The Sea Life Sydney Aquarium is one of my favourite attractions in Sydney. And I’m not even a huge fan of aquariums, or marine life, for that matter. It’s my husband who loves them, and I guess that has rubbed off on all of us somewhat.
(Don’t ask me why I’m the one with the diving licence and not him!)
Anyway, since I was in Sydney with the kids, the Aquarium was a must, so off we went.
As with all attractions in Sydney, and it seems Australia, entry prices are pretty steep so if you do intend to visit, keep your eyes peeled for promotions or package deals! It is also a good idea to purchase tickets online ahead of time as some attractions, like the Aquarium, offer a discount for online bookings. The Aquarium also offers a good deal on a combo ticket with Wildlife Sydney Zoo and Madame Tussauds so if you intend to visit all three, or even just two of the attractions, it’s well worth considering. I was only interested in the Aquarium this time round, and was happy to discover that they offered a Parent + Child weekday special ticket that was only A$30. Considering that the walk-in price for the Aquarium is A$38 per adult, I thought it was a really good deal! The only catch is that it is only available from Monday to Thursday, and not available during the school holidays. I’d checked this just in the nick of time and managed to score the tickets for Thursday just before the school holidays. You bet I was pleased!
The sun came out when we were on our way to the Aquarium which made for a nice morning. Everyone was excited.
Skipping to the Aquarium along the harbour!
And when we got in, we were not disappointed – there was a lot to see! Only I was dismayed to realise that I had forgotten to bring the battery to my camera, so all these pics are taken with my iPhone.
Crown-of-Thorns Starfish
Can you spot the Leafy Seadragon, looking just like the seaweed it floats amongst?
Trying to get a closer look into the tank.
Oh look, a penguin!
One of the highlights of the Aquarium for me are the two sets of underwater ocean tunnels. We have underwater tunnels at our aquariums – both Underwater World and the new SEA Aquarium too, but it’s what you can see that makes these special. The first set of tunnels are for an section called called Dugong Island where you get to meet, yes, two dugongs! And they are playful things!
Why, hello there!
The original mermaid.
There are also a few huge Eagle Rays that you will spot gliding effortlessly by.
When we first visited the Sydney Aquarium with Noey two years ago, one of the more memorable incidents – for him at least – was seeing a shark poop. Well. This time round, it was the dugong that pooped instead! That totally cracked both kids up. (Of course I didn’t take a pic of that.)
Another interesting aspect of this tank is that after walking through the tunnels, you will proceed upwards to view the whole tank from a platform above. So you can really see the space given to the dugongs, which is really pretty large. And you can see how much lettuce they eat! Apparently the dugongs eat 60kg of lettuce a day!
The other awesome ocean tunnel features the sharks. Shark Walk and Shark Valley have some mighty big sharks and it’s pretty exciting seeing them up close!
One of the many beautiful and large sharks we saw.
The last and my favourite zone is the Great Barrier Reef. It’s a huge tank, quintessentially Australian, and teeming with life. If I didn’t have kids, I would be happy sitting here for an afternoon, just soaking it up.
So many fish!
Getting up-close and personal with the Smalltooth Sawfish.
Oo, Leopard Sharks!
The massive Napoleon Wrasse.
We ended off a fun day by hopping onto the Sydney Monorail for a loop around city. One of it’s last hurrahs, in fact. It was one of the last few days before it ceased operations on 30 June 2013. We met plenty of people taking the loop just for old times sake, and lots more totting cameras to take their last pics of the trains before bidding the monorail goodbye. The kids, well, they always love a ride.
There’ll not be a monorail the next time we’re in town, but Sydney Aquarium, we’d definitely be back!
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