Meeting Dugong At Sydney Aquarium

Last year I decided that I am going to explore all the aquariums in Australia just to prove that Fafa is wrong about me wasting my dollars on the Merlion pass. I did just that when I went to Sydney to visit Jik.

On a cold, rainy Saturday I packed her canvas t0te bag and headed down to the Darling Harbour to visit the Sydney Aquarium.

Apparently so did all the tourists who visited Sydney on that weekend. I sighed, thinking I had to wait in the queue behind what looked like fifty families and twenty strollers. But oh no I didn’t have to, I was able cut the queue and skip the morning madness. Do you know why? The Merlion pass, baby! I felt like a true VIP. I was the Taylor Swift of Sea Life.

The minute I entered the Sydney Aquarium, I sniffed. Thank God it wasn’t fishy as the entrance of the Melbourne Aquarium was. I walked inside and began to zone out, or trying to block out the loud noises of screaming mothers, to be exact. Oh, man… Loud kids, I understand, or at least could tolerate. But grown-up ladies, I can’t empathize with them.

Melbournians, please don’t hate me, but Sydney Aquarium was better than Melbourne Aquarium in many ways.

First was because they showed off the penguins upfront and to be honest, these small penguins looked way happier than their cousins in Melbourne Aquarium.

There was weird stuff like small water animals from the dinosaur age, including a delicious looking prawn kept inside what looked like bulletproof glass.

They even had a dedicated section to a cause called Oceans of Plastics. To remind us how harmful the trash we threw into the sea without properly recycling it. It’s a bit jarring to see all these, but it worked. It managed to knock my ignorant heart. I have been making a conscious effort to contribute lesser waste ever since.

A+ for your effort, Sydney Aquarium!

I hope it inspires others who see it as well. If you want to learn more about how to save our seas, you can read this article and this one by Oceana for a starter.

Sydney Aquarium has sharks, lots of sharks. But the main attraction was the dugong aka sea cow.

At first, I was not impressed, dugong looked like a grey coloured Vietnamese rice paper roll. But the more I learned about them, my heart grew fonder for the Asian food look-alike sea creatures in a short half-hour.

They were smiley faces, swam peacefully, ate vegetables and made shooting sounds. Dugongs were the monks of the sea.

They also had the classic, Nemo, from Finding Nemo and this time he was accompanied by Dory, from Finding Dory.

Lastly, the Sydney Aquarium gift store was really great you guys. You can ask any kid who has been there.

I almost bought a pink glittery squid, but I stopped myself. Let it be another reason to visit Queensland Aquarium. Instead, I got Jik a voodoo doll called Minnow, the surfer girl. She’s supposed to help her find peace and tranquillity on the waves of life, which she needed the most.

I got a mini dugong who I named Jigong The Dudong for Fafa to company Pupup the penguin he got me from Melbourne Aquarium. Despite the influx of tourists and loud mothers I managed to have a great time in the Sydney aquarium and to commemorate that I also bought overpriced pictures of myself for $25.

My rationalization was that I had a similar one when I moved to Singapore, taken at Underwater World before SEA Aquarium existed. So it’s only fair to have another one now that I have moved to Melbourne. Also, I think my parents would want to have hung it in the house.

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