T-minus one month....

I have just about one month left here in Perth. Actually, make that one month to do the day. It's crazy to think that I've been here for three months already and that the semester is already winding down. I think everyone is feeling the time crunch now and trying to pack in as much as possible over the weekend. At points it can feel like there isn't enough to keep you busy and that you've seen everything, and at other points it seems like there are just some things that will slip through the cracks.
So these last couple of weekends, and assorted school days, have been packed full of activities. Everything from visiting the Maritime Museum in Freo to another King's Park visit (this time during normal hours). All were things on my to-do list before leaving Perth, but just as I crossed these off I was adding more things to the list.

Maritime Museum

walkway at King's Park

view of Perth CBD during the day

One of the things that I've wanted to check out all semester was AQWA-the Aquarium of Western Australia. Our study abroad group has a few activities planned throughout the semester to show us around Perth, and we headed over to AQWA this afternoon. It's a great aquarium that focuses solely on the coastlines of Western Australia. And after taking a marine biology class out here, I can assure you that this coastline is amazing. You follow a loop throughout the aquarium, moving from southern Australia up north along the coast. It's a great showcase of all things local and how diverse the 12,000 km coastline is.

I found Dory

some tame looking jellies

One of the features of the aquarium is Shipwreck Coast, Australia's largest walk through aquarium. You walk (or get on the moving sidewalk) through a tunnel where you can get up close and personal with sharks, stingrays, turtles, and heaps of fish.

underwater tunnel

The rays were by far the coolest part-they were huge first of all (10 feet across??) and would just glide over the top of the tunnel, hovering above you. I kept thinking back to the first study break when we were at Ningaloo Reef and got to swim with a Manta Ray, and how this is as close as I'm going to get to that for a while.

walking with the rays?

There were sharks everywhere, and they too would swim right alongside you as you moved through the tunnel. We were lucky enough to go through the tunnel at the end of feeding time and so all the fish were out.

The rest of the aquarium was devoted to the Perth coast and farther north. Lots of coral exhibits, saltwater crocodiles, jellyfish, and octopus.

jellies

moray eels

corals galore

They even have a section devoted to all the poisonous/deadly marine life of WA, and I've finally been here long enough that they don't really phase me anymore. The 'Danger Zone' features blue-ringed octopi (thank god I never saw one of those, however), stonefish, coneshells, sea snakes, and the list goes on.

The rest of this weekend will be spent checking things off my to-do list. I have this weekend and next weekend, a 10 day study break, finals week, and then I'm off to Adelaide! Where has the time gone??