The Bucket List: Critters

Get heavy petting at Melbourne Zoo

The Wild Sea exhibit at Melbourne Zoo offers a spectacular place to avoid the heat. If it’s good enough for the seals, penguins and stingrays, it’s good enough for you humans too. Melbourne Zoo, Elliot Ave, Parkville. (03 9285 9340). Mon-Sun 9am-5pm. $25.40.

Adopt a hive for Melbourne Rooftop Honey 

Did you know we depend on bees’ pollination for 65 per cent of our food? Help promote urban beekeeping by hosting a hive – or buy the sweet stuff from your local apiculturists.

Sleep over at the Melbourne Zoo

A nocturnal zoo tour, a delicious dinner, and a tent pitched in the 1940s Historic Elephant Enclosure. It’s like an African safari without the long plane trip or crippling colonial guilt. Melbourne Zoo, Elliott Ave, Parkville. (1300 ZOOSVIC). Selected nights. Adults $195, children $145.

Get dirty at Collingwood Children’s Farm

Milk cows, bottle-feed lambs, and learn the principles of permaculture and sustainability while never leaving the inner city. Their farmers’ market (every second Saturday) was recently voted the best in Australia. 18 St Heliers St, Abbotsford. (03 9417 5806). Mon-Sun 9am-5pm. Adults $8, children $4.

Go wild at Werribee Open Range Zoo

With the savannah designed to replicate the wild, Werribee Open Range Zoo lets you encounter giraffes, gorillas, elephants, lions, hippopotamuses, rhinos, and zebras. Try not to look too delicious. K Rd, Werribee. (03 9731 9600). Mon-Sun 9am-5pm. Adults $25.40, children FREE.