffes feeding from a raised hay basket. In 2025 the zoo celebrated its first giraffe calf in almost 20 years.

There are plenty of places to sit down, plenty of food options, and water stations for refilling bottles. The children had animal statues to climb on between enclosures.

When we needed a pause, we found the Japanese Garden. It was calm and quiet, a lovely break in the middle of the day, and a different kind of nature from everything around it.

Looking for a Red Panda, Finding Dinosaurs

On our way out, we turned left to look for the red pandas. They are an endangered species. Instead of them, we walked into a trail full of animals that are already extinct.

We had no idea it was there. Melbourne Zoo had filled a trail with over 30 animatronic dinosaurs. I have worked in a museum and I know dinosaurs well, animatronic ones included, but this was very different. There was something quite surreal about seeing them outdoors. It gave a true sense of their size and majesty, and it really did feel like stepping back in time.

Two life-sized animatronic meat-eating dinosaurs stand on rock-effect plinths among ferns and bamboo beside a bark-covered path, with tall trees behind. The one on the left is grey-green and rears up with its mouth wide open. The one on the right is brown, with its huge head lowered towards the camera and rows of long teeth on show. — Two of the animatronic dinosaurs on the zoo’s Dino Trail. Life sized and right beside the path, they were big enough for me to see properly.

Best of all, I could actually see them. They were enormous, and you could walk right up close. After a day of searching enclosures for moving shapes, here were animals I could take in properly.

Close up of an animatronic Triceratops with three long horns and a wide frill edged in orange, its mouth open as it lowers its head among bamboo and leafy shrubs. A young Triceratops stands under its chin, and another small one waits in the background on the right. — A Triceratops and its young on the Dino Trail, which was included with zoo entry until 4 October 2026. Seeing them outdoors gave a true sense of their size.

The dinosaurs closed on 4 October, so I was lucky to catch them. Walking through a zoo past animals that no longer exist on this planet stayed with me. We had gone looking for an endangered animal and found extinct ones instead. It was a reminder of how much work we still need to do to protect the natural world.

I had a great day out, and I will go back the next time I am in Melbourne. For families looking for things to do in Melbourne with kids, it is an easy recommendation.

How I Prepared: Practical Tips

Go with someone who can read the signs and tell you roughly where in each enclosure to look. Then let your own knowledge of the animal do the rest.
Before you go, remind yourself what the animals you most want to see look like and how they move. Knowing to look for a yellow-brown shape is how I found the dingo.
Expect dark spaces, including the wombat cave and the indoor animal houses. If you lose your bearings, stand still and let your companion guide you by voice.
Plan your day around the keeper talks. They are amplified, and you can enjoy them without needing to see much.
Ask at Reception for a large print map.
In the Butterfly House, the butterflies were drawn to the flowers on the girls’ hats. Holding a hat out brought them close enough to see.
When you need somewhere calm, take a break in the Japanese Garden.

Accessibility Checklist

Melbourne Zoo is on Elliott Avenue in Parkville, inside Royal Park, about 4 kilometres north of the city centre. The Rail Gate entrance on Poplar Road is across the road from Royal Park Station on the Upfield line.
There are six accessible parking bays near the main entrance and seven near the Rail Gate entrance.
The main paths are wide and accessible. A few side paths are gravel, dirt or tanbark.
Wheelchairs can be hired with photo identification, and the zoo recommends booking in advance. Strollers can also be hired.
Accessible toilets are spread around the zoo. A Changing Places facility near the main entrance has a hoist and an adult change table, opened with an MLAK key held at Reception.
Carers get free entry when accompanying a holder of a Companion Card, a Child Disability Allowance Health Care Card or a Disability Pension Card. These are Australian schemes, so visitors from overseas should contact the zoo before booking.
Children under 16 go free on weekends, Victorian public holidays and Victorian school holidays, but their tickets must still be booked in advance.
Large print maps are available on request at Reception, staff can read information to visitors, and keeper talks are amplified.
The wombat cave, the platypus house, the Reptile House, the World of Frogs and the Wild Sea building are dark inside. In the Reptile House, the information screens sit high above each enclosure.
Certified assistance animals are welcome, though some areas are off limits. Staff and volunteers can guide you through those areas if you arrange it in advance on 1300 966 784.
An Access Key, a sensory map and a social script can be downloaded before your visit. The zoo is usually quietest between 3pm and 4:30pm on weekdays.
Open every day of the year from 9am to 5pm. The habitats close at 4:30pm.
Melbourne Zoo official accessibility information

Final Reflection

Melbourne Zoo puts its animals first, and that makes some of them hard for me to see. I would not want it any other way. As a visually impaired visitor, I still came away with plenty: a black and blue butterfly close enough to study, a dingo spotted before anyone else, a keeper talk I could follow word for word, and dinosaurs big enough to see properly.

Reader Challenge and Invitation

Choose one animal you have always wanted to see. Learn its colour, its size and the way it moves before you set off. Then go anyway, and see whether you can spot it before anyone else does.

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