Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World

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The entrance to the mostly hidden facilities.

Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World, a public aquarium in Auckland, New Zealand, was the brainchild of renowned New Zealand marine archeologist Kelly Tarlton.

[edit] History

Opened in 1985 after 10 months of construction, Kelly Tarltons typified the "number 8 wire" attitude of Kiwi's. Tarlton developed a new method of building an acrylic tunnel by taking large sheets of clear acrylic, cutting them to size and heating them in an oven until they took the shape of the mould. Some of the sheets weighed over one tonne. An interesting fact is that because of the Refraction caused by the light travelling through the water and the acrylic sheets used in the creation of the tunnel the fish appear to be 1/3 smaller than they are.

A tunnel of 110 metres was created in sewage storage tanks that had been unused since the 1960's. The tanks are located below the suburb Orakei, on the picturesque Tamaki Drive and overlooking the beautiful Waitemata Harbour.

Once the tunnels were in place and the tanks filled to test for leaks (none were found) a seascape of caves and reefs was created using concrete before the basins were filled in one section with a carefully selection of more than 1800 marine creatures, including deadly stonefish and voracious Piranha as well as octopus and seahorse.

Another section was filled with Sharks (including Bronze whaler, Sevengill, Wobbegong, School shark and Stingray). The sharks are only held for a short period of time before being released back into the area where they were caught.

Since its opening in 1985 the facility has been hugely expanded to include a replica of the hut used by Robert Falcon Scott on his tragic expedition to Antarctica as well as a colony of sub-Antarctic penguins. Kelly Tarlton's also provides a rehabilitation centre for sick and injured turles from round New Zealand's coast.