After seven months of construction, the iconic Sea Life Sydney Aquarium opened its new $5 million interactive exhibit, Day and Night on the Reef. The highly anticipated exhibit is the largest Great Barrier Reef display in the world!

The interactive new experience, developed by a team of over 100 people, takes guests on a colourful journey of the world-famous Great Barrier Reef right in the heart of Sydney.

Celebrating 30 years of operations in 2018, Day and Night on the Reef has demonstrated how SEA LIFE Sydney has continued to innovate, using state-of-the-art technologies to create a totally immersive and interactive experience that goes well beyond the traditional aquarium concept. SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium hopes its guests will see this as an opportunity to really experience the beauty of the reef and understand some of the threats it faces.

SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium’s newest exhibit is now home to hundreds of beautiful sea creatures, including Myrtle the rescue turtle and her fellow turtle friends Dave and Choung. Guests will also get to see the critically endangered sawfish, Maori Wrasse and schools of tropical fish. As one of the seven wonders of the natural world, the Great Barrier Reef is on the bucket list for many Australians and international guests, so Day and Night on the Reef has been designed to convey several distinct ‘time zones’ which reflect various moments in time that are experienced on the reef during the day and night.

Visitors will start their journey at '6pm' on the Reef, awed by the expansive coral garden which glows under the ‘night’ lights. Then, they can journey through ‘Jelly Lullaby’ and be immersed in a forest of glowing jellies, walk along the bioluminescent shore of Moonlight Beach and watch footsteps glow as tiny bioluminescent organisms inhabiting the coral reef light up the ocean below. New technology enables guests to witness a digital display of the rare phenomenon of coral spawning, and control the current through motion sensors, learn about how we can protect the reef and watch the life-cycle of a turtle through projection mapping; from nesting until the birth of the new hatchlings