A friend who lives in the Hills region of Perth – the eastern part of the city – recently gave me a great tip for an evening wildlife adventure when she told me about the Karakamia Sanctuary in Chidlow, about a 45-minute drive from the city centre. It’s a 680-acre block of land that was bought by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, cleared of non-native pests like foxes and wild cats, and has now become home to growing numbers of endangered mammal species like numbats, wallabies and woylies.

Seeing koalas and kangaroos might seem like the obvious tourist experience when you visit Australia, but if you go to the right kind of wildlife park it can be much more than just a photo opportunity. My favourite spot is the Caversham Wildlife Park in Perth, Western Australia.