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Published: June 13th 2017
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Geo: -33.8671, 151.207
We walked from the hotel through Tumbalong Park to Darling Harbour the kids loved the Darling Harbour Children's Playground but we had our first whale watching trip booked so we promised we'd stop on the way back so they'd have some playtime for themselves. Darling Harbour was the first pick up point for our trip and as we were there early we had the choice of position on board so opted for the best seats right up front, breezy but worth it for the views. At Circular Quay we picked up another 30 or so passengers which meant that overall there was plenty of room to move about and see the sights without blocking everyone else's view which was important for us because this is what we'd all come for to see, whales in their natural environment.
It was slow going at first with no sightings then we spotted our first blow some way off and made our way over to where the skipper estimated the whale would resurface, sure enough he was spot on and we had our first close up sighting after which we saw more and more whales the skipper informed us that this was
part of the whales migratory route and we had a great time being out there longer than was planned as we were all so engrossed watching the whales antics, tail slapping with the occasional full breach. Making our way back a yacht having seen that we were in the ideal position to view the whales came to watch the action, quickly followed by another boat who was really getting too close to us when a large Humpback surfaced not 150m from it's bow; they were as surprised as we were!
As we slowly made our way back a couple of whales glided alongside us just a few hundred metres away but still a wonderful experience. Just before getting closer to the shore we passed a brown blob in the water which turned out to be a fur seal just basking in the water and every now and then it would roll over flapping its flipper as if waving goodbye to us, all in all a wonderful trip.
Once back in Darling Harbour we trotted off to the Sydney Sea Life Aquarium but the queue was horrendous so went for lunch and returned when it was quieter. The kids liked
the Aquarium and were pleased to see their first Dugong or Sea Cow albeit it wasn't in its natural environment. For my part I was disappointed, it's like every other Sea Life Centre we've been to, the format is old and outdated! I swore after going to the last one in Blackpool UK that I wouldn't go to another, but I thought the Sydney one would be special; it wasn't, I've come to the conclusion if you've been to one you've seen them all.
On the way back to the hotel we stopped off as promised at children's playground where the kids had a great time playing with the water features in Darling Harbour Children's Playground until the light, after which we eventually made our way back to the hotel tired out but everyone was so happy with the wonderful day we'd had.
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