I’ve now had 2 full days to explore this city, and have done a fair bit: Yesterday, I started things off at the aquariaum, which was most excellent, except for the oodles of school kids that were there.
Of most interest was that I saw a duck-billed platypus there!
This is the first one I’ve ever seen.
It is small and most definitely cute.
There were also the standards - fish, seals, sharks, crabs, etc.
The ‘walkthrough’ section, where there’s water on 3 sides of you, was wonderful, full of giant rays and sharks, etc. I took a photo looking at fish through my feet, which is kind of fun.
After the aquarium, I ventured over to the Powerhouse Museum, which is essentially a museum of industraial history & design.
They happened to be featuring an exhibit of how the story & characters of the Star Wars series relates to classical mythological tales, which also had many costumes and production drawings & models, which of course, I absolutely ate up.
Also of interest was Ecologic, an exhibit featuring small changes that can be made to current pop-tech to make it more eco-friendly and sustainable (like using dirty water in toilets, or 2-flush-level toilets, etc), which I found fascinating.
There was an also an exhibit on furniture design called From Mod to Memphis, which featured all the fabulous plastic & material design from the 60’s to the 80’s (and the Memphis design collective, of course).
After the Powerhouse, it had started to rain, so I made my way back to the hotel.
In the evening, my dad and I went to see the ballet at the Sydney Opera House, which was a great experience.
The ballet, 3 short pieces in celebration of the Australian Ballet’s 40th & the Western Australian Ballet’s 50th anniversary was also quite good, with the first piece, a whimiscal piece about a party, being my favourite.