The gentoo penguins are just some of the big personalities at the popular Auckland aquarium. Photo / Sea Life Kelly Tarlton's Aquarium.
The gentoo penguins are just some of the big personalities at the popular Auckland aquarium. Photo / Sea Life Kelly Tarlton's Aquarium.
INSIDERS GUIDE TO ... Sea Life Kelly Tarlton's Aquarium
Genevieve Le Hunt from Sea Life Kelly Tarlton's Aquarium talks about swimming with sharks, rescuing sick turtles, and a penguin couple celebrating their 25th anniversary.
Sea Life Kelly Tarlton's Aquarium is a celebration of incredible aquatic creatures, both native to New Zealand and found around the globe and the passion of underwater pioneer Kelly Tarlton. Alongside seeing the displays of aquatic animals, visitors can get hands-on in the tidal touch pools, enjoy the seahorse sanctuary, take a stroll through our famous shark tunnel and get up close to our penguin colony at the Antarctic Ice Adventure.
Young visitors are often captivated by the aquatic critters on display. Photo / Sea Life Kelly Tarlton's Aquarium
The Penguin Passport and Shark Cage Snorkel are two extra special experiences. The Penguin Passport allows visitors to explore the wonderful snow-filled penguin enclosure, get up close and personal with the magnificent king and gentoo penguins, and chat with the penguin keeper.
Snorkelling with sharks is exhilarating, and the cage is submerged in our predator tank so you're guaranteed to have a close encounter of the shark kind. Through the cage's clear perspex bottom you can also marvel at stingrays and other fish from New Zealand's coastal waters swimming below, often only feet away.
A sand tiger shark surveys the scene at the shark tunnel. Photo / Richard Robinson, Sea Life Kelly Tarlton's
At our shark tunnel, you can walk under some of the world's biggest aquarium sharks, including the sand tiger and broadnose sevengill sharks. The famous shark tunnel was built by Kelly Tarlton, who also built the first-ever curved aquarium tunnel, which has since been to be replicated throughout the world.
The incredible creatures of the aquarium really do have their own personalities, particularly the penguins, who are very inquisitive. Two, Buster and 99, will be celebrating their 25th anniversary in August. The pair have successfully reared 19 chicks together.
A lot of visitors don't realise that Sea Life Kelly Tarlton's Aquarium is also home to New Zealand's only turtle hospital. For more than 20 years, we've been working in conjunction with the Department of Conservation and the New Zealand Centre for Conservation Medicine, rescuing sick turtles that wash up on beaches around New Zealand and returning them back to the wild once they're fit.
For more the 20 years, the aquarium has also served as the country's only turtle hospital. Photo / Sea Life Kelly Tarlton's Aquarium
When it comes to future plans, we are very excited to be launching a new interactive exhibit in October, called Sea Cave Adventure. The exhibit is a celebration of the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park, and includes four themed chambers where visitors will encounter native octopus, eel, starfish, crayfish, pufferfish and crab species. There's also a zone with hands-on interactions, educational video and digital displays.
