Maru Koala & Animal Park

Maru Koala & Animal Park A small family owned and operated tourist attraction, including an Animal Park, Pirate Pete's Mini-golf and the Homestead Bistro.
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Founded, owned and operated by the Heffer family, at Maru we personally ensure you get the most out of your visit. Pat a koala and hand feed and pat the kangaroos and wallabies, rare albinos and meet the wombats, dingoes and other delightful creatures at the Animal Park. Enjoy hourly koala tours where the Keeper will introduce you to our koala family inside their enclosure. Take advantage of the o

pportunity to get a photograph up close with one of our Koalas! Learn about our Wildlife Shelter and enjoy frequent talks given by our animal keepers that help you learn about the animals as you interact with them. There are plenty of photo opportunities to ensure that you have souvenirs to share your experience with family and friends. Enjoy the Wildlife show in our covered auditorium. There’s more to Maru than animals! Set sail for 18 holes of adventure at Pirate Pete’s Mini-golf, officially opened in June 2008. Putt your way around the thirty meter Pirate Ship, encounter life size Pirate figurines and enter the gold mine under the five meter thunderous waterfall. Only fifteen minutes from Phillip Island, Maru is a great day out, where you can also enjoy a meal or a snack in our licensed Homestead Bistro whilst the kids enjoy the outdoor play area.

Our Alpine Dingoes may be cold climate experts, ❄️ but they do have a soft spot for some winter morning sunshine ☀️-Moll...
12/06/2026

Our Alpine Dingoes may be cold climate experts, ❄️ but they do have a soft spot for some winter morning sunshine ☀️

-Molly and Banjo the Alpine Dingoes

Each morning, Hobart the Tasmanian Devil curiously watches his keepers as they clean his habitat. 🧹🍃 Quality control is ...
11/06/2026

Each morning, Hobart the Tasmanian Devil curiously watches his keepers as they clean his habitat. 🧹🍃 Quality control is an important job and the morning clean up isn't complete without Hobart's approval!✅

10/06/2026

Me eating in peace and ignoring all responsibilities 🐨 Eucalyptus, good vibes, no emails

ASMR: Koala Edition 🌿 Audio on 🔊

Bonus points if you can see something special in this clip 💚

World Oceans Day feels especially close to home when you’re standing on the Bass Coast watching the sun drop into the ho...
08/06/2026

World Oceans Day feels especially close to home when you’re standing on the Bass Coast watching the sun drop into the horizon. 🌊🌅

This stretch of coastline at Lang Lang is a reminder that the ocean isn’t “out there somewhere” — it’s right here, shaping our weather, our landscapes, and the ecosystems we rely on every day.

And while Maru doesn’t have marine animals, we are deeply connected to this coastline through the land around us. Everything on land eventually flows seaward — from rain through bushland and waterways, carrying both the health of the environment and the impacts of how we care for it.

That’s why this year’s World Oceans Day focus on taking real action matters. It’s not just about awareness — it’s about what we do differently from here.

Even simple actions on land make a difference to what ends up in our oceans:
🌿 protecting and restoring native vegetation that stabilises soil and filters water
💧 being mindful of what enters stormwater systems and local waterways
♻️ reducing waste and single-use plastics before they ever leave our hands
🌱 supporting healthier, more connected ecosystems where we live

Because the truth is, the ocean doesn’t begin at the shoreline — it begins everywhere rain falls.

So as the sun sets over the Bass Coast tonight, it’s worth remembering: every small action inland eventually finds its way here. 🌏🩶

Drop your tips below on how you protect our waterways 👇

This World Environment Day, it feels like the planet is a little harder to ignore than usual. 🌏👀Seasons are shifting, ha...
05/06/2026

This World Environment Day, it feels like the planet is a little harder to ignore than usual. 🌏👀

Seasons are shifting, habitats are changing, and nature is constantly adjusting in real time. The question is — are we keeping up?

So let’s talk about trees. 🌳

They don’t ask for attention (in fact it's best to just leave them be), but they quietly do some of the most important work on Earth.

Forests help regulate the climate in ways we’re only just fully appreciating — drawing carbon out of the atmosphere, helping stabilise temperatures, shaping rainfall, and softening the extremes we’re starting to see more often. They’ve been doing this for centuries without fanfare… just consistently holding things together.

Forests are simply where life happens. 🐨🦘🦜
Koalas tucked into eucalyptus canopies, kangaroos moving through forest edges, gliders slipping between branches at dusk, and birds, insects and reptiles all relying on the structure trees create.

When forests are under pressure from fire, drought, land clearing and climate change, the impact doesn’t stop at the trees — it moves through everything that depends on them.

At Maru, we see that connection up close. The animals respond to seasonal changes, shifts in food availability, and subtle environmental stress. Nothing in nature exists in isolation — everything is connected, even in small ways we sometimes miss.

That’s why protecting and restoring habitat isn’t just important — it’s fundamental.

Because trees aren’t just scenery. They’re living, breathing systems that have been standing quietly for centuries, holding soil, cooling air, cleaning carbon, and making life possible in the background. They've been enabling life as we know it for millenia.

Let's do our bit and protect them in return 🌏🌿

Where is your favourite forest?

📸 The two types of frog selfies: 📸🐸 - Demure, carefully curated photo😝 - Forgot the front camera was on
03/06/2026

📸 The two types of frog selfies: 📸
🐸 - Demure, carefully curated photo
😝 - Forgot the front camera was on

Let's talk fluff. More specifically, koala fluff. ❄️🐨Koalas in southern Australia, including Victoria, are adapted to co...
02/06/2026

Let's talk fluff. More specifically, koala fluff. ❄️🐨

Koalas in southern Australia, including Victoria, are adapted to cooler, temperate forests. Compared to their northern cousins, they’ve got thicker fur and a chunkier build — basically nature’s version of a built-in puffer jacket.

Under that iconic fluff is a dense woolly undercoat that traps heat, while longer outer hairs help block wind and rain (and even the occasional hail or snow storm!). 100% Australian wool, zero shrinkage!

Winter also changes the eucalyptus situation. The trees grow slower, and the leaves can have less moisture than in warmer months. Since eucalyptus is already a super low-energy diet, koalas go full “low power mode” to conserve energy.

That’s why in winter you’ll see them:
• sleeping even more than usual 😴
• barely moving (same tbh)
• curling into tiny “koala burritos” high in the trees
• and sunbaking for that vitamin D hit ☀️

This is also where habitat really matters. Koalas rely on healthy, connected eucalyptus forests to find food and shelter all year round — and with climate change and habitat loss increasing pressure, every bit of restored land counts.

The good news? You don’t need to be a wildlife expert to help. Planting native trees in your own space actually makes a difference for native wildlife. And if you want to go one step further, you can sponsor a tree at Maru — helping grow habitat for koalas and all the other native icons that rely on a healthy eco-system, from kangaroos and gliders to wombats and birds 🩶

Koalas - built for Australia’s temperate forests from fluffy head to tail.

If you had to share a tree with a koala for a day… would you survive it, or would they absolutely out-sleep you? 😴🌿

Chuppa Chup the Tawny Frogmouth firmly believes that if a meal is worth eating, it's worth wearing too! 🪶 Judging by the...
01/06/2026

Chuppa Chup the Tawny Frogmouth firmly believes that if a meal is worth eating, it's worth wearing too! 🪶 Judging by the egg yolk all over his face, dinner was absolutely delicious!! 🍳

Address

1650 Bass Highway Grantville
Melbourne, VIC
3984

Opening Hours

Monday 9:30am - 5pm
Tuesday 9:30am - 5pm
Wednesday 9:30am - 5pm
Thursday 9:30am - 5pm
Friday 9:30am - 5pm
Saturday 9:30am - 5pm
Sunday 9:30am - 5pm

Telephone

+61356788548

Website

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