Playing with the fishes: Melbourne Aquarium

Gifted as part of RedBalloon Mums Ambassadorship

  Last weekend we headed out for a family day in the city, well to the Melbourne Aquarium to be exact, thanks to the lovely folks at RedBalloon. It had a been a few years since we had last visited, so the boys were keen to see the new exhibitions and Pinjara the saltwater crocodile.

Melbourne is now Australia’s most popular destination, surpassing even Sydney, and the Gold Coast in terms of total visitor nights* and the Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium is one of the big drawcards of the city and we can see why. The aquarium has recently had a facelift with nine new exhibitions added including ‘bay of rays’, ‘mermaid garden’ and ‘ocean discovery’.

We began our day with a “behind the scenes” tour of the aquarium. Our guide showed us what went on behind the tanks and sea life, it was like a well oiled engine. Lists and plans galore! We saw the recovery area for the aqua life, sea life nursery and we got to feed the stingray and fish. The stingrays are such funny creatures… flapping at us when they wanted more food. I think that was the best part for the tour.

  We thought it would be a good idea to get some lunch and it was surprisingly affordable, usually at attractions food and drink can be expensive. Not so at the Melbourne Aquarium. It cost us a total of $40 for a family of five.

With the boys tummies full, we venture off to have a look around the aquarium. There is so much to see and you really do need several hours to see everything.

First up we saw Pinjara, the salt water crocodile. He is huge!! At 5 metres in length he is the biggest crocodile I have ever seen in my life. The boys were amazed by his big teeth and mouth.

It was really interesting looking at the different fish and aquarium life. The varied colours and shapes of the different species of fish is amazing. The colours of the tropical fish are just beautiful. I loved watching the sea horse, they are really cute. The boys thought the sharks and stingrays were very “cool!”.

Of course, the highlight of the Melbourne Aquarium for me has to be the penguins in the Penguin Playground exhibit. The aquarium has two types of penguins on show, the King Penguin and the Gentoo Penguin. The King penguins were nesting when we were there but the eggs have hatched in the last few days, so you may be able to see baby penguins now.

Verdict: We loved it and had an amazing time. The boys haven’t stopped talking about it and the things they saw. Educational and fun. You can’t beat that with kids, can you?

If you would like to try your own Melbourne Aquarium experience, Mummy of Style and Substance readers can receive $20 off when you spend $79 or more on any RedBalloon experience!