I suppose in any place, there are things that locals do, and things that tourists do, and some attractions that work for both. In Auckland, Kelly Tarlton's is worthwhile for tourists, but reasonably priced and convenient enough that it also serves the local community well. I mention this because we went on a weekend, and I have to strongly recommend against that.
The place was packed. It was crawling with parents and children and a large group of Japanese tourists, as well as us. There were things about this that made our trip less pleasant.
For one thing, we were happy to learn that there was a free shuttle to Kelly Tarlton's. It's that van with the shark and two penguins on top. Not that big, huh? We were left behind by it twice, first on the way there and then for our return. The attraction was converted from an old water treatment plant, so is very much on the outskirts of town, and not walkable. When the full van passed us by on the way there, we grabbed a taxi. When it happened again after we exited, we took a bus. Nothing tragic, but both times we spent money that we had not planned on spending. I have to say, the van driver was not helpful. The shuttle is hourly, and they do not make extra trips no matter how many people are waiting. This might not have been a problem on a weekday.
We had purchased advance tickets, and when you go in, you are supposed to skip the line and go into the express lane. Unfortunately, both the express lane and the regular lane are handled by the same people, and the regular line is closer to the actual window, so you stand around waiting, realize you will be there forever, and then cut in while feeling very rude, even though it is pretty much what you have to do. Then they take your picture. Again, none of this would have been as bad on a weekday.
This makes the attraction sound like it's not very good, and that's really not the case. They just need to handle their flow better. Once you are in, there are a lot of things that are pretty cool. First of all, there are very few places in the world that have a giant squid on display. It is dead of course, but it is still kind of impressive. You get an idea of it's size, and they removed a section of one tentacle so you can get a closer look at the suckers and the talons that come from them. I would not want to meet one in the water. Fortunately, the odds of that are low.
They have a moving walkway that takes you through a tunnel under a large tank, with sharks and various fish, as well as several smaller tanks with things like piranha, seahorse, and lobster, as well as an octopus that we could actually see. I don't know if that is because they set up the environment better or we just got lucky, because usually when I am at an aquarium, the octopus is hiding really well. I did have the usual problems with aquarium photography, but there are more photos available (pictures 173 to 205 at http://harristravel.shutterfly.com/560). However, I want to spend more time on two things that were special.
So, in addition to the enclosed shark tank with the tunnel, they also have an open ray tank. There are clear, high sides so you can see them and hear them splashing, and maybe sometimes you could even touch them, but part of the tank had been sectioned off, and was being used for turtles.
An injured loggerhead turtle was being rehabilitated there, and was sharing that part of the tank with a green turtle and hawksbill turtle as well. Two of them were definitely being prepared for re-release into the wild, but for a while you could see them up close, and it covered the time we were there.
I love turtles. I don't know what it is, but they just make me happy. So we could watch these, and the loggerhead was quite lively. I know they can stay under for quite a while, but what he was doing was swimming from one side of the tank to the other and sticking his head up at each end. I think he was interested in the people. You'd think with all of that I could have gotten a good photo of his head sticking up, but he was moving too fast, and it was always blurring. Frustrating.
They were fun to watch, and it was worth going, but it also led to a brush with horror. Obviously, they had to capitalize on the turtles, so they had what they called Turtle-topia going on, with games and contests and a focus on children. Again, I am sure that we would have been better off on a weekday, but on this day, in addition to the coloring contest, there was live entertainment for the kids. There was a man on keyboard and a female singer, and this was probably their big break, getting a step up from birthday parties, but oh, the garish, multi-colored cheesiness. I couldn't get good pictures of them either. They were jumping around too much, and I think my camera was rebelling.
I will say they were enthusiastic. Sure, the song "I Love Turtles" may have been adapted from something else (like Elton John did with Candle in the Wind), but I think the song about how to make a baby turtle (no it wasn't dirty, nor at all accurate) and the one about plastic bags were probably written specifically for Turtle-topia, so good on them.
The other feature is really the one we went for. You see, there were many places with Antarctic Adventures or Discovery points on our trip. A lot of Antarctic expeditions depart from Australia and New Zealand, so it makes sense. However, this was the only one with a penguin habitat.
The exhibit is closed off, and you get into a snowcat type vehicle and go around on a track. The light and temperature patterns are set to mimic the seasons at the South Pole, so the colony of King and Gentoo penguins housed there are on the same breeding cycles as the birds in the wild. (When you are walking through the exhibit of Scott's cabin, there are also portholes where you can look in at the birds, but we did not make the most of this because we were trying to escape the mob. Weekend.)
Honestly, the area was a lot smaller than I pictured, but we did get to see both King and Gentoo penguins without going to Antarctica, so that is that. Since the humans are in the vehicles, all the birds see is the car going around, which does not seem to phase them. I thought they seemed a little crowded, but then they do that in the wild, so maybe they like it that way.
One factor that probably leads to the crowding is that to control the temperature while still connected to the rest of the building, they have to have these passageways in between. To keep the customers from getting bored during these steps, they have added some features. On the way in, they put in a tunnel where the wall rotates around you to similate a whiteout. This is quite similar to the avalanche simulation found on the Universal Studios tram ride. There was another parallel.
As we left the penguins behind, exiting that area, I saw another penguin in the new chamber, and was wondering if there was a separate group. Now, although penguins can stand quite still, the nerd in me was puzzled becasue it looked like an Adelie penguin, but it was too big, and they weren't supposed to have Adelie's anyway. Then I saw the seal, and realized I was looking at models because they would never let a seal anywhere near the penguins. Then we went back to Universal, as an animatronic orca rose out of the water with a seal in its jaws. Frankly, it was a bit more impressive than poor old Bruce (Jaws). Then there was some 2-D CDI footage of killer whales, and that was pretty much the end of the ride. Nonetheless, it was fun.
There is one other thing to know. As you are exiting, you are underground, and one arrow points to cars and one to buses. The way you take is actually which side of the road you come up on, and it is not a great road to cross so this is really kind of important. The shuttle bus is with the cars (if you can get on). Buses really just means the coaches that you're on if you are coming with a tour group. If you are going to catch a public transit bus back in to town, you want to be on the car side as well.
http://www.kellytarltons.co.nz/home/page.aspx
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