Melbourne Aquarium Melbourne Aquarium

ymfoster said:
Hi Monty,

We spent the day on Friday at the Flower & Garden Show & were worn out also, so know the feeling :)

Yvonne
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My wife went to the garden show, so the kids and I went to the Museum.
We were there 5 hours and did not nearly cover everything there was to see.
Sunday we planned to go to the zoo for the day, but our car started overheating when stopped at red lights on the way down, so we went to the Aquarium as we were staying about 100m from the front door and could leave the car at the hotel car park.
 
Monty said:
I went with my wife and kids and was only there about 2 hours and did not rush. I was disappointed with how little there was to see for the price. Even though the girl on the ticket desk let our 3 yo through with no charge it still cost $85 for the other 2 children and 2 adults.

I thought the Penguins were the best exhibit of the whole show.
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I agree it's to expensive, but that's also the case with the sydney aquarium.

But, the collection makes up for that, doesn't it? And, the advantage of the melbourne aquarium, when it's crowded, you don't feel crushed, since the spaces for the visitors are not as cramped as in the sydney aquarium.
 
We visited the Melbourne Aquarium over the weekend, as we had discounted tickets from one of those daily deals websites. Marine animals aren't really our bag, but we had a great time over the 2 hours we spent there.

We did the 'Access All Areas Tour Gold' ($20pp in addition to entry fees) and that was a fun way to spend half our time there. The tour guide stopped and chatted at a few locations about the various animals, and we got to go behind the scenes where they prepare the fish food and SCUBA tanks etc.

The highlight of the tour was feeding the 2m wide sting rays. Well, we didn't actually feed them by hand, but the guide fed them and we were right next to her. We took a glass-bottom boat ride over the Oceanarium and threw food pellets to the waiting fish, which was cool.

Overall, the tour doesn't rank high on the list of the best animal encounters, but what can you expect for $20pp in Melbourne? So in that respect, I think that we got our money's worth, and if you are visiting the aquarium any way, then I recommend that you might as well pay a little extra to leave with a little extra. I think that if we visit again, I would definitely have to do the helmet walk!
 
So there's been a bit of news on the Melbourne Aquarium front that hasn't been mentioned yet.
First off is the opening of a new exhibit (or more likely the redevelopment of an older one) called Seahorse Pier. Their website says that it holds the largest collection of seahorse and seadragon species in the world.
Seahorse Pier | Explore | Melbourne Aquarium - Amazing Worlds to Discover
And secondly, a king penguin chick has hatched. This is an Australian first breeding.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...1797705121.276421.187092760121&type=1&theater

Has anyone visited recently? It would be interesting to hear a zoochatter's opinion of the new exhibit.
 
The aquarium is to receive a AU$8 million upgrade which will see the aquarium relaunched as part of the sealife chain.
Upon reopening in September 2013, the new Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium will feature 12 new zones with hundreds of new species, including the world’s largest collection of seahorses. It will join 44 other Sea Life centres around the world.

Major revamp for Melbourne Aquarium
 
No, no, no, no, no, no, no!!!!!!!! Please, merlin, don't do anything to the Melbourne aquarium! Isn't it enough you've messed up sydney aquarium, wildlife world and manly?!?
 
Johnny said:
No, no, no, no, no, no, no!!!!!!!! Please, merlin, don't do anything to the Melbourne aquarium! Isn't it enough you've messed up sydney aquarium, wildlife world and manly?!?
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I'm going to disagree here, as I think Merlin could probably improve Melbourne Aquarium greatly, as they have improved Kelly Tarlton's in Auckland, New Zealand.

In contrast, I would definitely agree that they have messed up Sydney Wildlife World, although I will reserve judgement on the Aquarium until I see it, on prevous visits I found the aquarium to be somewhat disappointing.

Interestingly, the senior curator of Merlin's Australasian operations has previously been curator of both Kelly Tarlton's and Melbourne Aquarium, so hopefully the species diversity can be maintained (and even increased) in these aquariums in the future.
 
zooboy28 said:
I'm going to disagree here, as I think Merlin could probably improve Melbourne Aquarium greatly, as they have improved Kelly Tarlton's in Auckland, New Zealand.

In contrast, I would definitely agree that they have messed up Sydney Wildlife World, although I will reserve judgement on the Aquarium until I see it, on prevous visits I found the aquarium to be somewhat disappointing.

Interestingly, the senior curator of Merlin's Australasian operations has previously been curator of both Kelly Tarlton's and Melbourne Aquarium, so hopefully the species diversity can be maintained (and even increased) in these aquariums in the future.
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I have seen the pictures, I can tell you they definitely messed it up! Because that's all they can, mess things up. I don't want another seahorse kingdom, not antoher 'bay of rays'! I want nice and spectacular aquariums, not an exhibit with curved glass that gives a normal person a headache! I want to see the inhabitants properly, why does Merlin insist on doing the opposite?
 
Massive Saltwater Croc Moves In

New addition to the aquarium. Which has now opened a pile of new zones (mostly renovated existing zones) and will be relaunching as Sea Life on 21 September.

From 21 September, Melbourne Aquarium will fly the world-famous SEA LIFE flag when it officially opens its doors as SEA LIFE Melbourne Aquarium, home to hundreds of new species in 12 new amazing zones of discovery.
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Story & Photo here: Pinjarra the 750kg saltwater crocodile retires to Melbourne Aquarium - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

One of the largest crocodiles in captivity has gone on display at the Melbourne Aquarium.

Pinjarra is a 50-year-old saltwater crocodile weighing 750 kilograms from Queensland.

Exhibit manager, Alison Edmunds, says he was rescued from flooding and sent to a crocodile farm in Rockhampton 30 years ago.

But now he has outgrown that home.

"Well he's got his favourite girls and he's a very big animal and unfortunately as his size is getting bigger, he's really outgrowing his ladies," she said.

"He's retired now and living here happily."

A group of aquarium staff have been given specialist training on how to take care of the crocodile

"We've learnt an amazing amount of things about crocodiles and we've got this magnificent state-of-the art aquarium here for him to live in," Ms Edmunds said.

"We're going to give him the best life and the best retirement that he could ever hope for."
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PAT said:
Does anyone know where in the aquarium this exhibit is? I was thinking it might be a renovation of the freshwater crocodile and lagoon exhibits but this looks like a major overhaul.
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It sounds like the aquarium has been getting a pretty major overhaul. Some friends of mine visited a couple of months ago, and I asked what they thought of the lagoon with the freshwater sharks and the model plane, and they said that part was all blocked off, so that's where I reckon he is. I'm not sure where else he could be.
 
zooboy28 said:
It sounds like the aquarium has been getting a pretty major overhaul. Some friends of mine visited a couple of months ago, and I asked what they thought of the lagoon with the freshwater sharks and the model plane, and they said that part was all blocked off, so that's where I reckon he is. I'm not sure where else he could be.
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I hope the freshwater sharks will still be there? What has Merlin ruined until now? Please, I want to know..... I have seen what they did to the Sydney Aquarium, I hope Melbourne will not undergo the same horrible fate......
 
the coral atoll tank was closed off when I was there unfortunately. Looking at the photo on that article -- are those all fake corals??
 
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