Kelly Tarlton's is a zoo full of arctic animals; mostly sting rays, sharks, other fish, and penguins.
Kelly Tarlton's is about 15 minutes away from central Auckland, but there is a free shuttle bus that runs every hour.
We didn't make it on the 10am bus, because it was full, when we got there! So we walked around the city a little bit, before catching the 11am shuttle.
Once at Kelly Tarlton's, we first looked at a replica hut of Captain Robert Falcon Scott, one of the earliest South Pole explorers. Scott and his crew did make it to the South Pole in 1912, a little after Roald Amundsen, but died with his four crew members on the journey back to base.
During the expedition, Scott wanted to make accurate records of geographical and zoological observations, so he carried a lot of instruments and photography equipment with him. The hut even has a dark room to develop the pictures!
After Scott's hut, visitors come up to a giant pool full of sting rays. The sting rays are clearly one of the main attractions at Kelly Tarlton's, and they were really impressive. Apparently, the biggest sting ray they have weighs 200 kg and has a wingspan of 2 meters!
 Sting Ray (Wikipedia) |
One woman was brave enough to touch a sting ray, when it poked its wing out of the water. She reported that it felt slimy.
Later, however, when an animal caretaker fed the sting rays and answered questions from the audience, she explained that the skin of sting rays is covered in acidic mucus that burns skin... I wonder if the "brave" woman ever felt "the burn".
After looking at the sting rays, Mohsen and I decided to take a ride with the "Snowcat" mobile. The snowcat is a small, red car that takes visitors through the penguin land. You can't leave the car, but we did get close to the penguins. They have both King and Gentoo penguins.
After visiting the penguins, we looked at the sharks. The sharks, as well as some sting rays, a turtle, and a whole lot of other small fish are contained in two big aquariums. Visitors can walk through them in a giqan glass tube. This gives the impression that you are really up close to the fish, as they swim past you above your head!
Finally, there was a large gift shop with mostly plush animals. I didn't get a plush animal, but I did get a post card of the King penguins.
But there are only so many fish you can see in one day... So we took the shuttle back to Auckland centre and decided to take the ferry to Devonport.
Devonport is a little harborside village on the North Shore peninsula that extends into Waitemata Harbour. It is popular with tourists for its many restaurants and shops. Also, there are two mountains, Mount Victoria (Takarunga) and the North Head (Maungauika). Mount Victoria is the highest vulcano on Auckland's North Shore, and there used to be a Maori "pa," or fort, on top of it. The North Head is also of volcanic origins. European settlers used it for military defense of the region. One can still see canons and guns on the mountain, or explore the old military tunnels.
Today, we only walked up the North Head. The view from the top is amazing; one can see Auckland and the harbor. Of course, by that time my camera was dead... so you just have to believe me when I say the view was great.
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