The Melbourne Aquarium is, in a word, fantastic!

They were kind enough to host our visit this week, instead of last week (when I goofed up everything from food planning to bus and train schedules necessitating a full scale regroup, but that’s another story!) Even though the aquarium is in the midst of a giant overhaul, in which new exhibits are being constructed and the flow of the visit is being changed, they’ve managed to keep the disruptions to a minimum and still pull off a world class experience. They’ve put a lot of thought into making it an experience that appeals to all ages, from the touch tank and hands on exhibits that are scattered through the halls, to the larger than life simple explanations that are painted on the walls in nice big print that anyone who can read will enjoy.

We saw things we’ve never seen before: Sea dragons, archer fish, elephant fish, a stone fish, king penguin chicks and several new varieties of sharks. We learned that sharks and rays are in the same family: rays have their gills and mouths on the bottom, with eyes on top, sharks have their gills on the sides and mouth up front!

Watching the divers feed the fish in the big oceanarium tank was a highlight, which we caught on video for you!

Look how thick the tank glass is!

Maori Octopus, unique to this region

Both extremely poisonous