Sunday, December 17, 2006

muirauqA

The last stop on my tour of southwest Australia was the Busselton Jetty. The 140-year-old jetty, measured at 1841 meters (more than 6000 feet), is the longest wooden jetty (pier) in the southern hemisphere. It has had a long and interesting history and is truly a corner stone of the Busselton community. There are even plaques to old timers who have passed on that were regular fixtures on it.

While the jetty itself is not all that interesting, the underwater observatory at the end of it is amazing. At the end of the jetty there is a 12 meters (40 feet) in diameter and it extends to the sea floor 8 meters (26 feet) below the water. There are 11 acrylic windows that allow the fish too look in and see the humans in their natural environment.

The posts for the pier can be seen through the windows. They are completely covered in different types of corals and other creatures. There are also numerous fishes swimming around. They move from window to window to examine the humans inside the tank.

4 comments:

Damien Huffer said...

Ooooo! Very cool, and beautifull looking too! I'll just have to return someday to see it!

Anonymous said...

ok now that's cool!

Emily said...

I like the image of the fish checking out the people. it is pretty absurd when you think about it that way--who's having the last laugh here?

Owen said...

The fish are definitely having the last laugh.