Welcome to the archive images of Tamaki Makaurau
 
 
 
Week 58
3 December 2006
 
 
Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World
 
The site for Kelly Tarlton's was once the home of the Maori Ngati Whatua tribe, called Takaparawha Point which was originally gifted to the New Zealand Government as a defence area.  Holding tanks for the storage of stormwater and sewerage were later built at the water's edge.  After becoming redundant in 1960, these tanks remained unused for two decades until Mr Kelly Tarlton decided to use this site to fulfil his vision to display marine life from a diver's perspective and build an aquarium. 
On 25 January 1985, after 10 months of construction Mr Kelly Tarlton's dream became a reality with the opening of Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World. 
 
Also on display at Kelly Tarlton's is a life size replica of Captain Robert Scott's hut.
Captain Robert Scott left England in 1910 for the Antarctic, with the intension of being
the first person to reach the South Pole.  After 2 attempts to reach the South Pole,
Scott succeeded on January 1912, only to discover that his team was beaten by a
Norwegian team a month earlier.
 
 
 
QUOTE FOR THE WEEK
 
Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst.  - Henri Cartier-Bresson
 
 
 
Original artefacts and live footage of the famous explorers’ epic adventure
can be seen at Kelly Tarlton's.  For light, the explorers burnt seal blubber
in laterns.  In order to keep this replica as realistic as possible, the smell 
of seal blubber has been recreated by careful manufacturing
 
 
 
 
Photography has most certainly come a long way!
 
 
 
 
Within two months after the opening of the aquarium, Kelly Tarlton died of a
heart attack on the same day he greeted the 100,000th visitor
 
 
 
 
Two species of Penguin live at Kelly Tarlton's - the King Penguin (above)
and the Gentoo Penguin (below).  A Snowcat takes you through the
world first underground Antarctic Encounter which was
constructed at a cost of NZ$15 million
 
 
 
 
Three tonne of fresh snow is made daily for the penguins!
 
 
 
 
The refreshment kiosk offers this view of Okahu Bay from its large windows
with a very grey and cold Auckland City in the background
 
 
 
 
A 110 metre long, transparent tunnel built from flat sheets of acrylic imported
from Germany, then oven heated and curved to the required tunnel shape.  This
underwater tunnel allows the public to be face to face with sharks, stingrays
and other marine creatures
 
 
 
 
A short tail stingray in Stingray Bay - a giant 350,000 litre open-topped acrylic
tank.  The largest stingray is Phoebe who has a wingspan of 2 metres and weighs
over 200kgs!  Stingrays are ovoviparous - that means they give birth to live young
called pups.  New born pups are about the size of a dinner plate
 
 
 
 
The seahorse belongs to the Syngnathidae family.  This is the
only group of animals where the male becomes pregnant when
the female inserts her eggs into the male's pouch.  The males
can be distinguished by their smooth, white lower abdomen
which is the brood pouch used for carrying the eggs
 
 
 
 
Ka kite a tônâ  wâ - See you soon
 
 
 
 
 
You are welcome to copy any of these pictures
but please credit the photographer
Suzette Bothma
or add a link to this page
 
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Thank you
 
 
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Do not reproduce without permission.