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Published: January 28th 2009
Nobody move
I think I'm going to sneeze! January 25th 2009
We awoke early and jammed this day with as much Auckland as possible. In fact, we were so exhausted by the end of it that when we settled down to watch a movie at ten, I went to the ladies in my nightdress only to come back to find no answer to my knocks. Was it the wrong room? No, George had fallen into the deepest of sleeps and I had to hoof it down to the busy reception wearing next to nothing. No worries though, apparently it happens just as often as people missing appointments by a full day here in NZ’s biggest backpacker joint.
Our first goal that morning was to satisfy a craving for a full English breakfast, preferably paired with a Guinness. After much ado, we stumbled across The Albion, which advertises itself as the last of Auckland’s original pub/hotels from the late 19th century. Set up by criminals, maybe, but can they ever cook up a good brekky. Well fuelled, we set out for the Sky Tower.
Heading into Sky City (voted Auckland’s tackiest tourist attraction) we chanced upon a fantastic Chinese
New Year celebration. And how do the Chinese like to celebrate New Year in Auckland? By displaying the very best child gymnasts, of course! These kids climbed all over one another, balancing on each others heads using just one hand etc. until their tiny bodies started to shake. How do they do this, and how did they decide this was what they wanted to do with their youth? Someone give these kids a Harry Potter!
The ride up the Sky Tower was a bit lurching, and once up I was immediately struck by how similar the view looks from the CN tower! Not that all views from all tall, thin towers look the same, but truth be told there are a lot of similarities between Auckland and Toronto… only in Canada we don’t jump off our towers attached to elastic bands, which is big business here.
We shared our elevator ride with a petrified-looking German in a spiderman-esque suit, who shared that he’d just jumped but the video hadn’t worked, so they were ‘letting’ him do it again. The crazy things people do for a rush, right? I find it almost half-tempting, but I
Eep
Whatever you do, don't look down! fear for my eyeballs which I am convinced could pop out. Scary, right? Looking to use rather than lose our eyeballs, we loaded into the shuttle for Kelly Tarlton’s Underwater World and Antarctic Adventure.
Not a very catchy name, but this place is unlike anything I ever knew existed. First, you walk through a replica of a famous New Zealander (Captain Scott!)’s Antarctic hut. His team was the second to reach the elusive South Pole, and they all died on the journey back, lugging hundreds of kilos of fossils with them until the very end, just a day’s walk from the next food depot. Strangely, this story makes George want to visit Antarctica EVEN MORE as opposed to WAY LESS, which is what I think.
Next, we stuck our hands in the creepy-crawly tanks, seizing the opportunity to ‘pet’ starfish, crabs and sea urchins (yuck). This was all a warm-up for what was coming, though. We (and another family, with a hilariously excited five-year-old who had gone through already and kept announcing all the facts and surprises right before they happened) loaded ourselves into a snow cat.
After some preamble, we
Auckland
From Kelly Tarlton's slid through a rubber sheet into…. Penguin World!!! Kelly Tarlton’s manages a very successful breeding program, and we were able to stick our faces right up next to these adorable birds. They’re so graceful in the water and so hilariously awkward on land, waddling, preening and snuggling one another. Our last stop was on a conveyor belt through a plastic tunnel into a reverse-fish tank. What I mean by that is that the humans are in the tank, and the fish come up and inspect them instead of the other way around.
Six-foot rays (who like to be tickled under their chins) cavorted with angry, gash-ridden sharks. One massive sea turtle hid in the corner, apparently intimidated. Often, our hands were less than half a foot from the bodies of these beasts. Not having our PADI license, this is as close as we’re going to get to creatures of the deep, and this was Kelly Tarlton’s dream. Lucky for all of New Zealand he was so dedicated he spent all his cash turning an abandoned sewer into this fantasyland.
The aquarium that followed displayed some all-time favourites. Mine included the puppy-dog eyed puffer fish,
Wanna be friends?
Is it a glove puppet? No, its an eel. and slow but dedicated sea horses, as well as the stonefish that looks like a rock (duh) but should you step on said rock, you’d be dead within the hour. George liked the lionfish and the massive moray eels, which just sat there on the bottom inspecting everything, like they were plotting to kill Ariel.
Exhausted, we clamoured back to the hostel, and the laundry machine ate some of our favourite clothes. We walked to Tony’s for some seafood, and then got through half of Yes Man before admitting defeat…
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mum
non-member comment
Thanks for all the pictures. Tahiti looks absolutely beautiful - amazing! Sounds like you are having great adventures. Next I want a picture of the camper van - Merry Christmas! love mummy