We finally made it guys, New Zealand! It’s been a long time coming, but my parents and I have finally set foot in “the land of the long white cloud” for a holiday that has been planned for a few years now, with Mum being Kiwi and all. And what a great first sight to see than Kelly Tarlton’s Sea Life Aquarium in Auckland! My parents and I will be travelling all around the North and South Island on our holiday, so don’t worry guys, it’s not just going to be zoos and aquariums for us. I’m going to be writing about so much more, especially things you don’t get to see in Australia. So, strap yourselves in, because this is just the start!
Who Was Kelly Tarlton?
Sea Life Auckland is an underwater wonderland of turtles, rays, sharks, penguins and much much more! The city’s aquarium is named after the famous free diver and marine conservationist who built Sea Life Kelly Tarlton’s shortly before his death. His love of underwater adventure started early throughout his teens, and this theme of diving can be explored through the innovative design of the aquarium’s tunnels; a concept which had not been seen in many aquariums at the time. The aquarium was a huge hit for the public! It took only 18 short months for the attraction to gain 1 million visitors. However, Kelly Tarlton himself sadly couldn’t be there to see how successful his achievement was, passing away only 7 weeks after Sea Life’s opening. Now the aquarium takes his name in honour of his hard work and victories.
Lets Go!
First things first, we got our photos taken like all great Sea Lifes, and many New Zealand attractions I might add. Pretty much every place we visited here we had our photo taken before we entered the building. But some of these photos were actually really cute and funny, so we bought some of them. Others, however… let’s just say it wasn’t a good photo day. Anyway, we went straight through to the first section of the aquarium which is set up to replicate the Antarctic hut of famous explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott. It was really fascinating to see what these people would live like during their time at the South Pole, although I definitely wouldn’t want to stay here.
On to the penguins! Probably my favourite part of the aquarium, the penguins were so lively and so adorable. It was feeding time so that definitely helped with the bird’s energy levels. But even the king penguins on top that weren’t going anywhere near the other penguin’s food were up close to the windows, flapping about, waddling back and forth, and just doing average penguin things. We had a perfect demonstration of the animals’ way of “proposing” where they find pebbles or chunks of ice and give it to their penguin partner. Some of them were even stealing pebbles from other’s nests. It was all just too cute. It wasn’t long either before we noticed one of the Gentoon Penguins was actually nursing an egg!
After many pictures, videos, smiles and laughs, we moved on to the next part of Sea Life’s wonders. We walked out into an eating area with a little cafe and tables, only to notice that the room was half underwater! I stood at the window for a bit, trying to see some kind of New Zealand sea creature, but there was nothing there at the time. Lucky for me, there was a whole tank full of fish, rays, and turtles! One of the turtles in the tank had an amputated flipper, but it looked so resilient in the water. I had a really nice time here. While my parents had bought something to eat that I didn’t like (yes, I’m a picky eater), I just happily sat myself on the ground and took some photos of all the wonderful creatures in the tank. Everything was so different, but they were all swimming along, happy in each other’s presence.
Now we cruised along under the shark tunnel with some of the world’s largest aquarium sharks. We were carried along a conveyor belt through the tunnel, or you could step off to stop and take photos or just walk along if you wanted. Although they had some amazing sharks, I was more mesmerised by the size of their rays in this exhibit. Each time they would swim over the top of us, they would completely block out whatever light was trying to pass through. Let’s just say, I wouldn’t want to come across one of these rays while swimming. But behind the glass, they did look quite funny going over the top of you, as if they were looking down and smiling at you as they swam past.
Anyway, we got to the end of the shark tunnel, to one of the workers standing by the starfish pond. You could touch the starfish! Honestly, they did not feel the way I was expecting them to; they were a lot harder with spines you couldn’t really see from the surface of the water. There were creatures of all different shapes and colours that all felt so weird to touch. Some of them I was honestly a little hesitant to feel because they reminded me of a camouflaged stone fish that has enough venom to kill a human in just a few short hours. But hey, all sea creatures look a little weird, so I gave it a few quick pets and I was onto the next starfish. The lady standing by the pond was absolutely lovely; very chatty and very passionate. Perfect for her job if you’d ask me, with all the kids coming by wanted to give the starfish a pat on the back.
We only had a few more little guys to see. Well, they weren’t all little. The lobsters were giants compared to other species I’ve seen, and the eels were no different. They also had a cheeky little octopus that we were told likes to hide, and just as they said, he was. Dad and I had to climb up one of the kids’ slides so that we could actually see the little critter squished into the corner of the tank. The last section of the aquarium was the little sea dragons and tropical fish. Now the sea dragons did look a little strange all stretched out, but the whole aquarium was so colourful, especially with all the coral glowing under the fluorescent lights.
So, with a perfect start to the New Zealand holiday, it just makes sense to buy something from the gift shop. They had so many adorable stuffed animals for the kids, and the adults of course! But obviously, the first souvenir I buy is a Pride penguin with a rainbow raincoat. Every dollar from each of these penguins is donated to Minus 18, a charity that aims to bring awareness, support and education for lgbtqia+ youth, to create a safe and comfortable Australia for the minority. So thank you Sea Life!
All photos in this post were taken by me.
For more information, visit https://www.visitsealife.com/auckland/
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