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.