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SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium Darling Harbour Australia

January 4, 2019 / Animal Experiences, Sydney, Sydney Life / 0 comment

SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium Darling Harbour Australia

Wander beneath the waves with more than 700 species of fish at SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium Darling Harbour. There are more than 13,000 sea creatures to discover including a dugong, sharks, rays and penguins.

SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium is divided into seven sections, each themed to reflect its aquatic residents.

Start your voyage under the ocean at Jurassic Seas, where visitors can see where life began and meet living fossils. Discover creatures such as the mysterious nautilus, Port Jackson sharks, jellyfish and lungfish. Kids will love Darwin’s Lab where they can touch things like shark eggs and coral, and the Jurassic dig pit.

Meet Pig at Dugong Island. Pig, the dugong, is one of only two of his kind to be in human care in the world.

Take a look at Pig from above or from below in the viewing tunnels where visitors can also see other animals including the perennially cheerful rays, sharks and fish.

There are several interactive elements in Dugong Island that kids will love, such as experiencing what it’s like to see as a dugong does, and to “speak” their language. Really fun!

Face your fears at Shark Valley. Take the Shark Walk and watch Grey Nurse Sharks swim overhead! Keep an eye out for the huge Queensland Groper.

Meet the locals at the South Coast Shipwreck. In this section, you’ll find a range of animals native to our Southern Oceans, including a colony of Little Penguins, as well as Port Jackson Sharks and Moon Jellies.

Get a glimpse at what lies outside the aquarium at the Sydney Harbour exhibit, with a snapshot of the native creatures on display.

Learn about King and Gentoo Penguins at the Penguin Passports exhibit, and take a trip on the Penguin Expedition ride. This 2 minute sub-Antarctic boat journey gets up close and personal with the penguins and is included with admission.

You can read more about the Penguin Expedition experience here.

Experience the newest section of the aquarium: Day and Night on the Reef. This brand new exhibit highlights the wonders of the Great Barrier Reef as it transitions from night to day. 24 hours of life on the reef is on display for visitors to enjoy, using state of the art technology to create an immersive and interactive experience.

This exhibit is the largest Great Barrier Reef exhibit in the world! We particularly loved spotting endangered creatures such as the sawfish and green sea turtle, walking through the new jellyfish swarming area and watching a turtle come ashore to lay its eggs thanks to modern technology.

If you’re feeling peckish after your visit, there is a large cafe at the exit with a range of sandwiches, hot and cold pastries and burgers. I ordered a veggie burger combo which was reasonably priced and tasted excellent.

SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium
1-5 Wheat Rd, Sydney
sydneyaquarium.com.au

SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium Penguin Expedition

December 17, 2016 / Animal Experiences, Sydney, Sydney Life / 0 comment

It was a colder than usual summer morning today inside the brand new Penguin Expedition exhibit at SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium. A chilly 6 degrees C is set to keep the brand new Gentoo and King Emperor penguins at a comfortable temperature in their new home.

Visitors to the new penguin exhibition, which is inspired by Macquarie Island in the Southwest Pacific, can climb aboard a raft and sail around the rugged, sub-Antarctic environment. You might want to pack a cardigan if you really feel the cold, or snuggle up to the person sitting next to you. At the end of the ride there is a further viewing window to see the penguins up close.

The penguins are quite spectacular when viewed in person – and larger than expected. King Penguins can grow up to 100 cm tall and weigh 11 to 16 kg, while the smaller Gentoos reach a maximum weight of 8.5kg.

The Gentoo and King Emperor penguins recently moved up from SEA LIFE Melbourne Aquarium to start a dedicated penguin breeding program on site whereby marine biologists hope to produce some baby King or Gentoo penguins next year.

The breeding program will provide insight and research into the way penguin colonies work and assist in their future conservation in the wild.

As part of the new Penguin Expedition, visitors to SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium will learn about the issues facing penguins in the wild and the simple ways they can make a difference, including reducing single-use plastic consumption. Education programs such as this are beneficial in inspiring the next generation to become healthy ocean ambassadors.

Entrance to Penguin Expedition, including daily feeds and talks from dedicated keepers and trainers, is included in the cost of general admission.

SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium
Aquarium Wharf, Darling Harbour, Sydney
Hours: Open daily from 9.30am
Cost: For the best deal, book online in advance. Walk-up price: Adults $42, Children (4-15yrs) $29:50
http://www.sealifesydney.com.au

We attended the launch of Penguin Expedition as a guest of SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium.

The Best of Sydney with Kids: Manly SEA LIFE Sanctuary

January 2, 2016 / Animal Experiences, Sydney, Sydney Life / 2 Comments

*** Please note this aquarium is closing down *******

Beautiful Manly, on Sydney’s northern beaches, is a great day trips not just for a swim in the sea. The Manly SEA LIFE Sanctuary has been a popular place for families to get up close with ocean life since its opening in 1965. The sanctuary is located 200 metres from Manly Ferry Wharf, making it a super-easy outing using public transport.

The focus at Manly SEA LIFE Sanctuary is animal conservation, with their rescue, breed and protect program. They are passionate about rescuing sick and injured wildlife, nursing animals back to health and releasing them back into the wild, as well as protecting their natural habitats.

One of the reasons I really enjoy this aquarium is because it’s small – you can see everything in about an hour, including at least one of not two feeding demonstrations or keeper talks. I also like the conservation message the aquarium teaches its visitors.

Entering the sanctuary there is a stroller bay just inside to park your buggy. The middle level is stroller-friendly, but there is no elevator-access to the lower or upper levels.

On the entry level of the sanctuary is where you’ll discover some of the incredible and bizarre animals that call Sydney Harbour home.

Seahorses, cuttlefish, lionshish and clown fish, to name just a few, can be found on this level. There are more species of fish found in Sydney Harbour than in the entire Mediterranean Sea – and this is the place to meet some of these beautiful creatures up close.

Keep a look out for the aquarium’s baby Port Jackson, Bamboo and Epaulette Sharks who were all born at the sanctuary.

One of the biggest hits on this level with kids is the interactive rockpool, where visitors can touch a shark egg, hold a crab and explore other animals such as star fish.

A stroll down to the lower level takes you to Shark Harbour. A 4 million litre oceanarium with massive stingrays gliding overhead. Cheese’s favourite was ‘Sea Biscuit’, the rescued Green Sea Turtle. We all watched in awe as stunning Grey Nurse Sharks with very pointed teeth swam past.

Join a free daily tour to learn the animals’ stories, or, if you’re feeling particularly daring, you might want to jump in with Shake Dive Xtreme and meet a shark face-to-face.

The very top level of the sanctuary is home to 20 adorable little (or fairy) penguins. We were just in time for the penguin talk, where we learned that the sanctuary is very involved in conserving Sydney’s penguin colony in Manly, where there are 60 breeding pairs of little penguins needing protection from dogs, cats and, of course, humans.

A fun fact about penguins: they have a salt gland under their beaks that enables them to sneeze out the salt from salt water. What genius in-built water filtration.

The exit is back on the middle entry level, right next to the new Shipwreck Shores experience. What a fantastic idea to place an enclosed soft play area within the sanctuary for kids to be able to safely run around like maniacs for a few minutes.

The play area is in the shape of a sunken ship and even has a surprise on the inside with a few undersea creatures waiting to be discovered.

A note on accessibility: Please note pram and wheelchair access is limited to the mid-level of the sanctuary. Access to Penguin Cove and Shark Harbour is via stairs only.

Buy tickets online in advance and save between 10 and 30% off admission prices.

Manly SEA LIFE Sanctuary is CLOSED
W Esplanade, Manly NSW
Prices: Adult $25, kids 4-15 $17

More things to do in Sydney

Find a list of the best things to do in Sydney with kids here.

Find things to do in Sydney for free here.

Get a list of the best kid-friendly beaches in Sydney.

Find the best animal experiences in Sydney here.

Visit the best kid-friendly restaurants in Sydney here.

Find the best high teas in Sydney here.

Head to one of the best museums in Sydney here.

Check out things to do in Sydney on a rainy day here.

Enjoy one of the best ocean pools in Sydney here.

First time visiting Sydney? Get tips for first time visitors to Sydney here.

A Date With The Fish at SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium

March 19, 2014 / CBD, Darling Harbour, Indoor Play, Sydney Food, Sydney Life / 0 comment

On a hot summer’s day, E and I were invited to take a day trip to SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium with some friends. Yes, yes, yes thank you. What a great way to spend a steamy Sydney day – in decent air conditioning, watching fish.

SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium has been around since 1988 in various incarnations. While it used to be a stand alone attraction, these days the aquarium is part of a large group of Sydney attractions, including SEA LIFE Manly, Madam Tussauds, WILD LIFE Sydney Zoo (not Taronga Zoo) and Sydney Tower Eye. If you buy your ticket at the aquarium, expect to pay $40 for an adult and $25 for children aged 4 and up. Buy your tickets at least 24 hours in advance from the website and you’ll save up to 30%. Buy passes to multiple attraction online at the same time and you will save even more.

The aquarium is broken up into various exhibits. The first few aren’t terribly interesting for little kids so we raced right through (if you’re interested in our rivers and so forth, then these are for you!). The big hits with the kids were the little sting rays, the glowing jelly fish, the rockpool where they could touch shells and starfish, and the tanks of tropical fish with the floor to ceiling glass.

The kids also enjoyed running like lunatics up the tunnels that run under the tanks with the water and animals swimming over head. Sharks were a popular spotting, as were the giant rays and the dugong. This particular section has a step and rails on the sides so kids can climb up for a closer look. Watching the giant animals float overhead in particular was thoughtfully entertaining for our bunch of toddlers.

The aquarium is on the small side, but does have a few kind of sad looking penguins (yes, I’ve seen Happy Feet a few too many times), which oddly our kids weren’t interested in at all. They have shark feedings (which we missed) and a dugong talk (which was interesting for adults but not kids). There is a cute shark treasure hunt throughout the aquarium for older kids. Given a map at the entrance they have to find each station along the way and stamp their map, and get a little prize at the end when they hand it in at the gift shop.

Bring lunch if possible to save a bit of money. There is a large cafe area inside the front of the aquarium with plenty of tables and space to eat.

SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium
1-5 Wheat Rd,
Sydney NSW 2000
Phone: 02 8251 7800
Prices: $$$$
Hours: Daily 9am-8pm
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