Sydney Aquarium - an inside look at the underwater world
Sydney Aquarium is a requisite stop-off for tourists and day tripping families on a visit to Sydney’s Darling Harbour promenade. Well worth the occasional visit even if you’ve been before, it’s grown considerably since its inception in 1988 to become a world-class showcase of local marine life, and is undoubtedly one of the best attractions of its kind in Australia.
Few people will find the beautifully designed aquariums and enclosures anything short of enthralling. Each display is intended to recreate natural aquatic environments, from tea-coloured mangrove waters home to barramundi and mud crab, to the rocky headlands and cool southern oceans that support Australia’s fairy penguin colonies.
The classic Sydney Aquarium experience is the Oceanarium, a fascinating walk through two underwater viewing tunnels. Here visitors can marvel up-close at massive grey nurse sharks, stingrays and giant turtles as they pass overhead. The Great Barrier Reef exhibit is a spectacular display of colour and abundance, replicating the extraordinary diversity of marine life found in the world’s largest living system.
Two recent additions to the aquarium are Shark HQ and Mermaid Lagoon. The lagoon is home to two out of only five long-term captive dugongs found anywhere in the world. These endearing animals, known as ‘sea cows’ for their plump physique and grazing habits, are among the most endangered tropical marine mammals on earth.
Shark HQ will captivate shark mad kids and adults, and perhaps leave less shark savvy visitors with a newfound appreciation for these misunderstood creatures of the deep. Home to one of the world’s largest collections of sharks, it also features a shark hatchery, a giant animatronic great white, shark documentaries and live shark tracking screens where you can watch a wild shark’s real-life progress along the Australian coast. There are also regular talks and feeding demonstrations by shark experts.
Sydney Aquarium is not only a premier tourist attraction, but a vital contributor to the worldwide research and conservation of marine life. Since the undersea world remains mysterious and inaccessible to many of us, places like Sydney Aquarium are vital in showing us what we have to lose if our precious marine environments aren’t conserved for future generations.
Posted by Fiona Davies
