AQWA @ Hillarys, WA 2005
AQWA, formerly known as Underwater World, is Western Australia’s aquarium. AQWA is located about 30 minutes north of Perth city in Hillarys Boat Harbour. The aquarium is set out as a guide to WA’s coastline with four distinct areas,
- Far North Coast
- Shipwreck Coast
- Perth Coast Marmion Marine Park
- Great Southern Coast
AQWA offers more than just an aquarium for looking at fish and sharks. They have “AQWA Adventures” which includes diving or snorkelling with sharks (!) and whale watching during the whale migration months of September to December. They also have a cafe, bar and gift shop for souvenirs and can accommodate kid’s parties. They can even host a sleepover under the shark’s aquarium for kids. I was a little disappointed that the sleepover was for kids.
My favourite area of AQWA was the Shipwreck Coast. Its main attraction is the underwater tunnel running through a large aquarium filled with grey nurse sharks, stingrays or mantarays, hundreds of fish and a couple of large loggerhead turtles. It’s quite an experience as you stand on the conveyor belt while a giant grey nurse shark or smooth sting ray glides over your head! I loved the experience so much, I went around the circular tunnel at least 3 times!
Another one of my favourite areas of AQWA was the touch pool. The pool is home to stingrays, Port Jackson sharks, many fish, slate pencil urchins, starfish, a cuttlefish and more. I got a thrill out of sticking my arm elbow deep (and more!) to say hello to the stingrays, starfish and my favourite, the Slate Pencil Urchins. It was a bit more difficult trying to touch the fish, as they would swim away when they saw your hand coming too close.
There were many wall aquariums around AQWA as well, filled with colourful fish, lobsters, seahorses, seadragons, jellyfish, anemones and more. There was even an enclosure for crocodiles (only little ones) and outside, there’s Seal Island, where 2 female seals swim and play, and the Stingray Bay, the shallow pool of water where 2 species of stingray happily coexisting together.
If you plan to visit AQWA, make sure you give yourself at least two hours to wander the aquarium. There’s so much to see and learn (and touch!) and you wouldn’t want to be rushed. Keep in mind, this is a kid friendly place, and there’s going to be many children running around and making a lot of noise, so bring your patience with you.
See photos from our AQWA trip in the AQWA photo gallery page.
