Review of the Melbourne Aquarium

While in Melbourne, Victoria we visited the Melbourne Aquarium. We were traveling Australia and living in Melbourne at the time and I needed a good spot to take my girlfriend for her birthday. My girlfriend loved the movie planet earth and wanted to see blue planet so I thought she would love the Melbourne Aquarium. We were living on Flinders street in Melbourne and had seen the Aquarium quite  a bit (it is hard not to notice)

Melbourne Aquarium - photo from standbymelbourne.com

The Melbourne Aquarium is located on Flinders st, just off of the Yarra river. You can take the tram there, and if you are in Melbourne you can even hop on the City Circle tram which is free! Even better, while you are on the city circle tram pick up one of those visitor guides and there should be a coupon for 10% off of your visit to the Melbourne Aquarium.

The Aquarium features  a 2.2 million litre oceanarium which is amazing! This is basically a big donut aquarium, so visitors walk into the middle and the fish swim all around the outside. It is almost like the people are in the aquarium and the fish are watching. Another neat thing about the Melbourne aquarium is the tunnel to get to the centre of the aquarium. Check it out in the picture below

Aquarium Walkway thanks to neilcreek.com for this one

Pretty sweet eh! I needed to borrow some photo’s for this blog post because I only brought my point and shoot camera and I wanted to show everyone how cool the aquarium was.  It is such an amazing experience standing inside of this tunnel. The aquarium holds multiple sharks, turtles and MASSIVE Manta Rays! The coolest part is that they swim right over your head

Shark swimming overhead at Melbourne Aquarium

Once you stand in awe in the tunnel you can move through to the middle. Here is a shot of the middle of the aquarium this cool picture of the Melbourne Aquarium is thanks to Neil Creek again

Inside the Melbourne Aquarium

There are quite a lot of people in this picture, when I went with my girlfriend there was only a few people inside at a time. The big window there is one of the main viewing areas and there is another just like it on the other side. Then on the left and right of this picture you can see the entrance and exit. If you walk through those then that is where the fish, sharks and Manta Rays swim right over your head.  If you have the money you can even pay to swim with the sharks and manta rays, however you do not need to be in the water to be close to the Manta Rays! The one below is probably 6 feet wide

While I was at the aquarium I decided to eat some sushi!

haha just kidding!

There is A LOT more to the Melbourne Aquarium then just the big fish tank though. There are four levels in total, each with a different theme and they have recently added the Antarctic display with PENGUINS! Below is a picture I took on one of the levels

Here is a list of all the levels they have at the Melbourne Aquarium

• Level One of the aquarium.
  • Creepy cave, including the giant Murray cod
  • Billabong
  • Rock Pools
  • Mangrove
  • Upper Deck Cafe

• Ground Floor

  • Sink or Swim, featuring giant crabs and sea dragons
  • Coral Atoll
  • Sea jellies
  • Creepy cave, with Japanese spider crabs
  • Moorings Cafe
  • Aquarium Shop

• Level B1

  • Octopus display
  • Kids Play area

• Level B2

  • BHP Billiton Shark Conservation Project & Animal Nursery
  • Oceanarium
  • Fishbowl
  • Ocean Theatre

We had a great time at the Aquarium. There is a lot more than just the pictures I have shown and just after we visited they started building the Penguin display, so there is even more to offer right now!

I think our ticket price was $22 plus we got a discount with some coupons. So if you are in Melbourne, head on over to the Melbourne Aquarium, it is a lot of fun! Let me know what you think.

Related posts:

1. Tiger and Lion Pictures Melbourne Zoo
2. Meerkats at the Melbourne Zoo
3. Things to do in Bundaberg – Bundaberg Rum Distillery review

Bunyip 3 day Great Ocean Road Review

Our first stop was Bells Beach which is a famous surf beach in Australia. Sammy is obviously enjoying this. We expected a nice big bus to tour around in though, however what we got was a van with a trailer on the back to haul all of our luggage. At least it had air conditioning

The next stop for us was a rain forest. We had a very enjoyable walk though the forest, and even got to see a swamp wallaby drinking from the river. I thought that was pretty cool. The highlight of this stop was the waterfall which I decided to swim under (very refreshing)

After a dip by the waterfall we decided to snap a few shots in the rain forest. There is a few MASSIVE trees in there, and a couple of interesting ones as well.

There were a few other interesting stops along the way, but the next major highlight for us was at the otway campsite. As we were pulling into the camp we spotted a Koala bear munching eucalyptus in the branches, we were excited and wanted to stop but the driver kept on going. We really wanted to see a Koala up close and we would not be disappointed! We pulled up to our campsite and started unpacking our stuff and to all of our surprises (we were travelling with about 8 other people) there was a koala hiding in a bush just a few feet away from us! We were very excited and even managed to get it on video!

Here are a few shots of some other koalas that we spotted around the campsite.

We enjoyed (well at least I did) a night sleeping in a tent. They do have an upgrade option to sleep in accommodations but I imagine they would not be much better than the tents. It was kind of nice sleeping outside as you could hear the koalas at night and the kookaburras woke us up in the morning.

The next day we woke up to have breakfast. The food is fairly basic and everyone pitches in to help set up the table and clean up after. Don’t expect the star treatment on this trip

Our first stop on day 2 was Gibsons step, which is where I took my first panoramic

Looking the other way there is a pretty nice view of some of the twelve apostles.

This was a very scenic spot and gave us a chance for a nice relaxing walk along the beach. The cliffs were amazing and the views were great. Australia has done a great job of not wrecking the natural wonders with hideous tourist crap all over the place.

The next stop was a very nice swimming spot called the Loch Ard Gorge. This was one of my favourite stops, it seems like a good place for a pirate to bury treasure! The beach is surrounded by steep cliffs and if you look straight out you can see the water from the ocean crashing into rocks that separate the Loch Ard Gorge from the rest of the sea. To the right there is a cave which is a lot of fun to explore! I did not get any pictures of the cave though (you will have to go and explore it for yourself!)

The next stop was the London Bridge which had fallen into the ocean a few years back. This newly made island was once connected to the land by a narrow, natural bridge. As the story goes it fell into the ocean and two people were stranded on the rock. Both were married but not to each other The next day their faces were plastered across many newspapers and they had some explaining to do.

After a few more stops we ended up at a cool place in the grampians called the Asses Ears. They do quad bike adventures and camping. The place has a very cool set up and a sweet bar to relax at. I really wanted to take the four wheelers out and explore the grampians but we did not have enough time. In the morning we stopped at a indigenous cultural centre to learn about the indigenous people of Australia. We also got to see rock painting that had been done thousands of years ago.

The next stop was a tiring walk along steep rocky paths. Bring good shoes because this is an exhausting walk (but the view is worth it!)

I thought this would be the perfect place to ditch the girlfriend for good but she just wont give up! Haha just kidding.

There was another big rock underneath this ledge…pretty good optical illusion though eh!

After a grueling hike up and down the pinnacle we went for lunch and then for a little dip. The next exciting stop was Mackenzies falls. This is another spot you can go for a dip in freshwater and is much appreciated after the hike to the pinnacle!

After Mackenzie falls there is not much else. Bunyip tours advertises the gold booming town of Ballarat, however it is more of a drive through then a stop and a whole day could be used to explore this town and see the mines. Over all I really enjoyed the trip, I think it is well worth the money and you get too see quite a bit in a short stretch of time. The pro’s were all the cool places we saw and getting driven to each one (it’s nice not to have to drive yourself)

The cons are less freedom (if you do drive yourself you can stay as long as you want and go where you want) and if your not a people person you might not like being in a vehicle with 8 other people and preparing food with them. I think that it is a good set-up though. It makes the tour affordable and exciting. It has been a while since I posted a proper blog because I have been very busy, you may notice this blog is a month or two behind but that is just because I don’t have time to catch up.

If your interested what is to come I just finished a scuba trip to the Great Barrier Reef and will post some pictures and stories soon. I am also going to be travelling to Surfers Paradise and from Cairns to Brisbane and Back soon and stopping at lots of cool places along the way so stay posted.

Related posts:

1. Australian Butterfly Sanctuary – Visit and Review
2. Milln Reef – Great Barrier Reef
3. Dunk Island Review

Here are a few pictures of a very cooled themed street performer known as Stone Santa. He may look like a statue, but there is actually a man inside and the costume is made of foam and paint. Very cool costume!

 

Related posts:

1. Christmas Day in Australia
2. Melbourne Aquarium Review

Hey guys. I am an amteur photographer and Love taking pictures. I like to get feedback on my photos so I have posted a few Lion and Tiger pictures on my blog. I would like to get some feedback or advice if there are any other photography lovers out there.

Here is one of my Tiger shots

Tiger prowl

Here is one of my Lion pictures

Lion Close-up

Related posts:

1. Tiger and Lions
2. Meerkats at the Melbourne Zoo
3. Melbourne Aquarium Review

I thought this Alien street performer was pretty cool. He usually busks in Melbourne around Bourke street, Swanston, and Elizabeth, check him out if you are in town! I am adding my top 5 favourite street performers so keep an eye on my blog!

Related posts:

1. Melbourne Aquarium Review
2. Meerkats at the Melbourne Zoo
3. Tiger and Lion Pictures Melbourne Zoo

Tigers and Lions

As promised I will continue the Zoo theme for the week. During my visit to the Melbourne zoo I got a few nice pictures of the Lions and Tigers. I had a clear shot of the Tiger, but I had to photograph the Lion through a chain link fence. I think the Pictures still came out pretty good though. I just had to zoom right in and focus and the fence nearly disappeared.

Tigers – Tiger Pictures

This is one of my favourite pictures that I took. He did a pretty good pose for me!

I put these coulagges together just to try something new. I think they look pretty cool. Any advice or feedback?

In this picture I was panning as the Tiger was running, I think it came out pretty good, what do you think?

Lions

The Lion was pretty far away and I have a basic zoom lens with no IS so I tried my best to get a good shot of this guy.

Related posts:

1. Tiger and Lion Pictures Melbourne Zoo
2. Meerkats at the Melbourne Zoo
3. Great Ocean Road Tour – Bunyip Review – Australia

Meerkats at the Melbourne Zoo

A Group of Meerkats is called a group, mob, or clan. When I was at the zoo there were a few mobs of Meerkats and there is always one from each mob watching out for danger. The danger in this case was my girlfriend because there were no high-end fashion shops at the zoo, and she was on an angry rampage.

Birds of Prey (Owls, Hawks, and Eagles) are a natural predator of the Meerkat

Is dat a Hawk!?….Nope just stupid bird….Hope he dont poop in ma eye!

How Meerkats spot danger.

When a predator is spotted, the meerkat performing as sentry (the lookout guy) gives a warning bark, and other members of the gang will run and hide in one of the many bolt holes they have spread across their territory. After they all scurry and hide the sentry meerkat is the first to reappear from the burrow and search for predators, constantly barking to keep the others underground. If there is no threat, the sentry meerkat stops signaling and the others feel safe to emerge.

Some of a Meerkats natural predators include Birds of Prey (like eagles and hawks and owls), Snakes and Jackals

LOOK OUT A COBRA

Meerkat

Made Ya Look!

Well that’s all for now, hope you enjoyed your meerkat lesson!

Related posts:

1. Tiger and Lion Pictures Melbourne Zoo
2. Tiger and Lions
3. Great Ocean Road Tour – Bunyip Review – Australia