NOV 13- Kelly Tarlton- WOW!!

Kelly Tarlton was an amazing NZ adventurer who wanted to share his adventure with the world. This sea world adventure was his dream. I found it sad that he spent so many years in the planning and building of this wonderful place and died shortly after it's opening.
Join me on a fabulous walk into the underwater world of Kelly Tarlton...

First we visited the Hut of Captain Robert Falcon. The real hut is located in Antarctica and has been there since 1911.Antarctic explorers spent 3 years living in this hut in the coldest,windiest, driest, place on earth.There were several displays, this is just two.
Then we had to walk through a moving ice tunnel..YIKES!!

We had to pass the penguin pool to get to the Giant stingray that was about to be fed.

How's that for a fun job.That is one big creature. She has been there for over 20 years and no one has ever been hurt or stung..I could have watched her swim for hours. Talk about a calm animal and friendly too.

Then it was on to another tank where I got to play with a live star fish, like the dead one Rainer found.

It's called a Cushion Star fish and unlike the spiny starfish we all know with long legs forming a star.
Guess what this is?

This guy was HUGE. If you said Lobster, try again. Lets just say "Don't order Crayfish in NZ if you are expecting mud bugs".

There were many, many fish to see and I especially loved swimming with the sharks.

and a sea turtle. But the best was yet to come. Time out to play before moving on to my favorite place.

BTW the turtle and the sharks mouth are actual size.If you think we were having fun, you are correct..but now for the real fun...I mean the whole place took my breath away and I have 214 pictures of the most gorgeous fish on the planet. But nothing compares to this experience..........

It was a joy to see the penguin's  swimming in there icy pool. but even better...

To see them up close and personal. This is a mated pair of Emperor Penguins.

This is a little Gentoo guy looking for attention LOL They have a breeding program and we were lucky enough to meet a couple in "courting mode"

How cute are they? Here's a young lady who isn't quite sure about the gift nature helped her produce.

There were many females nesting.

The males and females take turns sitting on the eggs. Males are tagged on the right flipper and females on the left. This young man gave a very educational talk about the penguins, but what we got the biggest kick out of was the little female that was very infatuated with him. It seems she was born there and while most of the other females have mates and are laying eggs, she is too young to breed and is very bored. Obviously he cures her boredom. It was adorable to see how she stayed right by his side looking up at him while all the other penguins busied themselves.

Note how she stares at him LOL He obviously enjoys his job and managed to get one of the guys to show us how they talk.

Each penguin is given a fish with a vitamin in it 3 X a day. Don't ask me how they keep track, but they do because one kept spitting it out , I kept an eye on it just to see if they would remember. Sure enough the handler went back and found that one and made it eat the fish.

Feeding the big guys.

and the little ones too.

What do you think of this fiddler Crab? He was bigger then my fist.

How about this blowfish?

Like I said, I took many, many pictures. It was a fabulous experience that would be hard to top.

I hope you enjoyed this journey. I sure did. I'll leave you with my favorite LOL 

No it isn't a headless penguin. He's molting and just happen to pull some feathers out when I snapped the picture. E noho ra (saying Good bye for now in Maori)