We had a great experience with Sarah, our tour guide, on The Great Ocean Road tour. She managed the group and timing with great care and skill and was extremely knowledgeable. She kept us informed throughout the day on timing, stops, sights, etc so that we could plan accordingly - essential and most appreciated on such a long days’ journey. She also set the tone for a very pleasant day with 9 strangers! The Ocean Road is breathtaking. California meets Hawaii meets Ireland! I recommend this tour with Oceania. The bus was comfortable and clean. Stops were well timed. And the smaller bus/group made it much easier to navigate and enjoy the busy route! Twelve hours of traveling makes for a long day and all of these factors contributed to a great experience. Many thanks to Sarah for making it a day well spent!!

Can only review the Moonlit Sanctuary portion of the tour, because our cruise ship was unforgivably (2 HOURS !!!) late in letting passengers off the ship at Port Melbourne, causing my group to miss the tour pick-up in Melbourne CBD. After reaching the Oceania Tours office via Whatsapp (luckily, they were very responsive during that morning emergency), I decided to pay for a very expensive Uber ride from Port Melbourne to the Moonlit Sanctuary in Pearcedale and meet with our tour group there. NOTE: Now I understand why most tour companies like Oceania doesn't want to pick up cruise guests at Port Melbourne. With mostly 1-lane streets from the cruise terminal, it took our Uber driver about 30-45 minutes to finally reach the highway! (The city of Melbourne needs to make Port Melbourne more accessible for tour buses.) As a result of the cruise ship delay, I completely missed the first half of the tour, which included Melbourne CBD and the Brighton Bathing Beach Boxes at Dendy Street Beach. So I cannot comment on that part of the tour. The Moonlit Sanctuary half of the tour was tremendous fun and the highlight of my short day in Melbourne. Our guide Sarah was very informative about the animals and has a working relationship with the employees there, so we were allowed to squeeze into the 10:00 koala experience (although it was technically fully booked). Sarah also was the driver of the tour group, and the van ride back to Melbourne was nicely air-conditioned and safe. I am ultimately recommending this tour because it's one of the few that takes guests to both the Moonlit Sanctuary (the best place in my Australia east coast trip to meet koalas and kangaroos up close and outside of cages) and the Brighton Bathing Beach Boxes. I also thank Oceania Tours and Safaris for being so responsive on Whatsapp during a crisis situation. (And the chances that your cruise is 2 hours late should be rare, so normally you should have enough time to hire a taxi or Uber from Port Melbourne to the pick-up location.)

We had a wonderful tour today - March 11 with Sarah! She was amazing! Her knowledge of the flora and fauna and the Great Ocean Road is fabulous! She took us to a small street where we saw Koalas and on the way home she found us a place to view some kangaroos!! The Ocean Road stops were exciting and beautiful! I would highly recommend this tour! Everything and more than we expected!

A full day out, well organised with plenty of variety including kangaroo and koala spotting, a walk at Maits Rainforest and culminating at The Twelve Apostles. If you haven’t got a car, this is a great way to see the beautiful coastline which is a little reminiscent of the Big Sur in California. A special mention to our excellent guide Adam for making the tour so enjoyable.

What a fantastic trip, So many amazing memories made with the awesome guidance of Kevin the tour guide who goes above and beyond to make your trip the best Don’t miss doing the Great Ocean Road Trip it’s a wow

Our guide Adam was amazing!!!! Every stop was meaningful and memorable , he was knowledgeable and accommodating it was a great experience.

Lovely experience of being up close with the animals. It was very special. Also managed to have time.e to savour the beach.

We had an amazing tour the Great Ocean Road was breathtaking. Our guide was on time and extremely polite and helpful. We were fully informed as to what to expect throughout the day. We made lots of stops that weren’t part of the itinerary. We really enjoyed the secret place that Ron took us to look for koalas. Lunch was at Apollo bay and we had some great recommendations from Ron for lunch. The 12 apostles and loch ard gorge were amazing sights. Our stop at gorge chocolates on the way back to Melbourne was another stop that wasn’t part of the itinerary, we got to feed the alpacas and the aroma inside the shop was .. I was in chocolate heaven. We thoroughly enjoyed the day even though it was a long day and over 500kms return.

Our tour of the great ocean road was a good experience overall. Even though the weather was cold, windy and light rain (not anyone’s fault) the scenery was still spectacular and the “not” 12 apostles was the highlight of the trip. Amazing views. We also stopped along the way to the apostles to see koalas in the trees along the road. Compared to guides we have had on other tours on this trip, Ron was more of a driver (a competent one for sure) rather than a guide. When he did provide information he was knowledgeable and articulate and had a sense of humor but his contributions were less than what we have experienced on other tours. Given that this is already a very long day, more narration and interaction with the passengers would have helped. I looked through most of the reviews and did not see a single mention of Ron. That makes me wonder if he is a regular guide or subbing in for someone. Regardless, he could have been more enthusiastic and engaging. We did have one anxious moment when the van wouldn’t start after lunch because it was not fully in park or neutral. Eventually Ron got it going and we were on our way. By virtue of being the last to be picked up we were relegated to the back row of the van and this made for a noisy and bumpy ride, particularly on the way back to Melbourne. All in all this is a very worthwhile tour but be prepared for a lot of seat time.

Kevin our lovely guide picked us up in the morning and we embarked on our day tour.He was funny and informative all day and took us to all the regular sights plus a few extra which included seeing kangaroos and koalas in the wild.The views were stunning and a great day was had by all

Wonderful trip with our lively, informative, driver Fred. Beautiful beaches, rock formations, and countryside. Long day but well worth it to see all, including koalas and kangaroos, that is in that area.

Amazing experience. Two very long days but definitely the best way to see so much of the area. Dandy was our tour guide for the Great Ocean Road day and we learned more about the history of Australia than we ever expected. Sharing stories of growing up in the area made this a real personal experience and with such a small group Dandy was really able to make sure we were all getting what we wanted out of the day. I don't need to speak about the actual stops and scenery, I can assure you you will not be disappointed. The second day on our Phillip Island excursion we had Travis as our tour guide. His relationship with the animals was priceless. From Moonlit Sanctuary to Philip Island, he really knows what he's talking about. The itinerary's on both of these days are amazing and very inclusive-but the tour guides BOTH really made all the difference. Couldn't have asked for more!

We had a fantastic time on this trip with two great guides, Kevin and Gary. Kevin picked us up and proceeded to drive us out the eastern peninsula of Melbourne to Moonlit Sanctuary. Along the way he gave us great information about Australian life, culture and sports, especially Australian Rules Football, his passion. At the Sanctuary, he led us around pointing out the various opportunities to interact with the wildlife. He also provided us with grain to feed the kangaroos and wallabies. The sanctuary was outstanding. My wife and I had had encounters with local wildlife at two previous tours in New Zealand and Tasmania, but this was by far the best: so many kangaroos, wallabies, birds, dingoes, and koalas. The Moonlit Sanctuary and Kevin’s directions made for an amazing visit. Gary then picked us up and took us to Peninsula Hot Springs. My wife and I expected, hot springs like we had experienced in Iceland and Japan and were surprised that this was a resort style spa. After adjusting our expectations, we relaxed and enjoyed the great amenities at the spa. All we needed to bring was our bathing suits, they provided bathrobes and towels. Gary stayed with us, and we had great conversations about Australian culture and activities. Bonnie, my wife is an anthropologist, and we thoroughly enjoyed our conversations with Gary. Be prepared for long drive times to get out the peninsula to both places. We loved our exploration and encounters with the Australian wildlife and were happy to be able to relax and soak on our last full day in Australia. We highly recommend this Oceania Tours & Safaris experience.

Collected by Adam our driver and tour guide for the 11 hour trip. It’s a long day in the van but Adam made it interesting with facts about the area and stops along the way including a chocolate factory, Apollo bay, 12 Apostles and loch ard gorge. Met so great people on the bus and made the day special. Recommended

My family took the private tour of Phillip Island and had an amazing day. The tour guide was so knowledgeable about Melbourne, the Moonlight Sanctuary and Phillip Island. He had many interesting stories about all the places we visited and was super accommodating. Our guide for the day, Fred G., had so much energy and engaging with describing the sites and experiences of the tour. No matter how much you read or have it explained to you, the Penguin Parade is an amazing event to watch and experience.