Another red letter day approaches next Monday, opening the indoor areas of the zoo.

Visitors have been really understanding over a month of outdoor-only opening, reflected in us reducing the price by 50 per cent during this time, one of many balancing acts zoos have had to traverse.

And, of course, everyone's appreciated getting back out and about, greeting old favourites and making new friends.

I'm talking from the animal perspective just as much as the human, as so many of our inhabitants clearly love the stimulation of 'people watching'.

But it's going to be fantastic opening up indoors again, including our tropical and reptile hall.

I'm also ridiculously excited about finally opening our full new marine section, after months of behind-the-scenes work.

Like most jobs, it's still expanding to fit the time available, and I'm hoping I won't have to work through the night to get it finished five minutes before it opens!

Its four huge marine tanks will contain an array of fish and sealife, including exciting some new additions with plans for more to complement the carefully balanced ecosystem over time. As with all the animals we introduce, these are from responsibly sourced and captive bred populations.

Like our amazing upside-down jellyfish, it's a privilege to introduce people to these incredible creatures, bringing to life fascinating and important details about their lifestyles, habitats, threats, and importance to worldwide ecological balance.

It's also involved me wrestling with a massive high-tech filtration system that I suspect originated on the Space Shuttle- or perhaps the Starship Enterprise.

Taller than I am, it's been a marathon giant 3D jigsaw puzzle putting it all together, in partnership with assistance from other zoos, and a friend of mine is convinced its rumbling tank and tubes have the capacity to produce a sneaky pint of craft beer!

Currently settling and reaching system stability, like all our environments, we'll monitor the tanks carefully, in this case measuring factors like salinity, ph, temperature and ambient light.

Not currently alcohol percentage by volume though- although, hang on, what's that pump?