Kelly Tarlton's Sea Life Aquarium

First things first, for those of you who don't know who Kelly Tarlton is, then shame on you! He is this incredible man who sadly passed away at only 47 years of age. I don't even know how to describe him, he has so many titles. Marine archaeologist, treasure hunter, marine photographer, inventor, and many more. I could go on and tell you much about him but who knows if you're actually interested! So I suggest some light reading on your own time if you feel like it, he's a pretty awesome guy and left the world with some pretty amazing inventions and discoveries.

Here's the ol' chap himself:

 



The day started off with helping my roommate move out of this hostel and into a new one not too far from here. She got a new work for accommodation job at a different hostel with more benefits so she took it. Definitely going to miss her like crazy but she's not far at all and we're all so close! So we decided as a fun thing to do on our "last" day together, we'd go to the aquarium and admire everything it had to offer. In Auckland there is Kelly Tarlton's Sea Life Aquarium. With amazing reviews and one of the "to-do" items on many lists for visiting Auckland how could one not do it? Especially when I love marine life so so much. So we hopped on the free shuttle, which immediately made you smile and found ourselves just 10 minutes later making our way into the aquarium.

That awesome shuttle bus:

 

 

 

Now, the really neat thing about the aquarium is that it was built underground! Even more interesting is that the iconic tunnel shark tank (that first appeared here in Auckland and now distinguishable around the world) was created in unused sewage storage tanks from the 1960s. Needless to say they are spick and span now.

 

The aquarium has a variety of exhibits for you to enjoy. From seeing penguins, sharks, marine fish, sea horses, sting rays, and even mock hut rooms from research done in Antarctica. It was a real interesting place to visit, although I did expect more from it with all the hype you hear about it and how incredible you would imagine an aquarium would be situated in New Zealand. I mean, come on, everyone knows how amazing the marine life is in this part of the world, dazzle me!

 

The penguins were pretty amazing though, just because how can you not smile at them? I did secretly hope to have one dance for me. If you know me at all, you'd know I love Happy Feet so much. Combination of penguins and tap dancing and just adorable-ness really gets me. They were so funny, one penguin kept looking at this one baby while I was there, and when the mother walked away the penguin followed! No kidding, it was like in a movie. And then a whole bunch of penguins were standing together facing a rocky wall, just looking at it, not even curious about anything else.

 

Look at them cuties, I want some just like Mr. Popper. Is that too much to ask?

 

Poor little fella was missing a foot :(

 

 

Next we moved onto the NIWA Southern Oceans Discovery. Got to see some jellyfish, which I love, and a giant squid! As well as some facts on conservation and marine & Antarctica life.

 





 

 

Stingray Bay came next, which had a really neat area where you could grab some food if you were hungry in the middle of the visit. Remember how I said that the aquarium was built underground? Well they have windows in the eating area, where you can actually see part of Auckland CBD (central business district) as well as part of the underneath of the harbour. Real cool area to take a break for sure, and such a clever idea!

 

Found a rocking hat at Stingray Bay as well:



As well as decided to be a penguin for a split second, everyone meet Laura! She's from France!



The stingray themselves were huge! I've been to stingray exhibits before, the one that stood out to me was at the Toronto Zoo and you can pet the stingray and whatnot. It was amazing don't get me wrong but they were so much smaller!! These were stingrays with a 2 metre wingspan. Crazyness

We hit up the Pacific Shark Zone next, where the tunnel is found! The tunnel is broken up into two sections. The first has the sharks in it, called the predator tank and the second tank has mainly schooling fish. Both real neat tanks and if you're super lazy you can just stand on the moving side walk and enjoy a leisure ride through the whole lot of it!

My camera thought the railing was more interesting than us!

 

 

 

 

We made our way to the last exhibits, the Fish Gallery and Seahorse Kingdom. They were the cutest exhibits by far! Had a whole tank that was pretty much a mock of the tank in Finding Nemo. They had Dory, Nemo, Bubbles, Gill anddd the OCD fish I cannot remember the name of lol. In another tank they had a blowfish as well! I wish I was good at taking pictures haha, my friend is really into photography and her pictures of the fish were incredible! So bear with me for my photos.

 

The gang's all here!

 

My camera died before I could take pictures of the sea horses, but they were adorable :) you'll have to trust me! The gift shop was a little lack luster, so I decided to splurge on some typical tourist photos, enjoy lovelies!

 

my favourite, hahah:

 

 

fun fun fun, more to come I hope!

 

Celebrations!

So the past few days there have been a few celebrations I'd like to point out quickly!

As of February 14th, it was officially 1 month since I had left Canada! Sad to think that I haven't seen my family or friends in a month, but boy has time flew by, so crazy! Just wanted to let everyone know that I truly do miss you all so much, I cannot wait to see you all in person but in the mean time I enjoy seeing everyone on Skype or just messages here and there. Check mail boxes frequently as post cards have been sent out, but who knows how long they take to arrive!

Just a few photos from my last days in Canada, wish I had taken more with more family and friends :(

Good byes and good lucks to Steff, Flo, and myself!

My little babycakes <3





My besties made this for me, along with bringing me balloons :) so so so grateful, can't even believe how amazing they all are






Cupcakes were delicious, of course!



This picture brings tears to my eyes!



Jennay, forcing a smile of course!



Papa



Zelda just popping up :) didn't have to say good bye to her because of course she came with me!





Next celebration, as everyone knows, February 14th is also Valentine's Day, and my loving family in chilly Canada was kind enough to send me a Valentine :D Thank you so much ma, papa, bubba and Zeusy, I loved the gift so much, it made me feel soo so loved and missed!

 

Cutest little chocolates ever!! Lips and hearts :) so yummy and the card (that I don't have a picture of) was very heart warming, thank you guys so much!



And lastly, February 16th is officially my 1 month in New Zealand! I'm still alive, still happy, still healthy and still wanting to be here. Pretty successful so far, I'd say! So to everyone, I love you guys, but I won't be coming home quite that soon!

This smile hasn't left my face for a month

good bye for now everyone, please drop me a line and let me know how you all are doing!

I'd post a heart if I could! :) a smile will do, ta-ta

Ooot and Abooot

I think people are utterly shocked when I don't pronounce "out and about" the supposed "Canadian way" nonetheless, they tell me that I apologize too much for stuff I'm not doing and I say "eh" too much. I guess you never realize how true some stereotypes are, especially the ones you engage in, until people bring it up! In fact, now my friend says "Oh Canada" every time I do something Canadian, it's shocking how often I hear it during the day.

Continuing, it's a little sad that I've only met 1 Canadian since being here. However, it was a pretty glorious moment. It was about 2 am after a night out and I was ready to grab McDonalds and go to bed then ran into this guy at the ATM machine and my friend told me he was Canadian. Naturally I go up and ask him, sure enough he has a Blue Jays hat on and we immediately became best friends. He loves the Jays and he's from Edmonton, so funny! The night couldn't end there, so we all went out for some more drinks and reminisced about how much we love Canada and whatnot. It was heart warming, but that was the end!

 

I only know two other people in that picture

It seems that even 17874.69 km SE of my wonderful older sister, I still cannot avoid the awesome-ness that she holds. Working one night at the restaurant, I was serving dessert to two older gentlemen who were business partners. After much conversation with them I find out one is from Scotland who has worked many years with Molson, in Mississauga. So naturally I mention that my sister is studying in Scotland right now, completing her masters degree. He first asks if she's at Heriot-Watt University and I corrected him saying University of Edinburgh. You would have thought I hit him with a frying pan, the face he gave me. I already impressed him with that and when I told him she's one of two students in the Biomechanical Engineering program he nearly fell off his chair. To say he was astounded is an understatement. So, Steffani, congratulations once again, you are one lucky gal and an extremely smart cookie! And he went on and on with all the accomplishments the University has under their belt, an impressive school to say the least! I'd link you guys to her blog, but I don't know if I have permission since hers is password protected! But maybe she'll read this and give me the go ahead :) she has pretty neat stuff to say about Scotland! and she'll be going on more adventures soon during her reading week!

 

 

In other news, everything has been going wonderfully. Getting really close with all my friends at the hostel and at the restaurant, really really happy! This week we celebrated a roommates birthday as well another roommate leaving for a different hostel to work for accommodation. Really sad because I was the closest with her! But she's still only 20 minutes away, so I can still see her whenever possible! It's crazy how many people are wanting to do work for accommodation, literally each time someone has left another girl is put into the room the same day because there are that many girls waiting to get in. I don't blame them, it's a great way to meet people especially when you're travelling alone.

I went to this event in Auckland called Pacific Showcase (http://www.pacificshowcase.co.nz/) with one of my roommates and her friend. It's a free entry festival where you can taste local cuisine, buy goods, listen to music, etc. They had amazing things to buy and the food was incredible! I definitely will go again when they're back in Auckland in March. One of the highlights were the huge murals they were painting throughout the day as well as the ice cream in the pineapple!

My favourite mural, because I absolutely love sea turtles:

 

 

 

 

Enjoying my half pineapple and ice cream on the pier :)

 

 

More updates to come within the next day or two, had a little adventure at the aquarium I'd like to share! As well as valentine's day surprise from my mommy!

 

love