The Aquarium

In an effort to escape the heat, yesterday we went to the Melbourne Aquarium.  The Daddy studied marine biology at university, and loves all things oceanic, so he was very keen to see the baby hammerheads currently on display.

Entry to the aquarium is $33.50 per adult, incidentally - that seems expensive to me!  $10 more than the Melbourne Zoo, which I think is much more exciting.  Anyway.

I hadn't seen the penguins before, and I must say they were very impressive!  So tall and majestic and clean and white.  They are funny creatures - so graceful and lithe underwater, and so awkward and clumsy on the land.  We watched one guy trip and stumble about a dozen times before managing to clamber up into a rock several inches off the ground.

There were two penguins who stood together, right against the front glass, peering out at the people and happily posing for photographs.  It was quite surreal - they really looked as though they were at the zoo themselves, checking out the People Exhibit.

Here is Tabby with the posing penguins:

Here they are again - don't eat the yellow snow!

So graceful under the water...

I could have sat and watched the penguins for hours.  They are so amusing!

Going to the Aquarium with The Daddy is excellent, because he knows loads about all the creatures and will answer all my silly questions, such as 'why does that fish look so sad' ('well, it's not actually a fish, it's an X, and that's because it is a filter feeder so it's mouth is shaped like blah blah' etc.).  

There were some enormous lionfish - they are so beautiful!

I adore sea dragons - they look just like Dr Seuss characters, even the way they move.  Here are two of them drifting along...

Sadly, you can't really see the scale of the below, but these are no ordinary goldfish - they are giant koi, as long as my ARM!

Again, there is nothing to show scale here - but these are tiny, tiny little baby stingrays, around the size of side plates.  So cute!

I like this frog.  He is a happy little dude, sitting there smiling to himself...

Tabitha got up close and personal with some creatures in the rockpool - although I didn't trust her with the sea stars, she could have injured one by accident.  Here she is feeling a Port Jackson shark egg:

She liked the teeth on this crocodile...  It made me laugh, because she is always fascinated by mouths!

Tabby having a grand old time - sure, she thought the colourful fish were interesting.  But only in the same way that people are interesting.  Or pigeons.  Or serviettes...

Here is a really enormous octopus.  Cephalapods are incredibly intelligent, so aquariums generally provide them with baby and dog toys to play with...  Below, you can see his Mr Potato Head, lying on the bottom of his tank!

A few very cute baby sharks, hanging out together on the bottom...

At last!  One of the many adorable baby hammerheads.  They are the most bizarre creatures, you could not imagine a stranger design...

Last time I was at the aquarium, I fell in love with this funny fella at the end - so I was pleased to see him again.  He swims around with a very determined air, and has a cute little expression with wide eyes and pursed lips:

Tabitha thought the stuffed hammerheads at the gift shop were far more interesting than the real ones.