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xenithI woke up after half an hour, needing to drink, blow nose and go to bathroom. Half an hour later, I woke up again. This continued through to somewhere around midnight, when I managed to sleep for an hour and half. And then four hours! After which I gave up.
Today's plan was simple. Have a quick look about Victoria Market and get something to eat. Go to the Aquarium.
Strange non-falling-down new building.
Although I started with the usual buy a drink, and the 9 minutes in an internet cafe. Less email than the day before. Strange that :) Nothing much for elsewhere either. Why can I do in 9 minutes what takes me a couple of hours at home?
Getting up to the market isn't as easy as it should be. I find a tram that runs up past it, and the sign saying when the next one is due is out of order. Still, there are lots of people waiting here and the printed timetable says there's one due in a couple of minutes. So we wait, and wait. It's rather cold. One comes the other way. Wait. It's still cold. Finally one comes, but it's not in service. Bah. So I walk up there instead.
Of course, once I'm there, nothing looks of interest. Just cheap, imported, boring stuff. Um. Usually I love these places, because there's always the chance of finding something Interesting that you don't elsewhere. Ditto with gift shops in museums & tourist attractions. They are fun to look around.
Not even the fruit catches me attention. I buy four mandarins to eat during the day. Ignore the blood oranges. Don't even look at the other stuff.
Meat & fish? Bah. Food court? Not interested.
Fortunately, there's a tram stop just outside. Straight down to Flinders Street and then along to the Aquarium.
Penguins! On snow! Real big Penguins, not the usual Fairy Penguins that live along the coast around here. King Penguins, with the yellow around their head and neck, are the second largest penguins (after Emperors). Gentoo Penguins are apparently the fastest swimming birds, reaching speeds up to 36 km/hour.
Penguins swimming!
There is something very cool about birds flying underwater. I have about 40 photos of penguins, but I managed to cull it down to just three.
Plus another movelette of penguins swimming!
There are other things to look at in the Aquarium though, so I move on. The next section is Weird and Wonderful, where I discover a problem.
I can have blurry fish.
Or too dark/overly lightened fish.
Or movelettes. (I won't embed them all, there are a lot, but I'll include links.)
Although sometimes the camera manages to get it right. Little clownfish. Also moving.
The sea horses didn't want to move, although the leafy sea dragons did, a bit.
The little rays (Blue-spotted Fantail Stingray) are fun to watch but didn't come out in the still photos at all.
If you turn up the sound on the movelettes you can hear the kids in the background. Mostly saying "Where are the sharks?", "I want to see the sharks?" and variations on that theme. There's a problem with the layout of this place: you go into near the penguins, then walk through the various 'worlds' in order until you get to the shop at the end. This makes the bloody sharks the last thing to be seen, and of course, every bloody kid, once they get past the penguins and Nemo, wants to see the sharks. Now! Where are they? Muuuuum!
I escape outside for a while, and check damage to little camera. It fell out of my pocket when I knelt down. It is still working, but the catch on the flap over the card is broken. If I hold it shut, camera works. If it comes open, camera powers down. Have I mentioned this camera has a short battery life? About 100 photos, so I can't leave it on all the time. So hmm, can I juggle large camera with timer, small camera that needs to be held closed and keeps shutting down, tissues and drink bottle? Sure.
Moving on from Weird & Wonderful, there's a variety of a fish shown in their habitats from "River to Reef". I'm sure I would have appreciated this more on a different day.
Although it's hard not to appreciate this guy.
One of the most aggressive native species is the Murray Cod, Australia's largest freshwater water. This species of fish can grow to be 180com in length and weigh up to 118kg in its 50-60 year life span. Murray Cod are known to be very territorial, and attack any potential competitors invading their space.
I didn't note what this one was :( Not a silver perch and doesn't seem to be a carp. Something along those lines though.
Moving.
Giant Gourami, Osphronemus goramy
Short movelette.
"I'm just a little green frog, doing what I ought to."
I thought this one was in the Weird and Wonderful section, but apparently not. I have no idea what it is :)
Axolotl
Mudskipper
Outside again. I thought there was a cafe around here. I would really like to see a cafe now
Lagoon habitat.
Poison arrow frog, which is lethal just to touch. I seem to have more photos of non-fish.
Now this is fun. There's big circular tank and the animals swim around.
There's the turtle, small sharks, a big eel. Obviously it looks better in action.
Jellies are cool, even when you're tired and cranky :)
Upside-down Sea Jelly Cassiopeia xamachana
Sharks! Not THE sharks though. These are Port Jackson Sharks, I think.
Giant stingrays do not photograph very well. Which is a shame, because they are in this huge, tunnel tank so they swim around and over. All very fascinating.
A little more interesting in motion.
The sharks are in here too! Grey nurse sharks.
Weird octopussy thing.
The way out goes through the gift shop. I need to buy a postcard here, and I also pick up a pretty glass seahorse. This is the only non-paper souvenir I bought for myself the whole trip.
And then I head back to the flat. Brother is home now! Yah. With his broken elbow and rib :(
I even manage to stay awake until 7.30.
No matter. Tomorrow I go home.
Today's plan was simple. Have a quick look about Victoria Market and get something to eat. Go to the Aquarium.
Strange non-falling-down new building.
Although I started with the usual buy a drink, and the 9 minutes in an internet cafe. Less email than the day before. Strange that :) Nothing much for elsewhere either. Why can I do in 9 minutes what takes me a couple of hours at home?
Getting up to the market isn't as easy as it should be. I find a tram that runs up past it, and the sign saying when the next one is due is out of order. Still, there are lots of people waiting here and the printed timetable says there's one due in a couple of minutes. So we wait, and wait. It's rather cold. One comes the other way. Wait. It's still cold. Finally one comes, but it's not in service. Bah. So I walk up there instead.
Of course, once I'm there, nothing looks of interest. Just cheap, imported, boring stuff. Um. Usually I love these places, because there's always the chance of finding something Interesting that you don't elsewhere. Ditto with gift shops in museums & tourist attractions. They are fun to look around.
Not even the fruit catches me attention. I buy four mandarins to eat during the day. Ignore the blood oranges. Don't even look at the other stuff.
Meat & fish? Bah. Food court? Not interested.
Fortunately, there's a tram stop just outside. Straight down to Flinders Street and then along to the Aquarium.
Penguins! On snow! Real big Penguins, not the usual Fairy Penguins that live along the coast around here. King Penguins, with the yellow around their head and neck, are the second largest penguins (after Emperors). Gentoo Penguins are apparently the fastest swimming birds, reaching speeds up to 36 km/hour.
Penguins swimming!
There is something very cool about birds flying underwater. I have about 40 photos of penguins, but I managed to cull it down to just three.
Plus another movelette of penguins swimming!
There are other things to look at in the Aquarium though, so I move on. The next section is Weird and Wonderful, where I discover a problem.
I can have blurry fish.
Or too dark/overly lightened fish.
Or movelettes. (I won't embed them all, there are a lot, but I'll include links.)
Although sometimes the camera manages to get it right. Little clownfish. Also moving.
The sea horses didn't want to move, although the leafy sea dragons did, a bit.
The little rays (Blue-spotted Fantail Stingray) are fun to watch but didn't come out in the still photos at all.
If you turn up the sound on the movelettes you can hear the kids in the background. Mostly saying "Where are the sharks?", "I want to see the sharks?" and variations on that theme. There's a problem with the layout of this place: you go into near the penguins, then walk through the various 'worlds' in order until you get to the shop at the end. This makes the bloody sharks the last thing to be seen, and of course, every bloody kid, once they get past the penguins and Nemo, wants to see the sharks. Now! Where are they? Muuuuum!
I escape outside for a while, and check damage to little camera. It fell out of my pocket when I knelt down. It is still working, but the catch on the flap over the card is broken. If I hold it shut, camera works. If it comes open, camera powers down. Have I mentioned this camera has a short battery life? About 100 photos, so I can't leave it on all the time. So hmm, can I juggle large camera with timer, small camera that needs to be held closed and keeps shutting down, tissues and drink bottle? Sure.
Moving on from Weird & Wonderful, there's a variety of a fish shown in their habitats from "River to Reef". I'm sure I would have appreciated this more on a different day.
Although it's hard not to appreciate this guy.
One of the most aggressive native species is the Murray Cod, Australia's largest freshwater water. This species of fish can grow to be 180com in length and weigh up to 118kg in its 50-60 year life span. Murray Cod are known to be very territorial, and attack any potential competitors invading their space.
I didn't note what this one was :( Not a silver perch and doesn't seem to be a carp. Something along those lines though.
Moving.
Giant Gourami, Osphronemus goramy
Short movelette.
"I'm just a little green frog, doing what I ought to."
I thought this one was in the Weird and Wonderful section, but apparently not. I have no idea what it is :)
Axolotl
Mudskipper
Outside again. I thought there was a cafe around here. I would really like to see a cafe now
Lagoon habitat.
Poison arrow frog, which is lethal just to touch. I seem to have more photos of non-fish.
Now this is fun. There's big circular tank and the animals swim around.
There's the turtle, small sharks, a big eel. Obviously it looks better in action.
Jellies are cool, even when you're tired and cranky :)
Upside-down Sea Jelly Cassiopeia xamachana
Sharks! Not THE sharks though. These are Port Jackson Sharks, I think.
Giant stingrays do not photograph very well. Which is a shame, because they are in this huge, tunnel tank so they swim around and over. All very fascinating.
A little more interesting in motion.
The sharks are in here too! Grey nurse sharks.
Weird octopussy thing.
The way out goes through the gift shop. I need to buy a postcard here, and I also pick up a pretty glass seahorse. This is the only non-paper souvenir I bought for myself the whole trip.
And then I head back to the flat. Brother is home now! Yah. With his broken elbow and rib :(
I even manage to stay awake until 7.30.
No matter. Tomorrow I go home.
