Sydney Aquarium and Cockle Bay

Day 2 of Sydney and we actually did stuff! We went for a wander by way of Hyde Park and the small but unbelievably in-depth museum in the war memorial. Interesting to see the demands the UK made of Australia during its early days. The three of us then went for a bit of thong-shopping (thongs definitely sounds more exciting than flip-flops) and then down to Cockle Bay and Sydney Aquarium. As far as aquariums go it was impressive and huge, though the big attraction - the longest walk-through tank in the world was disappointing - it was actually four different tunnels who's combined length made the longest tunnel, and to be honest perspex archways bend the light a little too much giving the sharks bulges where they shouldn't be like those crazy fairground mirrors.

There was plenty of educational material about the dangers of stingers (jellyfish) in the sea and just how much it was going to hurt if you got stung - reassuring! And then there's sharks and crocs so watch for too. We also got to stroke a shark in the play-tank out the back which was cool...last time that happened it was by accident when one of the more curious Blacktips Katie and I were snorkeling with got rather close!

A wee wander round Cockle Bay showed-off the appeal of working in one of the office blocks overlooking the harbour...wow what a view that'd be and then straight over on the ferry to the beach after work each day!