AUSSIE WEEKENDER 17

Sydney’s aquarium is boasted as one of the main attractions in Australia. I have only seen these under water walk through a glass corridor in films.
We had checked the previous weeks while in the city on the feeding times, and they Shark feeding was around 11 AM and the Seal feeding was at 3PM. There is a Great Barrier reef tank( with the species seen specially in Great Barrier reef) feeding in the middle. The ticket is for the day, and once paid we are allowed to go out and come back till it closes for the day. But the charge comes to 30 bucks per head!
We started by around 10, and we were stuck in the train to get down at the Town Hall itself by 11. Just took our time to walk to the Darling harbour where the aquarium is situated. Got the first hit when the batteries went down in my new digital camera just bought two days ago. I was thinking that the AA batteries will last more. Anyway, had a set of new cells in reserve but still it was a shock that I hardly have taken some 10-20 photos on it ! A small queue to get through the entry, it was normal fish tanks to begin with; contain some colourful and rare species. Then we went in to the tunnels for shark and seals. I think I ended up taking some 100 plus pictures and a couple of small movies. Some good ones were the shark, ghost fish(that is the name I put), and Moon jelly fish.( attached as Pic 1,2,3).
We finished the tour in 3 hours. After a pizza lunch in one of the outdoor restaurants in Darling harbour (See picture4), we walked back in to aquarium by 3 for watching the Seal feeding. We reached there by 2:55, and saw that the seals also were impatiently waiting for the feedingJ. They were coming up, looking around to see anyone with the Navy blue T-shirt and going back in to water and started making noisy scenes! It was pretty interesting to see them jumping when two guys turned up. One of them was very hungry that it came to the door and started knocking it (see the picture5). It was joy eating all the fish the guy had and still sadly looking at him ‘are you done?’J!
We came out of the aquarium, buying nothing from their souvenir shop as it looked unreasonably costly! I am strongly positive NOT paying the same amount I gave for a souvenir for Tower of London built even before Australia itself was ever discovered, for a souvenir of an aquarium (built in early 90s)!
It was only 4 and we had some good time to go for a walk. We slowly walked towards the Harbour bridge which seemed very close (in the map ;) ). We walked through the street high above the harbour level and we could see the port area and the cargo. This area looked pretty deserted and old (see the picture6).
Krithi was excited seeing a marriage happening in Darling Harbour. As usual, she was just stuck there seeing their dress. There are cruise boats which can contain a hundred people who can sit around and have a dinner there. While started walking I told her that I will show more marriages on the way, but I never thought it will become a reality!
After walking through the port area, we climbed a hill. We realised only reaching the top that we are on top of the Sydney Observatory Hill! It gives an excellent view of the Harbour bridge on the other side (picture7), and a lot of grooms& brides were flowing in – some with a photographer who brought them there to take some pictures (Picture8), some were just getting married in the church just below (Picture9,10). We saw some 5-6 couples in their marriage dress and then their gang of friends wearing beautiful uniform, it was a happy atmosphere. We walked between them to climb the other side crossing the road leading to H.bridge.
The walk ended in the gates of Botanical garden by around 6! We had walked for 2 hours! Krithi was too tired as these 2 hours was in addition to the walks inside the aquariumL. Though we had chairs to sit for every km, and were walking slowly, it would have been some 4-5 kms. Just sitting there for sometime enjoying the crowd, people were enjoying the climate change. Took a glorious night shot from Circular quay station from where you can see both the bridge and opera house through the glass (see Picture 11).
I had almost finished 200 plus pictures that day fearing the batteries will go down any moment! They still have not done as I changed to rechargeable batteries the very next day.
Please write back how is this new look of weekender to you. I have their huge version( with each one weighing 600KB) with me in case you are interested :D.

N B :- The picture number is the number prefixed with each picture.
Aussie and me :- I was rushing in to a bus which was about to leave and I have to pay 2 dollars. I opened my purse and looked for a 2$ coin. It is thick, but small, so not easy to find in between the 10c, 20c and 50c lot. I had notes in the next rack anyway. The driver cooly told me, ‘ Just relax, mate ! I can wait here and take all your changes if you can’t find a 2$ coin’ !