Once we claimed our tickets (no we weren't able to shout a couple of kids free ticket, sadly..) and stepped into Kelly Tarlton's, it was destination South Pole straight away.
So off we went, FULL SPEED AHEAD!!
We arrived at Scott's Hut, a reconstruction of the hut built by Captain Scott's 1910 - 1913 British Antarctic Expedition. For more informations about Captain Scott's expidition please click here.
Eventhough these items were used by Captain Scott and crews more than a century ago, there were few things kind of reminded me when I was a little fella, and this was one of them..
A manual sewing machine!!
I remembered grandma and mum used to sew with this machine, I tried to help but had no idea what I was doing.. it was fun thou. Bring back the good ole days..
Anyway moving on, we arrive at Tutle Bay after visited the hut.
First thing we saw was this...
Cheh~ I thought.. What's so special about these turtles.. unless they can all turn into ninja? Suddenly a big open space appeared in front of my little eyes!
Wow! And followed by another WOW!!
A real sea turtle!! There were two of them in this tank and they were just huge!!
Although it is hard to justify their size from the photograph but trust me, THEY ARE ENORMOUS!! Once in a while one of them will come up to the surface of water for some fresh air..
And man what a big turtle head... but honestly, not as big as mine, honestly..
After we had enough of turtles, we headed off to Stingray Bay, and check this out!
The size of those turtles were nothing compare to these creatures. Their 'wing span' was my height plus, heaps more!! I know I'm not a tall guy but I'm just trying to explain how big they are.
Oh! Crickey! Look at this! This is the dangerous part of this creature's body, stingray barb, which accidentally took away the life of our Ozzie favourite crocodile hunter Mr Steve Irwin in 2006.
It was a very sad day for a lot of people.. Have a look at this cool website dedicated to him by Animal Planet here.
Next we went into this underwater tunnel.
Oceanarium tunnel with moving walkway
There were free swimming sharks, stingrays, lots and lots of big fat fish which I don't know their names.
And for you information, the tunnel is safe. The wall of the tunnel was built with 7cm thick glass to protect us from the carnivorous shark. And apparently water is pumped straight from the Waitemata Harbour and nearly a quarter is replaced every day to keep it fresh. Pretty amazing really.
This underwater scene reminded me of the computer 3D animated cartoon 'Finding Nemo'.
Yea~ where is Nemo? Let's go find Nemo!
There was a section which contains smaller aquariums filled with different species of sea creatures.
Moray Eels
Stonefish
Pufferfish, the second most poisonous vertebrate in the world
Crayfish, alot larger then most crayfish I've seen in Chinese restaurants. They make fantastic sashimi by the way...
Octopussy
Look at these tentacles.. must be good suckers they are
Red Bellied Piranha, known for their sharp teeth and an aggressive appetite for meat
One of many Seahorses in the tank
Below are different species of saltwater fish and corals. Don't ask me what their names are. I don't have a clue..
And at last!!
Grumpy Nemo..
Known as Clownfish
Marlin and Nemo from 'Finding Nemo'?
Dory!!! Known as Regal Tang
What a fantastic setup for all the tropical aquariums!!
The journey hasn't finish just yet. There was this trip to the real Antarctic Encounter on a Snowcat that both of us couldn't wait to embark. We climbed up and the ride began. After about a minute ride and brief introduction, we were taken to the largest underground colony of sub-antarctic penguins in the world!
While we were watching these big and beautiful penguins, we noticed something.. couple of the penguins were having a bitch slap session!!
The one in the middle must be a male and the two females just went hard out slapping each other while they said: 'Biatchh!!' Survivor of the fittest. Like human, strongest bitch wins, all the time..
Then the Snowcat took us into another world where there were seals sitting by the rock peacefully. Suddenly a whale emerged from the water with a poor baby seals in it's jaw mouthful of teeth!!
Animal cruelty!! Thank God they were fakes...
What tha F@#K!! It hapenned so sudden it scared the shit out of me. I swear my heart must have stopped beating for a couple of seconds! This is so totally uncool.
And that concluded our amazing and definitely entertaining experience at this place thanks to Mr. Kelly Tarlton.
These afternoon's encounter was an unique event for me. It made me realize that us human are so tiny compare to a lot of living creatures. We have absolutely no right to destroy the natural habitat that they have been living in for thousands of years. Human being are the cleverest being on earth, are we really? I certainly feel a lot more appreciative and thankful for what I have in this life after today.
Please don't think I am full of crap.. It took me a good one and a half hour to write the above paragraph so piss off if you laugh your ass off right now. I'm trying hard to make it to some Hall Of Fame here.
Last but not least,
She is a twelve month old baby weight 50kg and 11m length. Found at Farewell Spit (Top of West Coast South Island)
Deep fried squid anyone?
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