Stingray Splash

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I woke up at 08:45 and got up at 09:00. I had a shower and got dressed, then had a banana for breakfast whilst watching a bit of television.

At 10:30, we (Ranee, Billy and I) left to go to Kelly Tarltons. We had to drive through Auckland to get to Orakei and the centre. We queued up to get in and then went straight on the penguin experience as it was feeding time. We saw the penguins being fed and also saw the king penguin chicks being fed, they were so cute!

We went through the shark tunnel and saw plenty of different types of fish, sharks, rays and eels. There was a travelator that you stand on and go round the route and that made Ranee and I quite dizzy! We got out of the shark ride and went to watch the fish being fed. First of all the lady fed the seahorses. Then she fed the tropical tank which included a dog-faced puffer, some angelfish and some lionfish. We also watched the clownfish being fed and then lastly an octopus.

It was then time for Billy and I to go to the meeting point for our 'Stingray Splash'. We met our guide (Steve) and were taken into a small room to fill out medical questionnaires and forms to say that we wouldn't sue if we were injured or killed by a stingray whilst in the water with them! Once we had done that, we were taken on a behind-the-scenes tour of the aquarium. On this tour, we were shown the quarantine tanks which contained a bluefish, 2 hawksbill turtles, 1 green turtle (which had only one front flipper and was called Dizzy), some box fish and some shrimps. We were also shown the shells that some lobster (also known as crayfish) had shed. Steve taught us how to tell a male and female lobster apart and said that the large specimens were about 50 years old and the small ones were about 20 years old.

We were taken to a room and given wetsuits, gloves and boots. We got into them and then headed out to Stingray Bay. We all sat on the edge and watched as Steve made the stingrays come over to us and he fed them some fish. The first three people to get in were Billy, Paul and I. We were introduced to the rays (three of them, all female). We were allowed to stroke them and they came up out of the water and rubbed against you. They were quite slimy and very heavy! They are two metres across and weigh 200kgs each! They all had their barbs intact and could easily have killed any one of us if they had wanted to! The other two members of the group had their turn. After that, we all went back to the changing rooms and got out of our wetsuits and back into our warm, dry clothes. We were presented with certificates and then we were allowed to go.

We met up with Ranee again and went round the penguins again and this time they were having their toenails cut! One penguin decided that he had had enough so ran away from the lady trying to cut his nails!

We headed back and were back in time to meet Ellen from school. We watched the news and then had macaroni cheese for dinner. Billy and I played a few games of Gin Rummy and then Billy took Ellen to St John Cadets. I spoke to Mum while Ellen was at cadets and then went with Billy to pick her up. I met the cadet leaders and they were really nice. They have 50 cadets in their division! When we got back, Billy and I played Scrabble and I scored 244.

We then watched a documentary called 'Real life - Kids with guns', it was mental! Then I went to bed.

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