adventures of the underwater kind

While in Melbourne the one special touristy thing we did was visit the aquarium. Ari and I had planned this way before we left for our holiday, talking and talking about all the different fish and animals we would see. I always have loved aquariums. I remember when I went to Sydney on a school trip we visited, and I have amazing memories of standing under those big arched glass tunnels seeing sting rays glide over me.

And when I worked in Cairns, I would visit the aquarium (for free) each lunch break. And stand and stare at the giant blue reef fish. And of course the jellies are one of my favourites, for the way they move about in such a rhythmical and free motion.Strangely, for some reason, I don't have the same thoughts about aquariums as I do about zoos. Though, of course, that is probably totally silly - I'm sure the fish, sharks, turtles, crabs, jellyfish, sea horses are as bored and caged as any zoo animal. (And in fact I felt deep sadness at seeing the tiny enclosure the penguins inhabit at the Melbourne Aquarium).Despite this, we had a perfectly beautiful day. A lovely family outing, in cold Melbourne. To start we discovered that parking at the Casino was only $10AU for a whole day! Like wow. In Brisbane city you simply cannot park at any of the big parking stations for less than $40 a day, especially not the Casino. (Though, I have to say that Melbourne trams are more expensive than Brisbane buses / trains. Though we did hear many reports of people who "forget to pay the fare".)And the penguins really were sweet and very happy, content looking creatures. They interacted with us, pecking at our fingers against the glass (perspex) wall. A pity that it was totally enclosed, and we couldn't hear them talking. But watching them swim was amazing, zooming with such precision through the water like flying through the sky.I think the most special thing of all was having a little long necked turtle try to climb out of her water pond (it was the sort that you look down on, like a rock pool). Sam had to pick her up and put her back in. She had such a friendly face. Really, it was a determined face. Trying to find somewhere to lay her eggs. And eventually she found the sandy spot in the middle of her pond. We were so lucky to watch her, for almost 20minutes, sitting in an almost trance laying her eggs. Surprisingly no-one else in the busy room noticed, even though we stood there taking photos and watching.There will be about 20million photos from our trip loaded onto flickr soon. A lot of them shot from the moving car, while we drive through dry dry inland Australia. I'll keep you updated, as there were actually some very beautiful landscapes that we drove through.If you love under sea creatures as much as me, check out this amazing deep sea photography.

PS - I realised yesterday that this has turned too much into a Red Seed Studio blog. And, hey, that's a bit boring. Even if it does seem to constitute more than half my life. So, I'm going to try and limit Studio posts here, and keep the other blog updated. Please do go and follow that one, to keep up on our Red Seed happenings.

Good night dear Friends. I thank each and every one of you for the kind, thoughtful, sweet, supportive comments I have been receiving.