Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World » Kelly Tarltons Underwater World

Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World
07-02-2008

Here is the review of the main Aquarium in Auckland and I believe the second largest in NZ...

The origins of Kelly Tarlton's is quite interesting, Kelly Tarlton (obviously the man behind the aquarium) was a notorious NZ diver and inventor, he charted most of the wrecks around NZ, invented improvements to scuba gear and started NZ's first maritime museum (before the aquarium)...

Around 45 years old Kelly decided he was going to share his love of diving with everyone without them having to get wet and mortgaged his diving business and home to finance it... He and some friends found some unused sewerage tanks on the Auckland waterfront belonging to the council and set about building a 1,500,000 litre Oceanarium... What made this aquarium different is that they came up with the idea of building a curved tunnel using arcylic glass and bringing the public to the seabed instead of peering in through glass walls...

Budget constraints were a huge problem during the development, the arcylic glass had to be flown in in flat sheets and Kelly and the builders invented their own way of bending them using home made ovens...

When finished in 1985 NZ had a world first; arcylic underwater tunnel built for a fraction of what could be reasonably expected... In fact when Costeau's son came to the aquarium soon after opening he estimated its cost to be 15 million plus instead of the $2 - 3 million (1985 NZ$) it in fact cost...

Within 7 weeks of opening the aquarium had its 100,000 visitor about 80,000 more than expected (250,000 in the first year was required for the aquarium to be considered a success and remain open), later that night Kelly Tarlton died of a heart complications he knew he had but was not considered serious... The facility has been completely commercial from then on (it is now owned by Tourism Holdings Ltd) and has been true to Kelly Tarlton in name only...

Anyway thats the history of the place, thought it may be interesting, he's a quick run down of the place:

First off this place is very, very expensive ($29.50 per adult), it is after all a FOR PROFIT business and has been for 20 years... After entering you get a view into the climate controlled Penguin exhibit, they produce 3 tons of snow daily and the lights and temperature are computer controlled to mimic Antarctica, it also has a 250,000 gallon tank... You then walk through an extensive recreation of Scott's hut on his attempt (unsuccesfully) to be the first man to reach the South Pole...
See:
Robert Falcon Scott - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

After this you walk past a lot of information about Antarctica and enter the an Artarctic themed ride which takes you through the Penguin exhibit, the below photo was taken during the ride:

Penguin exhibit at Kelly Tarlton's:

http://www.zoobeat.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/2586

After this area is the second of three areas in the aquarium, it contains a childrens discovery area a food kiosk and a large tank focusing on Stingray's, called Stingray Bay (all my photo's for this area were out of focus)... This is the most modern tank at the aquarium and the most boring, it has no innovative features and could have been in a glass aquarium 50 years ago, it is a few metres deep at its deepest end (I've heard some avid aquarists singing this tank's praises so don't take my word for it), see the Wikipedia page link at the bottom for a look at this tank...

After this comes the two main Oceanarium tanks which was the original aquarium as a whole... It contains a shark tank,

Shark Tank:

http://www.zoobeat.com/gallery/showp...o=2587&cat=553

This tank contained the stingrays now in the previous area, but for almost 20 years they would have shark bites along their front edge... It has about 5 species of shark including Wobbegong and Broadnosed sevengill shark and few other ray and fish species...

As you move around the tunnel you move to the schooling fish oceanarium which also has sea turtles,

Main Oceanarium:

http://www.zoobeat.com/gallery/showp...o=2588&cat=500

The final area has the individual tanks incluing eels (freshwater and marine), venomous fish, pirahanas, crayfish, tropical marine fish, seahorses and octopus before exiting via the gift shop... See photos below...

Anyway I enjoy this place but before you go consider:

It is expensive, I would only recommend this place to enthusiasts or Auckland residents ($80 for a years membership) and it is a for profit business, the aquarium takes injured animals and releases them but this is the limit of their conservation work...

Here are some more photos:

Puffer and Lion Fish tank:

http://www.zoobeat.com/gallery/showp...o=2589&cat=500

Fresh water NZ eel Tank:

http://www.zoobeat.com/gallery/showp...o=2590&cat=553

Lion Fish:

http://www.zoobeat.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/2591

Live coral tank:

http://www.zoobeat.com/gallery/showp...o=2592&cat=553

Please also visit the Wikipedia page I have done quite a lot of the work on:

Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

07-02-2008

Thats very interesting Jeremy

07-02-2008

Thanks Jeremy. This sort of acrylic tunnel has been obligatory in every new aquarium since then, but I didn't realise it had been invented in New Zealand.

08-02-2008

Another great, extensive review of a zoological collection. I judge the zoos, aquariums and wildlife parks I visit on a number of different criteria, and one of them is the length of time that I spend at an establishment. How long did you spend at the aquarium? Did it meet expectations or were you slightly disappointed?

Kelly Tarltons ( Nigels perspective )
08-02-2008

I have been there a couple of time , but agree that it is expensive . Its not the sort of place that you would go to once a month , unless you were crazy about sharks , stingrays or penguins .

I stayed there an average time of approx 90 minutes .

From the road you have no real idea that such a place exists -- if it werent for the signs .
The aquiriam is underthe road surface . Most people see the entrance building
( not much bigger than a bus shelter ) and baulk about whether the admission fee is really worth the expense . I basically went there to show it to overseas visitors

08-02-2008

I think that there were a few glass tunnels before Kelly Tarlton's one, but they were all straight, Kelly's being the first to be constructed in a curve (but don't take my word for that).

I personally don't like Kelly Tarlton's, I consider it to be a rip-off. Far too expensive for what you get. Your average visitor probably wouldn't be complaining too much because they're only there to gawp at fish in a big tank, but really if you take out the big tank there's not a lot else there. I compared the Pattaya Underwater World to a Kelly Tarlton's type aquarium -- there's a few opening tanks then the big tunnel tank and that's about it. Kelly's does have the Antarctic bit (which isn't that great) and the Stingray Bay which I've heard is awesome (I haven't seen that bit since it opened), but it certainly isn't worth the money you're forking out.

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08-02-2008

Exactly right, I read this in the book about Kelly Tarlton I have, he went on a world tour of Aquariums and came up with the idea after seeing a tunnel with square shape...

Being the first the tunnel has horrible refraction with the curve of the glass making the fish appear 1/3 smaller than they are... Modern tanks have reduced this to a 1/4 or less...

@Snowleopard, you would spend no more than 2 hours here if you spend a good amount of time looking at each exhibit and read all the material, the average person would spend about an hour I think...

My own personal opinion is if Auckland was to open a world class, not for profit aquarium this one would be out of business within a year...

New Zealand is currently trying to build such a place (it has been modelled on Monterey Bay) but in Wellington:

Wellington Marine Conservation Trust

Wmct
08-02-2008

This has been a really contentious hot potato here , with alot of locals against it . They are still going through trying to get permits to build it , and lost the case in the Environment Court before I went to Malaysia . The fact that the issue is still up and kicking is something I have yet to find out how/why .

I think it was a good concept , especially if they can partner the whole wildlife concept with the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary and Wellington Zoo , but the design was the only thing that I had some doubts about .
It is still a LONG way off from being a reality -- I wouldnt hold my breath

08-02-2008

The WMCT has appealed the decision to the high court, I sent them a support e-mail after reading their website (I probably should have done a bit more digging but oh well)...

I got this feeling from their website thats why I said trying... Whats your opinion Nigel as a Wellingtonian and zoo fan, yay or nay..?

08-02-2008

NZ Antarctic display has thriving export trade in penguins | infonews.co.nz New Zealand's local news community

A side but- Made me look up melb's aq, expansions- will open apprently next month! (any confirmation?)

08-02-2008

the date of Melbourne's penguin exhibit has been pushed back many times. It may be next month, who knows?

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08-02-2008

I've been told that the Wellington aquarium idea has been completely dropped because of all the hassles the creator has been facing over it. They have sunk several million dollars into it already, without even any ground being broken, and I think they've just given up on it now. Its a real shame because if it had worked then it would have been fantastic.

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08-02-2008

Cool, thanks for that Zoo Boy...

I was wrong, the Gentoo's were from Edinburgh Zoo not the Kings... Hmph...

Any links (apart from their website) for Melbourne's expansion (plans maybe)..?

08-02-2008

From the looks of what I've seen I think it has been a case of the resource consent process here being counter productive to the enviroment, as part of their plans involve a clean up of the surronding areas...

08-02-2008

does Melbourne's website mention the penguins? I couldn't see it anywhere (but that's just me). The penguin building is going in beside the Aquarium, for what that's worth.

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