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| Penguins at Kelly Tarlton's |
I've always been a fan of zoos and aquariums so I thought I'd check out Kelly Tarlton's Antarctic Encounter out on Tamaki Drive here in Auckland. I have been warned by friends that its a small venue and that I might not enjoy myself, but hey, if its popular with kids it should be equally good for the kid at heart right?
As usual, PIC was my partner for this particular crime and we took advantage of coupons from the Entertainment Book I received as a "Welcome to NZ" present from a good friend. I'm not a big coupon fan, but apparently there are coupons and vouchers galore for everything here in NZ and it was a pretty good deal. Basically, we get an entry ticket free for every ticket we buy, so it was a 50% discount for us to get into the attraction. There was another buy-one-get-one coupon to get into the Shark Cage attraction and I was super keen to get in but it was all booked out by the time we got there. Oh well, on to Antarctica!
After getting your tickets, you are immediately ushered in front of a green screen where your photo is taken. Which is cute, as this is for souvenir photos you can pick up at the end of the tour -- unlike your usual roller coaster or freaky ride photos, your hair is actually in place for this one and you get to give your best attempt at a celebrity smile for it. Vain little twit that I am, I was actually looking forward to seeing what I looked like in those photos while cruising around the aquarium.
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| Penguin Videos |
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| More Penguin Videos |
Anyway, once in, the path is littered with little penguin tracks that guide you where to go and what to see. The first room shows you the vehicles used to explore Antarctica. To the side there's a window that let's you see through to the area where the penguins were, and several video screens where you can actually watch the birds up close and see what they are up to. There was also a small glass case that displayed eggs, feathers, and preserved penguin chicks which I deliberately avoided eye contact with. I'm an adrenaline junkie, but I cannot stomach biological grossness. I can't even eat proper balut with the chick!
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| Penguin Tracks and Glass Case with Eggs |
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| The Snow Trac |
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| @ the Station exhibit - dark room for the explorers' pictures |
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| The Pantry |
After passing this main room, your are led through a path that winds through what the Antarctic station looks like and you get an idea of how the explorers lived, what they had and what they used, etc. It wasn't interactive, but there is a voice over that tells you what the explorers had to go through and what most of the items were used for.
Once out of the station exhibit, you go through a short hallway and will be led into a small open space that leads off to the aquariums and the penguin room. Before you get there though, the middle of the room is actually an interactive space designed for kids. I really love that they added this piece as kids can stay and play in this area and do so many things. They get to see for themselves how a shark's jaw works, what it feels like to walk with penguin fins, ride a simulated deep sea explorer, play around giant replicas of turtles, and shark heads, and view a day in the life of a penguin. I so wanted to try the fins, but I'd be pushing through kids around 3-5 years old to get my way, so I skipped it.
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| playing with fins |
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| Entering Scott Base |
We moved onto the penguin house where you get to ride one of those trucks and pretend you are exploring the Antarctic like the original explorers did. Again, giant voice over, but to be honest I was only half listening as I was too busy taking photos. The penguins were cute and it was so cool to be so close to them. Although most of them just stood there like little penguin statues. There was a handful that were interesting though. There was this one guy who was on board a little floating device and it looked like he was manning a raft and it was funny because he could always swim right? Yes, I am assuming it is a he as only guys can be so lazy he-he. There were about three also who were chasing each other in a loop for God knows whatever reason but it was fun to watch all the same. Unfortunately we couldn't just sit in a spot to stare and take pictures as the buggy / truck kept us in constant motion through the whole penguin area. There was this little fella that dove in when he saw us though and followed us for a bit but gave up halfway through.
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| Can you see the baby penguins? |
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| This was the guy that stalked our truck |
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| More penguins! |
After visiting the penguins it was then time to move to all the other fishies of the sea. Funny how since the movie went out, it seems that all aquariums now have clown fish in them. This was no exception. What was unique about this aquarium? Well they certainly weren't stingy with the sharks or the stingrays, you see them every few minutes while going through the tanks. Also, they had a preserved giant squid on show!
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| The friendliest turtle ever |
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| it actually took to PIC |
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| Shark! |
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| stone fish? |
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| the gang is here! |
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| No wonder they get lost, they hide VERY well |
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| Octopus: wonder if this guy predicts lotto scores |
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| Giant Squid! |
Overall review? Its more of a kiddie attraction than anything else and it would be a good afternoon to spend with your kids. The tour itself was a short walk through the whole place, and while there was a mini cafe in the middle space for drinks and snacks, it wasn't really conducive for afternoon tea, but more just a stop in case the kids get a bit peckish. Because its small, once you're done, you're done and there's not much else to do unlike in a zoo where you can literally stay the day if you wished. The nice plus about Kelly Tarlton's is that its educational and imparts eco-consciousness without being too in your face about it so kids don't feel like they're being force fed information at all.
Now the tour ends and I finally get to see my photo! For somewhere between NZD 30-35 a pop (I forget the exact price), you can get a little pack with two 5x8 photos of you from the green screen superimposed onto a penguins in the Arctic scene, another where you are being devoured by Jaws, two postcards of the same photo in two other frames, two more key chain sized photos and key chains to put them in, a CD to take you through the whole experience again, and an access code that lets you download a soft copy of all your photos from their website. I thought it was pretty cool so I got mine while PIC went on and on about how useless and expensive it was for a novelty. Well, there really is no use arguing over the price of novelty with a person who still gets excited with each full length animated film that is released, and thinks that yellow rubber duckies will never be uncute or uncool.
http://www.kellytarltons.co.nz/
http://www.entertainmentbook.co.nz/
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