Days Out...

Blue Planet Aquarium

Yesterday, I took Aum and his friend Max to the Blue Planet Aquarium. We set off at about 11.30am, and it took us just under an hour to drive there. Because we arrived around lunch time, the first place we went was to the cafe, where we had hotdogs and the boys had slushes and chocolate bars (very healthy!), then we went downstairs to begin going around the aquarium.

We started in the Freshwater Life section, where fish such as pike and perch were... then we moved on to the more exciting parts! The first was The Amazon, which had piranhas and a separate amphibian section, obviously my favourite due to the abundance of frogs on display! There was also a 'Venom' section full of poisonous snakes and creepy crawlies.

We then went upstairs to continue our journey, and got to look inside a replica rockpool and touch some rays which was fun. Within the same section was the new Giant Pacific Octopus tank which was very impressive, and also an interactive bit with quiz scratchcards, which kept the kids entertained.

By this time it was 3pm, and the Aquatheatre shows were on every hour, so we sat and watched the sharks and fish being fed, and learnt a bit about the different breeds of sealife and the equipment and kit needed to go scuba diving. The largest sharks are the Sand Tiger Sharks, which can reach upto 3.2 metres in length. They are lovingly named Wilma, Betty, Cloud, Storm, Flair, Fergal and Alfie.

Afterwards we went through the Aquatunnel (which unfortunately had the moving walkway turned off) and came out in the coral reef area. The boys especially liked the clownfish, and I managed to find a fish that was the exact Leeds United football colours, so took a photo to show to my dad - an avid fan!

We stopped in the gift shop on the way out, as of course the boys wanted some sweets for the car journey home and a souvenir. We also bought the photo they had taken as it was really cute! We skipped the otter section outside as it was getting quite late and I didn't want to hit the traffic travelling home.

Overall it was a nice day, and the kids really enjoyed themselves; but it cost us £38 to get in and really only took us two hours to complete (and that was slowly!) so I would save a trip there for a special treat.