Today we are going to the Aquarium in Cairns. It's very convienently located kitty-corner from our hotel. They don't open until 9:30 AM so we are able to sleep in a bit this morning. We find that the breakfast area is much more crowded later in the morning, as we are typically eating shortly after they open.
I wanted to wait to go the aquarium until after we had gone snorkeling. If we had done the aquarium first I thought the kids may be underwhelmed by the number of fish we see on the actual reef.
We had looked up information on the aquarium and found they have several animal talks at different aquarium tanks. Landon wants to go to the one on the life of sharks and rays, which starts at 11 AM, so that is our goal.
After arriving and getting a map, we see that the talk about sharks and rays is towards the exit. Since we don't know how long it will take to walk there, we decide to just head that direction right away, and we'll come back to the begining when we are done.
The aquarium is two levels and they have escalators that only move you in one direction, so we are hoping we can find a way to get back to the front.
As we are walking by the deep reef tank there is a guy just starting his talk on the Denizens of the Deep, so we stay and listen to his talk.
One thing that's nice about being there for the first talk of the day, is that's when they go into the tank to feed some of the fish.
When he's done with his talk we rush to the oceanarium for the shark and ray talk. The lady there says that if we are following the talks we can go back to the entrance and show our tickets and they'll let us back in the front. This is much easier then trying to go backwards through the inside.
This huge fish is a grouper, and it's considered a "baby." It's hard to tell from the picture, but it's probably 4' long. They can get over twice this big growing up to 3 meters (which is close to 10') and weighing up to 1,000 lbs. They eat by opening their mouths rapidly and creating a strong suction that will pull in nearby prey and they swallow it whole. They will eat fish, crustaceans, or even smaller sharks or turtles.
The Shovelnose Ray behind Kailey (the one bottom right) looks like a cross between a shark and a ray. The way to tell the difference is a shark has gills on it's side, and a ray has gills on it's belly.
The next talk was on the other side of the same tank, it was called Curious & Coloured.
They tell us there are two white tip reef sharks in the the tank, named George and Not George! These types of sharks will sleep in groups. A group of sharks is called a shiver.
A group of sting rays is called a fever. They will migrate in these groups. Cownose stingrays will migrate in fevers of up to 100,000 rays.
When this talk is done we pass through what they warned us is the most dangerous exhibit...the gift shop! We make it through safely though as we are just trying to make it back to the entrance. Since there is only one more talk that we haven't made it to yet, we rush there to hear the River Monsters talk as it's near the entrance.
These Blue Salmon Catfish can eat a whole Barramundi in only a bite or two. These catfish have venomous spines on their dorsal fin, and can live in any kind of water whether fresh, salty, or in between. They use electrical pulses to sense prey that is similar to electric sonar. The male catfish will incubate the eggs in its mouth for 4-6 weeks.
Above are Barramundi. It's hard to tell from the picture but they are around 2.5'-3' long. Barramundi can eat prey that is up to 60% of it's body length, and they will even eat baby crocodiles.
Close up of the Blue Salmon Catfish
After this talk is over we go back to the very begining to walk through all of the exhibits and see what we missed.
This is a Freshwater Moray Eel. These eels are the only found in the tropical environment in the Daintree River and the smaller streams that flow into it. They are noctournal, and they can emit a slime to help them slide through tree roots that are twisted and submerged or rock crevices.
Blue Crayfish
Eastern long-necked turtle has the ability to extend its neck more than twice the length of its shell. They have the ability to absorb oxygen through its skin to be able to survive in a low-oxygen water. They can also bury themselves in the mud and go into almost a hybernative state to survive long dry periods. If threatened they can release a foul-smelling musk from it's glands...who said farts aren't usefull?!
This is a Jardine River Turtle. A new turtle species only discovered in 1972 in the Jardine River in Paupa New Guinea. These are one of the only freshwater turtles known to have an orange salmon color on its lower shell.
These ants sound scary! They are highly invasive, and they can blind or kill small animals by spraying formic acid from their abdomens. They are origionally from Asia, but have spread to other tropical areas like Queensland, Australia, and even the Hawaiian Islands.
Baby crocodile only about 18" long
This crab looks like it has teeth in its pinchers!
Landon with some Blue-Spotted Lagoon Rays, the same kind Kailey and I saw while snorkeling.
Bannerfish
Needlenose Butterflyfish
Naso Tang
Harlequin Tuskfish is a type of wrasse and is common to the Great Barrier Reef. Along with its brightly colored outside, it also has blue teeth! Guess they need to brush more...
Crown of Thorns Starfish are really doing a number to the reefs. They can eat up to 10 square meters of coral per year, and the females can release over 200 million eggs in one spawning season. These Starfish can get up to 2 feet wide and grow up to 21 arms. While they can be a vital component to a thriving coral reef, they do monitor their numbers and will remove some of them if the population is growing too quickly
Olive Sea Snake. These are highly venomous snakes that live on the reef, and feed primarily on fish. They don't typically attack humans but I'm still glad I've never seen one.
Percula Clown Fish
Moray Eels
My cute little explorers
We managed to safely navigate back through the gift shop by telling the kids that this gift shop was probably more expensive than the shops at the night market and not the place to buy things.
Tomorrow we have nothing planned for the day, so Nate wants to rent a car and drive up to Port Douglas. Man suggested we do this if we had free time (our driver when we went to Kuranda a couple days ago). Nate researches car rental places and decides to get a quote from a locally owned shop. They are only a few blocks away, so we walk there to talk price and see if they have any available cars for tomorrow.
We thought this big leaf should be called Dinosaur toilet paper!
This is called Cat's Whiskers, and it's actually part of the mint family. It's a plant that is native to East Asia
This tree doesn't seem to respect boundaries...
I love the colors on this plant, I believe it's a Ti Plant
Nate agrees to a price and car at the rental place, so we book it and we head back to the hotel room. The kids are itching to go back to the playground, so Nate takes them down there while I catch up on a few notes for my blog. I then walk down to meet them, and we head for dinner.
They had a wheel chair swing at the playground, which is an awesome idea.
A bird pooped on Nate while he was watching the kids at the playground.
The restaurant next to us has a robot that will bring food to the table. The server still goes over to the table to hand out the dishes, and she has to program which table to go to. So I don't really think it's more efficient, but kind of fun and unusual.
We eat dinner at Hecho en Mexico. I try one of each flavor of taco; fish, pork, and beef. I really like the fish and pork tacos best.
Nate has a seafood burrito
When we get back to the hotel I have Nate change out of his clothes, and I use a Tide pen and hand wash his shirt in the sink with some laundry soap sheets. Thankfully the bird poop washes out okay and I hang the shirt to dry.
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