Another world!

Yesterday I took a trip out to the east side of the Island to spend the day with my folks.

To celebrate my birthday, they took me to the Ocean Discovery Centre in Sidney.

I've been wanting to go here for quite some time and was thrilled to finally get the chance.

This is the first thing you see when you walk in the front doors...beautiful stained glass work...

And then you go through these 'Jules Vern' looking doors to a simulated dive down deep into the ocean...

When you step out the other side, you're in a world of aliens!

I've seen these in the ocean and washed up on the beach, but never this close up and personal...

But the ones that I couldn't get enough of were these beauties...

 These are truly out of this world...

 So photogenic! You can see where Sci-Fi ideas come from...

I think these are the most unusual creatures on the planet...

 The aquarium itself isn't very large but the quality of the exhibits is astonishing...

 Floor to ceiling screens project images that make you feel as if you're floating down there in the kelp forests...

Tanks of fish from these parts greet you at every turn...

People travel to the tropics for colourful sea life but what many don't know is that even in the coldest of waters, life is a myriad of hues...

The sea anemones are another favorite...

The ocean flowers!

They look like something from the flower shop where I work!

Dr Suess must have had some influence from the deep sea creatures...

I was also enamored by something quite spectacular...

This is called a Basket Star...they are a type of star fish found in very deep waters here and the cool thing about them is that each arm grows a branch and in turn that branch grows another branch and so on and so on...hence the crazy maze of 'arms'.

Some fish are just so pretty...

...while other are just plain prehistoric like this Wolf eel...

He also looks a little sad since he just lost his mate a while back.

There was one tank that was set up so that if you climbed up underneath, you could have a fish-eye-view of things...there I am looking out!

And here's what my folks look like to the fish...

I was having flashbacks of the old "The Incredible Mr Limpet" movie with Don Knotts!

Up on dry land they have some spectacular skeletons for a close up view of whales and seals...

Although they are a different species, you can't help but notice that in some ways we're built the same...

Exploring the tide pools up close...

It was a fine day exploring this intriguing world beneath us...

Off to the pub now for lunch and a Guiness!