Wednesday, February 21, 2007

The One with H's Birthday - Who said Older meant Wiser?

Today is H's 27th Birthday, and we had a full on day of merriment planned. Following my idea of doing something crazy to celebrate ageing in another country, we looked for probably the most scary thing we could do.... and decided to go scuba diving in the Manly Aquarium....

....In the Shark Tank.

Down at Circular Quay, we also got a good look at the QE2 which had arrived the previous night. We had also seen the Queen Mary from the train the night before. These are huge ships which are particularly impressive when stationed in the harbour, as the little ferries show exactly how big they are.

We caught our ferry over to Manly, and had time for a quick 10 minute roast on the beach (not something you would do at home if your birthday was in February) before heading to the aqaurium. We were slightly early and had a chance to walk through the glass tunnel which looked up into the tank we would be getting into.

I don't like glass tunnel aquariums. I normally refuse to go in them, or else walk through with my eyes shut. In fact, I have only been through one with my eyes open and that was in Auckland at Kelly Tarlton's. Feeling nervous just walking through, I started to feel particularly uneasy when I saw not only the size of the Sharks, Sting Rays, and Manta Rays in the tank, but also the size of some very large and ugly fish. This would certainly be a test of character.

We met our trainer, and watched a video on the commands etc used in Scuba Diving. Was loving whichever marketing guru had decided to put the Jaws theme tune at the start of the video!

We got suited and booted - there were four of us diving with 2 trainers - and then got in the training pool to practice the skills we had learnt on the video, like clearing your mask, what to do if you lose your mouthpiece, and leveling your ears (making them pop when you go down to a lower level). Greg and Kim had arranged a trial dive for me before I left and I was certainly glad of that today, as I felt more confident with the commands which meant I could avoid being eaten. That said the nerves had really set in now.

With no time to change our mind, we swam through an entrance and into the main aquarium. It was weird being on the other side of the tunnel and waving to the children looking up at us! We didn't have to swim, as we were weighted to make us sink to the bottom, so just walked along the bottom of the tank.

Within minutes we had our first encounter with a shark, as they swam right over us. The Manta Rays were really friendly. They thought we had brought them food and came to investigate. One was so big the four of us could fit under it and it looked like a ghost swimming through the water.

As we walked along, one of the turtles started swimming towards me. They are a little dopey and will swim right into you, and with the weights on it's hard for me to move quickly... it was a close call!

We headed over the walkway to the other side of the aquarium and along. This is where most of the sharks hang out and is a much darker area. We had to skirt along the edge of the tunnel, as a Woologong shark was camoflaged neatly on the floor by the tunnel. Here we stood still so the sharks could get used to us, and some of them got really really close, swimming literally inches over or in front of us. A really exhilarating experience.

All in all we were in the water for about half an hour, and I was completely buzzing by the time I got out.

A quick ferry back to Sydney, and a rush to get ready. Lincoln and Suzanne joined us for some wine and Birthday Cake, and then we caught the train up to Newtown for a scrummy Thai meal at Newtown Thai Two

Then back on the train to Circular Quay to meet Gavin and Mike, and go to Minus 5 - the Ice Bar. It being summer here, I was in a dress and flip flops, so completely prepared for a bar which is minus 15 degrees! Thankfully they gave us East 17 style parker jackets, and ugg boots to wear, and we all looked as cool as the air around us!

You only have half an hour in the actual ice bar, and literally everything is made of clear ice - the seats, the bar itself, the shelfs and even the glasses. There were also lots of statues made of ice. Sadly you're not allowed to take photos inside the bar, although this did not stop a couple of naughtier members of our group taking secret squirrel photos from under the rim of their hoods!

We had our cocktail, nibbled at the ice glass, and before we knew it were back in the warm. Suzanne had taken a particular shine to the plastic socks she had been given and decided to wear them for the rest of the night.... or at least until we left the building!

We headed on to Jacksons and met up with Rich and Luke, and later on to Scary Canary's where we had a great evening boogy-ing. Luke teaches dance so we had a lot of fun throwing some shapes.

H and her men
Mike, Lincoln, H, Gav and Rich

All in all a fantastic way to celebrate your birthday abroad. Who said Older meant Wiser?!

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