Melbourne Aquarium – Gateway to the Great Southern Ocean

The Melbourne Aquarium is the world’s only Southern Ocean aquarium, which means that it can keep species that you cannot admire elsewhere.

The Great Southern Ocean

The Great Southern Ocean is the ocean surrounding the Antarctica. It merges into the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans.

Antarctica is the most inhospitable place in the world. It is very cold and windy, with a lot of water frozen into ice bergs. The Southern Ocean contains highly saline Antarctic sea water, which has led to the development of very unique marine life.

Aquarium Attractions

In the Melbourne Aquarium one of the main attractions is the oceanium where you walk through and underwater glass tunnel. You come face to face with Grey Nurse and Broadnose Sevengill Sharks, giant sting rays and sea turtles that swim all around you. This becomes even more exciting during feeding times.

For real adventure you can even go diving with the sharks. There are options for certified divers and non-divers. It’s not cheap but will get your adrenalin pumping.

There are many more exhibits, many of them a real feast for the eyes. There are the Weedy Seadragons – unique to Port Phillip Bay - giant crabs, a recreated billabong, a mangrove swamp and a coral atoll.

The aquarium is well worth a visit and a must-see with kids. It has a lot of fun interactive activities like seeing the world through the eyes of a fish, and arock pool where you can touch starfish and sea urchins.

Information

The aquarium is located on the Yarra at the corner of Flinders and King Streets. It is being renovated and is soon to be also an Antarctic Aquarium - with Antarctic fish and penguins in real snow.

It is open every day from 9:30am to 6pm (to 9pm in January) and it takes about 2 hours to move through the exhibits.

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