Underwater World

I was supposed to bring Asher to watch the PLAYtime performance called The Magic Ocean, but didn't manage to get tickets (it's a long story).  I felt bad though, cos I had been building the anticipation for a few weeks by telling Asher about the performance.  And especially that morning itself, I was promising to bring Asher to see lots of fish and sharks and jellyfish.  He kept repeating, "See shark!  See fish! See turtle!" 

So when I found that the tickets I thought I had were not to be, I was very disappointed, and was thinking of how to not disappoint Asher as well.  Thanks to a great suggestion by a colleague of mine, I decided to bring Asher to the Underwater World!  What a wonderful idea, and I duly thanked my colleague lots the next day.

Asher had a terrific time I think!  And it was more fish than I could have imagined Asher seeing.  Real ones too!  As it was a weekday it was fairly uncrowded, but we got there quite late, around 4pm, so we missed many of the shows already.  Still, we managed to catch the seal show, which he seemed to enjoy.  Not sure if he realises the seals at the underwater world are different from the ones we saw at Philip Island.  I explained the difference between fur seals and seals, but not sure if he really remembers :) 

Asher tried touching the starfish and stingrays at the touchpool, but his arms weren't quite long enough to dip all the way into the water, and I feared that if he leaned in any more, he'd end up as part of the exhibit.  So moved on to look at the other fish on display. 

Then of course there's the famous glass (acrylic?) tunnel enclosure that we went round and round in.  Lots of fishes!  Nurse sharks, leopard sharks, black-tipped sharks, groupers, whiptail stingrays, leopard stingrays, pirahnas, angel fish, etc etc etc! 

Other exhibits included the leafy sea dragon which I liked very much, jelly fish, and fishes found in coral reefs. 

All in all it was an excellent outing, with lots of memories for Asher.  I got the Submarine Value Package which gives you access to the oceanarium for two visits, and a discount voucher for another ticket, which I intend to use for Jon.  I'm sure Asher won't mind going again, and maybe next time, we can bring Baby!  Baby?  Yes, another one of those things I haven't gotten around to writing about yet :)  More info next time.

Checking out the different types of stingrays at the ray feeding area

Seal show

Leafy sea dragons

A whiptail stingray over our heads!

Humongous grouper that doesn't quite look so big here, altho this shot looks like it wants to eat Asher, which...if he was inside I'm not sure won't happen

Funny dugong which liked 'standing' on its head

Pretty jellyfish