Day 65 - Sydney Aquarium, Sydney, NSW, Australia

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Wednesday 22nd January 2014. Sydney Aquarium, Sydney, NSW, Australia

We caught the bus into town and, armed with Rachel's discount vouchers, made for Aquarium Quay in Darling Harbour. We had been here before and thoroughly enjoyed it. The queue was incredibly long. We waited for about 45 minutes before we arrived at the cash desk. We tried, and failed, to get a combi deal with Rach's vouchers so settled for the BOGOF option on just the Aquarium.

The first thing we came to was the Duck Billed Platypus (DBP) exhibit. We had waited for ages last time we were here and saw nothing. This time however, joy of joys, there was one of the little beasties swimming around all over the place with its eyes tightly closed (normal apparently). Photos were useless as it was too fast. M did a video which was OK. Eventually, after about 20 minutes, the DBP went back into its burrow. According to the blurb there were 3 females in the tank. We only saw the one - but that was enough - we had seen one!!!! DBP's are one of the five extant species of monotremes, the only mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth. The unusual appearance of this egg-laying, duck-billed, beaver-tailed, otter-footed mammal baffled European naturalists when they first encountered it, with some considering it an elaborate fraud. It is one of the few venomous mammals, the male platypus having a spur on the hind foot that delivers a venom capable of causing severe pain to humans. The unique features of the platypus make it an important subject in the study of evolutionary biology and of huge interest to the animal mad M.

In the next exhibit we came across some Foxface Fish. These have beautiful yellow and black markings. We moved on past corals, seahorses crabs and all sorts. The exhibits were better than last time but the experience was worse as it was school holidays. We came to the Little Penguin exhibit. This was as wonderful as we had remembered it. On the wall was a list of all the penguins with their identifying tags - so you could tell who was who. The board also informed as to who was 'married' to who and who was single. All the details were there - most of the young ones had been born at the aquarium.

We continued past the jellyfish and more crabs and tanks of fish until we walked down to the aquarium that is in the harbour. Here we could see magnificent rays and other fish swimming around and above us. We were about to leave when D spotted a tail -"thats's not a fish - its a dolphin he proclaimed". He was close - it was a Dugong or sea cow. Close relatives of the Manatee (without toenails) these creatures feed on sea grass. The dugong is the only strictly marine herbivorous mammal, as all species of manatee use fresh water to some degree. It is easily distinguished from the manatees by its fluked, dolphin-like tail (well spotted D!), but also possesses a unique skull and teeth. There are two of them here. One male and one female. The male is called Pete and was rescued as a tiny baby after his mother had died. He was hand reared and released back into the wild. unfortunately he lost too much weight after being bullied by other male Dugongs and was brought back into captivity for his own safety. The closest living relative to the manatee and dugong is the elephant!

We continued until we came to the next exhibit which had various different types of sharks, swordfish, rays etc. It was fantastic to be so close to these magnificent sea creatures.

We went to Woolies to get some fruit for desert. Tonight D is cooking for M and Rach. Rach is on a carb free diet so we have steak and salad and fruit for pud. Rach arrived home from work armed with a delicious (diet breaking) cake for desert (can't remember what it was called - but it was gorgeous). We mixed it with the fruit as it made us feel better. We have decided to leave the rest of the popular attractions until after the kids go back to school next week.

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