day 4.

Went to the fish market.
the fish market in Sydney is the second largest in the world. Only behind the one in Tokyo, Japan.
It was definitely big and there were plenty of fish of different colours, sizes and smells. But it wasn’t as expansive as I had imagined. I thought it would be this huge maze of shop after shop after shop. Not quite.

mmm...


i can only wonder how big the WHOLE fish was.


pucker up!


so many fishies.


It was only 11:30am but looking at all the fresh fish and the smell of fish and chips started to tickle my taste buds. I decided that resistance would be futile and ordered myself some fish and chips. $5 got me a huge piece of fish and a mountain of fries.

It was delicious. I’m not sure if it was the best fish n’ chips I’ve ever had but they were pretty darn good.

After seeing all those dead fish.
I decided to head to the aquarium to look at some LIVE fish.
I’ve been saving the aquarium for a rainy day (literally). But I’ve actually been very fortunate with the weather. It has been sunny every day with the temperatures around mid-20s. just perfect for walking around and touring the city. Not too hot and definitely not too cold.

to get to the aquarium, i walked through darling harbour.


As with everything else in Sydney there is an admission fee for the aquarium. Your student ID gets you a small discount - $19 for a day pass. And let me just say this. It is worth EVERY penny. I loved it.

here's me and bruce!


i assure you that THAT is not a rubber crocodile.


who knows how to tell a crocodile and an alligator apart? by it's size? no. by it's snout? no. the most reliable way to tell them apart is to look at their teeth. with alligators, the lower teeth fit in under the upper "lip". so when an alligator closes its mouth you can only see it's TOP teeth. whereas with crocs you can see both the top and bottom teeth when the mouth is closed. see my visit to the aquarium WAS an educational experience!

these are called "little penguins". seriously.

they were SO cute!

there were also seals... he blinked!

another neat little fact: do you know why seals wave their fins in the air while swimming? it's for heat-regulation. their fins are the only part that don't have any hair. and so, they wave it in the air to cool off!

and SHARKS!


i actually touched a shark.

this is a port-jackson shark. it is just a little baby. just 8 months old. they don't get terribly big, just a few feet at most. and they have teeth that are more like our molars. i was expecting it to be slippery and slimey. it was actually a little bit like sandpaper.

later that night some friends and i went out for dinner and then for drinks at the belgian beer cafe.
among other things, i had a little sampler. those look like full pints but they were actually little 100mL glasses. i SWEAR!



the gang: stephen, grace, tina and jules. stephen is a toronto boy here for teacher's college. grace and jules are here for dentistry. tina is a local finishing up her degree in pharmacy.

i think this was my favorite day.