Kelly Tarlton’s Antartic Encounter Underwater World

Sunday, September 16th, 2007 at7:48 pm by traveltripz

During other visits to Auckland we never seemed to get the time to go to the Aquarium. This time I was determined to go as the encounter had been recommended by a number of friends who had been and as we had puchased a combined Pass for the Skytower, Kelly Tarlton’s Underwater World and Rainbow world for $69.00 each we decided to take full advantage of the savings as against when the tickets are purchased separately.

There is a free shuttle bus every hour on the hour from 9am-4pm that leaves from just outside the Sky City entrance so we waited with a few others who were also going and sure enough the bus arrived on time to take us on a the pictuesque drive along the Auckland city waterfront.

Kelly Tarlton’s is only a 10 minute drive or six kilometres (3.7 miles) from downtown Auckland and is situated at 23 Tamaki Drive, Orakei. If you choose to drive yourself Kelly Tarlton's Map there is free carparking is available both in the Kelly Tarlton’s carpark and on Tamaki Drive.

We walk down the ramp and through the Antarctic Encounter, where there is a life-sized replica hut of South Pole explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott. The displays show exactly how the men lived in the bleak conditions in the Antartic.

Not being a fan of freezing weather I can only marvel at the fortitude of how these men existed in the icy conditions. There is lots of fascinating information about both Scott and his men.

Scott spent 12 preparing for the journey to the South Pole only to find the his rival Amundsen had beaten him by a month. Having not factored any margin for errors or delays into his plan meant that when the team sustained injuries, malnutrition, frostbite and exhaustion they were ill prepared for storms they encountered on the way back to base. The team succumbed to the cold and perished 11 miles from the supply depot.

When you come out of the hut there is so much to see so the first thing is to board the Antartic snowcat that takes you into a world of ice and snow where there is a colony of sub-Antarctic Penguins. We were lucky enough to see one of the chicks still covered in grey downy feathers, not yet having taken on the sleek black and white plumage of it’s parents.

The snowcat bounces you about as if you were going over rough terrain and there is a large glassed area where you get a fish eye view of the penguins swimming underwater.

After coming out of the penguin enclosure we pass by the sting ray pool. A young lady is going to feed the sting rays and so we sit down to watch and listen to the commentary. She informs us that she has only done this twice before and she is still a little nervous performing in front of the public. We assure her that everything is fine after all she is the one in the pool with all of the facts.

Watching these giant but graceful creatures brings back memories of Steve Irwin’s (the Crocodile Hunter) demise from the barb of a sting ray.

The people mover is being repaired on the day we visit so we meander along the walkway under the large perspex dome where sharks, grouper and an assortment of other fish swim lazily through the water above and on either side of us.

We make our way outside to find we have just missed the bus so rather than wait another hour we catch a taxi back to Karangahape Rd. From here we stroll along the main shopping road of our childhood, and my how the shops have changed. There are lots of Asian and Indian food shops and all the large department stores and picture theatres that we knew have gone. The Family and Naval Hotel is still there and boy do I have some family tales I could tell about that at a later date.

We turn into Upper Queen St and head back to the hotel to pick up the car and go to Torbay to visit my stepfather.