Queensland: Day 2

[calissa]

Warning: pic spam ahead.



I woke up to this gorgeous view from the balcony.



After breakfast, we basically crossed the road and were at the beach.



We wandered along and eventually found ourselves at the aquarium where we ended up spending most of the day.



The sea jellies were a bit of a challenge to photograph because they move so fast!



The weedy seadragon (Phyllopteryx taeniolatus) was Sahaquiel's favourite.

We took a tour behind the scenes and saw the turtles the aquarium was rehabilitating. They also had one of those glass or perspex tunnels that run through an enormous enclosure and the tour took us to the diving entrance. Amusingly, when the stingrays saw there were people they came hurrying over in hopes of food, turning on their side to flap at us.

We also saw the seal show and I got my photo taken with a 250kg sea lion called Groucho.

Most of the day had passed by the time we got back to our room and I was rather worn out, so I took a nap and spent the evening quietly.

Comments

[alee_grrl]

Lots of pretty things.

[calissa]

<3

[clare_dragonfly]

Ooh, how cool! I love aquariums!

[calissa]

Me too! There were lots of interesting things at this one, though I found I kept coming back to the octopus.

Have you got a favourite sea creature?

[clare_dragonfly]

I have! The coelacanth! Because people thought they were extinct for a long time, and then some random fisherman who wasn't even looking for coelacanths found one.

I don't think I've ever seen one in an aquarium, though. I actually think I like aquariums more for their oceanic landscapes than their creatures.

[calissa]

That is pretty cool! I'd not previously heard of coelacanths.

[darakat]

I love weedy sea-dragons. My favorite type of dragon.

[calissa]

They are pretty cool!

[raze]

Lovely photos! I really like the shot of the sea dragon. They have them at the Georgia Aquarium (which is a couple hours from me) and my husband is quite fond of them as well.

[calissa]

Thank you! Took me ages to get a decent shot because they would keep hiding from me.

Do you and your husband visit the aquarium often?

[raze]

Not very; perhaps a couple of times a year. It is rather expensive, and also a bit of a track, so with limited income it is more or less for special occasions. There are actually several pretty impressive aquariums in driving distance, fortunately, so when we DO have the time and money, there are a few choices.

[calissa]

I understand about the expense. The one we went to was a bit pricey but we very rarely go on holiday :)

It's good to hear that you have some choices when it comes to aquariums! There is only one locally for me--the others are quite a drive away.

[sidheblessed]

Wow, your hotel looks gorgeous. Lucky you!

Love the aquarium photos. Underwater photography is HARD but you got some awesome pics.

[calissa]

The hotel was pretty awesome, though it had this weird window from the shower into the living room.

I think the hardest thing about the aquarium photos was that everything moved so quickly! It was a lot of fun, though.