Sydney Aquarium & Finding Nemo

Before I begin telling you about our adventure at the Sydney Aquarium, there are a couple of shout-outs I need to make:

1) To my fellow Canucks to wish them a Happy Belated Canada Day! Excluding those who went to America on Canada Day of course-Sonya & Friends this means you, what were you thinking?!? Anyway, Stuart & I hope you all had a great weekend. We didn't do much here. Just sported our Canadian shirts and ate maple bacon & eggs for breaky. I also had to defend my great country to my co-workers that week who, ever since one messy nite out on the town, have been making fun of my accent and attacking me with, 'What has Canada given the world? and what sports are you even good at?' My response? Degrassi, You Can't Do that on Television, Hockey!, Avril, Celine Dion, etc. but that's all I could think of. Hey, if there's anything else, please let me know, it's an on-going battle at work. If I have to hear them say 'owt & abowt' one more time, I swear....

2) A huge shout out to Queensland, Holla!, who won the state of origin series last Wednesday. They've been waiting four years for this so it was exciting when they won, esp after so many bad calls by the ref. I know Stuart felt like a proud Queenslander sporting his jersey on the streets of Sydney the day after and I have to admit, I felt pretty good cheering for QLD in the state of NSW as well.

So last weekend was the first weekend in a long time where Stuart had a day off and we could spend it together, so we decided to go to the Sydney Aquarium. Also, Stuart's Irish friend Failjhem (I'm not even close to spelling that correctly) whom he met travelling out west in Canada arrived to start his year of casual work & travelling in AUS, so we invited him along. Kinda felt bad dragging him out b/c he just arrived, was jet lagged, and smelled like he just got home from having a big nite and needed sleep. Ah well, he was keen, so off we went to pay the small sum of $27 AUD, and step through Jaws' open month to begin our journey into the rivers and oceans of Australia....My main mission-to see a platypus and find Nemo, that's all. Within a few steps, the arrows brought us to our first stop - the platypus:

It's a weird animal eh? A cross between a duck and a beaver - two of Canada's well known wildlife residing here in Australia. I thought they would be bigger too, but they're tiny! No offense, but an ugly animal overall. At least I can say I saw one...

Next up, the Oceanarium, an underwater exhibit where the large carnivirous species of fish and sharks reside. Sharks scare me so it was a tad freaky watching them swim over top and along side of you while you walk through the tunnel. Look at them! So sly and mean....

Then on to see the penguins and seals before landing on the Great Barrier reef -Nemo and friends! There he is below, a little tough to see, but located in the upper left corner. Stuart thinks we should get a tank like this in our flat....hmmmm, would be nice, but we can barely move in our apt so we'll probably just stick to a fish bowl & a gold fish....

We finished off by looking at some other interesting reef fish and some jellies. Overall, the boys and I had a great time at the Aquarium. After seeing all the fish, the boys had a craving for some fish & chips and beer so we headed for an Irish pub just for that. Stuart caught up with Failjhem which was nice and he persuaded me to try Guinness. My first pint of Guinness, in an Irish pub in Australia with Stuart and his Irish friend - I had to document it. Surprisingly, I didn't think it was all that bad. Failjhem said it wasn't the real deal, but of course it's not, we're down unda!