Behind the Scenes

As I've said before, Jack and I really bonded with the Sydney Aquarium. Jack overcame his fear of touching animals and lingered at the touch pools.

The staff members and volunteers at the aquarium range from being a bit abrasive to very friendly and welcoming (you can't really blame the abrasive ones. It's hard balancing protecting the animals and being nice to all the hyper kiddos). One day we had one of the very friendly ones. She chatted with us and asked if we had done a Behind the Scenes Tour yet. We said no. What's that? She told us this was one of the perks of being a member.

So, we signed up.

Totally awesome. One of our best experiences in Sydney.

We got to see where they grow their own coral and learned all kinds of neat stuff about coral. Which I have now forgotten.

We saw the place where sick little starfish were kept. So sad. Well, especially when I recognized one little guy from the touch pool.

We saw the kitchen which totally confused me. They had all these fruits and vegetables. I couldn't figure it out. What sea animal eats apples and peaches? Carrots? Then I realized/learned they share the kitchen with Wildlife World. Okay! Got that cleared up.

The best part came we then got to go and feed the sharks; sea turtles and lovely rays as well. It was so fun. Jack loved it. I loved it. Our hands got a big slimy and gross. But who cares!!

The other great thing is I guess not many people know about this behind the scenes tour so we were the only ones there. Private tour. How cool is that?

We loved it so much that Jack and I signed up for another one. In this one, we skipped most of the preliminary stuff and just went straight to shark feeding. It was a bit nerve-wracking because it was possible for Jack to trip and fall into the shark tank. I was a bit worried, but not overly so. The sharks aren't human-eaters. Plus, it would be QUITE the story to take home. Mimi! Papa! I fell into the shark tank!

I was actually more worried for the poor sharks.

So I held tight to Jack, while trying to take photos and feed my share of the animals....all at the same time. Major Mommy-multi-tasking.