Sydney Aquarium

Okay. Time to catch up on my blogging. So here we go -- a blow-by-blow of our adventures at the Sydney Aquarium on Tuesday, September 23rd.

Makela and I set off on foot in the rain. I thought about taking a bus, but honestly, it wasn't raining that hard, and Darling Harbour isn't all that far from our hotel. We made it without getting very wet, and started off at the aquarium, where Makela immediately spotted a life-sized statue of Bruce -- the great white shark in "Finding Nemo." After practically dragging her away from that, we started seeing some pretty unique animals, such as the platypus, Eastern water dragon, an enormous saltwater crocodile, water snakes, fairy penguins, and more. The aquarium also had great hands-on exhibits, such as their Southern Oceans touch pool, where Makela got up close and personal with sea urchins, sea stars, and shark egg cases. She thought the urchins were particularly interesting, since they turn their spines toward whatever is touching them in defense -- this time, Makela's index finger. And, without a hand-washing station or even paper towels to dry off, Makela came up with a "dry your hands dance" where she flapped her hands around in the air.

Next, we found a great tank full of all the "Finding Nemo" fish. It seems kind of obvious, but what a great idea for kids! Makela just adored it -- I think we spent at least 10 minutes watching these fish.

After we had our fill of the Nemo and his friends, we headed into the "Open Ocean Oceanarium," full of sharks, rays and sea turtles. As we walked into it, Makela started pointing excitedly and saying, "Mommy, LOOK! It's Mr. Ray!" Sure enough, there was a positively ENORMOUS stingray swimming right in front of us. We also found "Crush" and discovered how he sleeps (nose down, with his head kind of wedged under a rock so he doesn't float away while dreaming).

We then went on to the Northern Oceans habitat, which includes all of the Great Barrier Reef fish. Makela had more fun with another touch pool here, and started making better friends with the same education staff member who had been helping us at the Southern Oceans touch pool. Again, Makela had fun touching an anemone and more sea stars (including a big one called a cushion sea star -- think big, puffy pin-cushion and you've got the right mental image).

Our last stop in the aquarium, before heading to the cafe for lunch, was at the "reef theatre," a floor-to-ceiling wall of glass (on several sides) with classical music playing in the background. The final hallway around the side of this amazing exhibit had a plexiglass floor, which Makela found fascinating. She loved being able to lie down and look at the fish from above, including a shark.