A Trip to Australia and New Zealand
Auckland - Kelly Tarlton's Antarctic Experience and Underwater World
Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World and Antarctic Experience indulges in a lot of commercial hype as well as some fairly rediculous visuals like the outsized shark jaws at the entrance and the courtesy bus shaped and painted like a shark that moves guests from various points in the city to the facility. Once one gets past the hype though, the place delivers in spades. Magnificent specimens of all kinds of marine animals and fish up close and personal. The average person would never have an opportunity to see these creatures in the wild. For that matter the average diver won't see most of these animals in a lifetime of weekend exploration underwater.
Mr. Kelly Tarlton is described as having been a diver, dreamer, explorer, inventor, instigator, worker, storyteller and father who loved the sea and had a dream. He wanted to display life under the sea from a diver's perspective. As a youngster he had been inspired by Jacques Cousteau's film, Silent World. As a young man he built his own diving gear and began a career in underwater photography. From photography he moved on to salvaging wrecks and became a recognized expert in marine archeology. In 1970 he established the Museum of Shipwrecks in The Bay of Islands. In 1983 he began work on Kelly Tarlton's Antarctic Encounter and Underwater World located in abandoned sewer facilities in Auckland. It opened in 1985 and has been a great commercial success. Unfortunately Kelly passed away and never saw just how popular his project was to become.
