Nowra Wildlife Park

When holidaying with kids on the NSW South Cast (about 2 hours from Sydney), if you can't face another beach day, think about this alternative - the South Coast's biggest, best known and longest standing wild life park.

Don't expect the comparatively fancy surrounds and amenities of Sydney's Taronga Zoo. 

This is a smaller, family-owned business. But the setting is beautiful, it's extremely reasonably priced, and there's plenty of interesting and unusual animals to see - camels, dingos (in enclosures, though you can pat one if supervised), snakes (behind glass), wombats, beautiful Australian birds and, above all, regular shows and feeding times featuring two enormous crocodiles (the male, in particular, truly staggering in size, and speed with his jaws).

2-3 hours here will be ample, but it's fun for kids and you'll almost certainly see an animal you haven't seen before.