1 May, 2010
Sydney
Cloudy am, partly cloudy pm, mild
Last year, I left out the Sydney Aquarium. It was always so crowded and noisy that I felt that the students never really got from it what they should. A few of the students went on their own in 2009, and told me that the problem was that we had always gone in the afternoon; the morning was much better. So, this year I decided to give that a try.
They were completely correct! I am so glad they made that suggestion. At 9am this morning, we almost had the entire aquarium to ourselves. No crowds around the crocodile tank or the little penguin display, no mobs clogging the tunnels in the oceanarium tanks. I'll spend the next few days editing my photos, but may put a couple up this evening when I check for student posts on the other blog. So, the Sydney Aquarium is back in the line up.
The afternoon was fine; the Taronga Zoo is always busy, but is set up so well that the crowds are pretty tolerable. The Bird Show runs at 3pm as well, so there's a chance to see it anyway. And the timing on the Saturday ferries works out perfectly, too. The Aquarium at 9am; catch the 10:55 ferry from Darling Harbour to Circular Quay; transfer to the Taronga Zoo Ferry leaving at 11:45, get to the Zoo at 11:57. Students get lunch at the food court at the Zoo, walk the exhibits on Australian wildlife, and end with the Bird Show. We left at 4pm.
Tomorrow, it's the Blue Mountains.
