Yesterday was a national holiday - Australia Day. I get a bit funny with Australia Day as it commemorates the landing of white people here and the subsequent domination of Aborigines (our native people). Don't get me wrong - I love being Australian and I am very proud of our culture and land - but I don't necessarily need a day to think on how lucky this lucky country is.
The kids have definite cabin fever so we took off on the train and headed up to the Melbourne Aquarium for the day. Neither one of us had been and we thought the kids would get a real kick out of it.
I have only been to one aquarium - Kelly Tarlton's in Auckland, New Zealand - and I was totally blown away by it. Mind you, I still remember the pacing sting ray in it's really small enclosure. I expected the same from Melbourne Aquarium.
Unfortunately we walked away a bit meh. Even the kids weren't overwhelmed. We don't know why, either...but there was nothing extraordinary about Melbourne Aquarium and the amount of Australian fish they had (which we have seen before) was just a tad too many. The best part was the Oceanarium - and that was at the end of the tour. By that stage the kids weren't impressed with how many visitors there were and they were grumpy!
It cost us around $100AUD to get into the Melbourne Aquarium, so it's not cheap. I would recommend it if you haven't been to an Aquarium before - as the total experience is great. But what I wouldn't recommend is going on school holidays - there were WAY too many people there, so many that we couldn't get the kids to see some exhibits....so go on an off time of year!
I thought Melb Aquarium would be a fantasy but I came away depressed. For the same reason I don't like circuses or zoos.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree, Monique - those poor inmates should be out in the wild. That octopus was in the smallest tank! Very sad. Not going back.
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