I Touched a Starfish: SEA LIFE Melbourne Aquarium 2026

Travel Reflection

Melbourne, Australia

The six-year-old found the touch pool before I did. She came running over, shouting that she had touched a starfish, and it was the most useful piece of navigation I received all day.

I was in Melbourne visiting very dear friends, and we took their two daughters, aged six and eight, to SEA LIFE Melbourne Aquarium on the banks of the Yarra. Two days later, after several other outings, I asked the girls which one they had enjoyed most. Neither of them hesitated. The aquarium.

Built for the Dark

I love animals of every kind, and I have been to aquariums from Cape Town to Genoa. They share one quality that matters to me more than to most visitors: they are dark. An aquarium sets out to recreate the deep ocean, and the deep ocean is not well lit. That is a deliberate design choice, not a failing, but it is something I have to prepare for.

I engage with the world mainly through colour and shape. That makes attractions built around living animals harder than most, because you cannot ask a fish to stay still or swim a little closer. Aquariums give something back, though. The range of colour behind the glass is extraordinary, and colour is exactly how I can take in the variety of life in our oceans.

Very few sections here were too dark for me. At certain points I slowed down and gave my eyes time to adjust before moving on. I needed to do that most in the crowds. We visited during the school holidays and the aquarium was extremely busy, though never especially loud. My friends and I stayed close together, which made the darker stretches far easier than they would have been alone.

The layout helped too. This is a city aquarium, and the route runs in one direction, so everyone moves the same way and it is very hard to get lost. Every level was step free, with lifts and ramps throughout.

Small Hands, Wet Starfish

The touch pool was brilliant. I held a starfish and a shark egg casing under the water. A member of staff watched over the pool, making sure everyone handled the animals properly. She answered question after question and explained what each item was. The staff everywhere were friendly and warm and happy to chat, although being with friends meant I never needed to ask for help.

The girls’ favourite was Fuzz, the aquarium’s gloomy octopus. They were fascinated by the way he moved. What I enjoyed most was listening to them. They asked constant questions, and they took real pleasure in telling me facts about the animals that they already knew.

Standing Over a Crocodile

The crocodile enclosure asks something of you. You first meet its resident from below, through underwater windows. Then you walk up a set of ramps to view the enclosure from above, looking down through large glass panels. One section, about a metre and a half long, puts the glass under your feet, so you stand directly over the water.

It is quite intimidating. Plenty of people stopped at the edge, and those who did step out often did so with visible trepidation. The crocodile below is Coowonga, who arrived from Queensland this year.

Sharks Overhead

Sharks are always my highlight. I genuinely love them. Here you walk through a glass tunnel with the water all around you, and it feels less like looking at the ocean than standing inside it. A reef shark circled directly above us, so close I could see its white belly pass overhead.

The jellyfish were the opposite kind of pleasure. I find them calming, the way they drift and pulse with the current.

The penguins were a joy for everyone around us. The habitat is in the middle of upgrade works this year, and there were plenty of birds standing around on their makeshift beach. The best part was the underwater section, where we watched them dive in and race along the surface. The children we were with, and plenty of others, filled that space with laughter and shouts of glee.

Halfway round, we stopped at the café to rest our feet and build our energy back up for the second half.

Worth the Visit

SEA LIFE Melbourne is not the largest aquarium I have visited, and that works in its favour. It does not take long to walk around, yet there is plenty to see and engage with. If you have any interest in our oceans, go. And if you can, take a six-year-old who will run to find you the moment she touches a starfish.

Reader Challenge and Invitation

Somewhere near you there is a place that seems too dark, too busy or too much. Slow down at the door, let your eyes adjust, and go anyway.

All accessibility details in this article were verified against the organiser’s published information at the time of writing. This reflection is based on my personal experience on the day. Individual experiences may vary, and none of the points raised are intended as a judgement of the event itself, but as an honest account of how I navigated it with my own access needs.