Guide · Koalas

The Port Stephens Koala Sanctuary, a visit planned

The Port Stephens Koala Sanctuary sits in the bush at One Mile, a short drive from the marina. Here is what you see on the Skywalk, when the gates open and close, and how a ticket compares with a full day tour.

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Editorial team, dolphincruiseportstephens.comUpdated October 24, 2026Reading time 6 min8 sources

This guide's tour Port Stephens: Koala Sanctuary General Admission Ticket 4.6 (97 reviews) from$20per person Check availabilityFree to cancel until 24 hrs before the start

Quick answer

01Where: 562 Gan Gan Road, One Mile, shared with the koala hospital.¹
02Opening hours: 9am to 5pm, last entry 4pm; in winter 9am to 4pm.²
03What you see: Rescued wild koalas from a raised Skywalk at their eye level.³
04Ticket: From $20, valid all day on the date you pick.
05Closed: Christmas Day and New Year's Day.²

A sanctuary and a hospital on one site

The first thing to understand about the koala sanctuary is that it is really two places that share a fence line and a purpose. The sanctuary is run by Port Stephens Council as a visitor attraction with its Skywalk and accommodation, while the koala hospital next to it is an independent not-for-profit that rescues, treats and rehabilitates sick and injured koalas and other wildlife.⁴ Your ticket pays for the sanctuary side, and the hospital work is what you get to watch from it.

Both sit at 562 Gan Gan Road in One Mile, the bush suburb between Nelson Bay and Anna Bay.¹ The sanctuary describes its grounds as 8 hectares, crossed by a Story Walk through eucalyptus groves and a raised walkway that puts you level with recovering wild koalas in the trees.³ It feels less like a zoo than a patch of forest with a boardwalk through it, which is exactly the point.

That also shapes what you will not do here. Holding a wild koala is not permitted in New South Wales, and the animals at the sanctuary are rescued wild koalas whose contact with people is kept to a minimum.⁵ If a cuddle photo is the reason for your trip, this is not the place; if you want to see koalas behaving like koalas, it is.

Your visit

An afternoon at the sanctuary, step by step

Arrive

One Mile, Gan Gan Road

The sanctuary and hospital share 562 Gan Gan Road.¹
First

The Story Walk

A path through eucalyptus groves that tells the koalas' story.³
Then

Up onto the Skywalk

An elevated walkway 225m long through the canopy.⁶
Look in

The hospital window

Watch treatment and the CT scanner through the glass.⁷
Before closing

Last entry

4pm most of the year, 3pm in winter.²

Walking the Skywalk

The centrepiece is the elevated Skywalk, which Destination NSW lists at 225m long.⁶ It winds through the canopy so that the forks of the gum trees, where koalas wedge themselves to sleep, sit close to your line of sight rather than high above your head. Bring patience as much as a camera: a koala that is asleep in a fork looks like a grey bundle of fur until it shifts an ear.

Along the way the Story Walk explains how the animals came to be here and what the hospital does for them.³ The panels are worth reading slowly with children, because they turn a quiet walk into a small detective game: which tree is a koala using, which one is just a knot in the bark. Walk the loop twice if you have time. Koalas that were invisible on the first pass have often moved by the second.

Light makes a difference to your photographs. Under the canopy the contrast between bright sky and dark fur is harsh in the middle of the day, so a softer morning or late-afternoon visit gives you gentler pictures. A zoom lens or a phone with good optical zoom helps more than a wide one, since the animals choose their own branches and you stay on the walkway.

Opening times

When the sanctuary gates open

Season	Opens	Closes	Last entry
Most of the year	9am	5pm	4pm
Winter	9am	4pm	3pm
Christmas Day	Closed	Closed	None
New Year's Day	Closed	Closed	None

Hours as the sanctuary publishes them; it calls them seasonal, so check the date you plan to visit.²

Three ways to see koalas

Ticket, day tour or both with a cruise

Cheapest

Sanctuary ticket

Go at your own pace

Valid: Selected date
Rating: 4.61
Reviews: 97
Price: from $20

See this option

Port Stephens: Dolphin Cruise, Koalas & Sandboarding

No car needed

Day tour from Sydney

Dolphins, koalas, dunes

Duration: 12 hrs
Rating: 4.60
Reviews: 339
Price: from $140

See this option

Half a day

Dolphin cruise first

From Nelson Bay

Duration: 1.5 hrs
Rating: 4.41
Reviews: 1,002
Price: from $33

See this option

Decision helper

How should you fit in the koalas?

Start from your day and your transport

I have a car and a free afternoon I am based in Sydney without a car I want to hold a koala I am visiting in winter I use a wheelchair

Sanctuary ticket

It is valid all day on your chosen date.

Day tour from Sydney

It includes 1 hour at the sanctuary.

Not possible here

Holding wild koalas is not permitted in NSW.⁵

Arrive before 3pm

Last entry moves to 3pm in winter.²

Sanctuary ticket

The listing is marked wheelchair accessible.

The holding of wild koalas is not permitted in NSW. The wild koalas in care here at the sanctuary have been rescued due to injuries / illnesses / trauma suffered and all close interaction with humans is minimised.

Port Stephens Koala Sanctuary (Port Stephens Council)Source 5

The window into the koala hospital

The part many visitors remember is the view into the hospital. Destination NSW describes it as a working koala hospital where you can watch treatment, set beside the Story Walk and the Skywalk.⁶ What you see depends entirely on the day: a scheduled check-up, a koala being weighed, or simply staff at work between patients.

The hospital's equipment is more serious than you might expect. Its CT scanner takes up to 128 slices to build a 3D image of a koala, the only dedicated wildlife CT scanner in the region, and visitors can watch the team through a large observation window.⁷ The hospital itself is an independent not-for-profit, so the team you watch is not part of the council-run attraction around it.⁴

Keep your expectations kind. A hospital is not a show, and a quiet window means the patients are resting. Ask the staff on the floor what is happening that day; they usually know which animals are in care and which ones have been released back to the bush, and the stories they tell are often the best part of the visit.

Checklist

Before you drive to One Mile

Check

Last entry: 4pm, or 3pm in winter
Not Christmas Day or New Year's Day
Wheelchair access listed on the ticket

Bring

Hat and sunscreen for the open paths
A camera with a good zoom
Water for a warm afternoon

Cost calculator

What koalas cost your group

Starting totals for a ticket or a full day tour.

Sanctuary ticketAny time that dayfrom $20 Day tour from Sydney12 hoursfrom $140 Dolphin cruise1.5 hoursfrom $33

People 2

Total from$40

per traveler from $20

Check availabilityfree cancellation

Each total multiplies the lowest per-person starting price on GetYourGuide by the size of your group and converts it at the European Central Bank's daily rate; your date and option set the final amount.

Video

A Visit to the Port Stephens Koala Sanctuary

The YouTube player stays switched off here until you press play.

Why the koalas need the help

The sanctuary exists because koalas on this stretch of coast are under pressure. Under national environmental law, koalas in Queensland, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory are listed as endangered.⁸ The animals you see from the Skywalk are wild koalas that were brought in sick or injured, and the work you glimpse through the hospital window is about getting them back into the trees.³ ⁴

That listing explains the rules that might surprise you. You cannot hold a koala here, and close contact with people is deliberately minimised.⁵ It also explains why the sanctuary talks about rehabilitation rather than display: the goal is release where possible, not a permanent collection.

If you want to help beyond buying a ticket, the simplest thing is to drive slowly at dusk and dawn on the roads around Port Stephens, when koalas cross between patches of bush, and to keep dogs on a lead near bushland. Neither costs anything, and both matter more than any souvenir you could take home.

Opening hours, tickets and access

The Port Stephens Koala Sanctuary opening hours are simple: the gates open every day from 9am to 5pm, with last entry at 4pm, except on Christmas Day and New Year's Day.² Hours are seasonal: in winter the gates open from 9am to 4pm, and the last entry moves to 3pm.² Arrive at least an hour before last entry so you are not rushing the Skywalk.

The general admission ticket on GetYourGuide starts from $20 and is rated 4.61 from 97 reviews. It is valid on the date you select, so you can enter at any time during opening hours and explore at your own pace, and it is listed as wheelchair accessible. Cancelling is free up to 24 hours ahead, and you can reserve now and pay later.

If you are coming without a car, a full-day coach tour from Sydney includes the sanctuary as one of its stops. Its itinerary gives 1 hour at the Port Stephens Koala Sanctuary between a dolphin cruise at Nelson Bay and sandboarding at Anna Bay. That is enough for the Skywalk, though not for lingering at the hospital window.

Pairing koalas with a dolphin cruise

One Mile sits between the marina at Nelson Bay and the dunes at Anna Bay, which makes the sanctuary an easy half-day partner for a cruise. A dolphin cruise from Nelson Bay lasts 1.5 hours, so a morning on the water and an afternoon among the gum trees fit comfortably into one day without long drives.

The order is worth a moment's thought. Koalas spend long hours asleep in the forks of the trees, so there is little to gain by rushing to the sanctuary first. Do the cruise, have lunch in Nelson Bay, then drive out for the Skywalk in the softer afternoon light, keeping an eye on the last entry time.

Travellers without a car can let a tour do the joining up. The full-day trip from Sydney combines 2 hours of dolphin watching at Nelson Bay, lunch, the sanctuary and sandboarding, returning to Central Station by 7pm. It starts from $140 and lasts 12 hours. It is a long day, but it removes every driving and parking question.

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