Wait, That's Not a Mermaid

Day 28:

After the previous day's very early morning and very late evening, Jill and I took the opportunity to get some much needed sleep.  In the backs of our minds was also the knowledge that on January 1st, not much was going to be open.

We ended up having a most excellent breakfast at a place called Pancakes on the Rocks (must go if you're in Sydney) and wandered around Darling Harbor for a bit. There is much to see in this area including the National Maritime Museum, a large shopping mall, eateries, and more (this area reminds me a lot of Baltimore's Inner Harbor).

I on the other hand was there for only one reason; the aquarium.  Those of you who know me, and especially us, know that I love aquariums and Jill hates going to aquariums with me.  I can get lost for hours in even the smallest of aquariums and Jill basically has to wait around for me to finish up.

Hands down, the Sydney Aquarium is one of the best I've ever seen.  It's got the expected assortment of shallow water pools, penguins, and small animal exhibits.  But, it also has great large exhibits.  There is a large multi-story shark tank, and two other large pool exhibits.

The first of these large exhibit tanks was filled with a pair of dugongs.  A dugong is a lot like a manatee in the US, with a couple of big differences.  First, the dugong is exclusively a saltwater creature.  Second, it has a tail like a dolphin, rather than a frying pan.  As we first saw it, it looked just like a manatee, but that tail was really strange looking.  The final big difference was that the dugong appears to be much faster and much more active than the manatee.  I didn't realize how important this display was, but this pair constituted one-third of all dugongs in captivity.

The other large exhibit tank is what really made the aquarium for me.  It was a replica of the Great Barrier Reef.  The coral is real and alive, and the fish are amazing.  Everything from small little anemone fish all the way up to giant potato cod were swimming in the tank.  It was even better than the actual Great Barrier Reef that I'd seen only weeks before.