During my trip to Auckland for example, there are so many things to see but I only had 5 days. So what I did was to write all the points of interest, then I went over each one if it's something I want to see/do. Filtering the list was easy for me coz I immediately crossed out those that required uphill hikes e.g. to volcanoes and mountains. 😂 I also filtered visits to towers where the objective is just to see the view from the top coz I am equally happy to see the same view from photos. 😂
After narrowing down the list, I ranked each place according to how badly I want to see it, then grouped together those that are located nearby. Since they are ranked according to priority, it's easy to drop an item from the itinerary when running out of time. And this is what happened on the day I explored Auckland city.
But to save on time, I decided to get a 1-day pass in Auckland's Hop On and Hop Off Explorer Bus. I boarded at the Civic Theatre bus stop since that's the nearest to my hotel (just walking distance).
My first stop was the Kelly Tarlton's Sealife Aquarium. But when I got off the bus, I couldn't resist the beautiful harbour view. Check these out -
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| Auckland harbour |
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| Beautiful Auckland Skyline |
So who's Kelly Tarlton in Kelly Tarlton's Sealife Aquarium? Tarlton is a visionary marine archeologist, diver and conservationist. Why visionary? He was the man who first conceptualized the concept of aquariums utilizing curved acrylic tunnels where you can view creatures and their habitats from beneath and on board walk-a-lators. He made his concept into reality in 1985 with the opening of Kelly Tarlton's Sealife Aquarium.
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| Kelly Tarlton's SeaLife Aquarium tunnels |
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| The visionary: Kelly Tarlton (Source) |
You know how Tarlton was able to achieve the curved acrylic? He initially approached the Japanese to do it but they said it would cost USD2M. Tarlton and his team went to a soap factory in South Auckland instead and used old ovens to bend the acrylic themselves. Such labor of love! And you know what is his inspiration for the walk-a-lator for the tunnels? A luggage carousel! In the end, the total cost for the Sealife Aquarium reached USD2M - still a better cost coz the USD2M with the Japanese only covers the bent arcylic.
Sadly though, Tarlton passed away 7 weeks after the Sealife Aquarium's opening.😢 He was just age 47 then. He has been working 18 hours every day to make his vision became a reality. Thanks to him, we're able to enjoy beautiful aquarium tunnels as his technique was emulated all over the world. 👏👏👏
So what's there to see at the Kelly Tarlton's Sealife Aquarium? Adorable penguins!😍
My first glimpse were swimming penguins. Check out this short videoclip -
Then I headed to the Penguin Ice Caves and saw more adorable penguins! 😍😍
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| Antarctic King Penguins |
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| More King Penguins! The black one is a Gentoo Penguin. |
Here's another video - walking penguins this time. So cute!😍
Luckily, I chanced upon feeding time. I was awestruck as all the kids were! Haha...
Do you think this personnel's job is easy feeding fishes to the penguins?
It's far from easy coz this is not some kind of random feeding. Apparently, there are vitamins inserted into the fish and the personnel has to feed specific vitamins to specific penguins depending on their nutritional needs. But how can she possibly match the vitamins to the penguins, right? They all look alike! 😲
Each penguin has a tag on its arm - check out the red tag clipped on the wings of penguin below. The tag has some kind of a unique code. Amazing matching skill!
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| Gentoo Penguins |
What else is there to see? Lots of activity areas for kids like this section where they can sit in front of an aquarium to do some drawing and coloring.
You'll see various kinds of sea creatures and learn interesting trivia. Check these out -
Scary sharks!
And the scariest shark is called a megalodon (meaning big tooth) which is a prehistoric shark that lived 1.5M to 16 Million years ago. It's known to be the biggest carnivorous fish that has ever existed. You know how big is its tooth? At least the biggest tooth among the fossils uncovered by scientists? 19.37cm for 1 tooth! That's almost 8 inches. Yikes!😱
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| A replica of a Megalodon's jaw |
There are also Stingrays - 3 of them. Apparently one was caught by Tarlton himself and the 2 others are its babies.
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| Lobsters |
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| Yellow Tang |
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| Big belly seahorse |
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| Porcupine pufferfish |
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| Lionfish |
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| Green Lipped Mussels |
Here's an interesting fact about these green-lipped mussels: In their natural state in beds on the sea floor, they can live for at least 10 years.
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| Octopus |
Lots of things to see at the Sealife Aquarium but I only allotted 1 hour to catch the next bus arrival. 😔
Along the way, we passed by Eden Park - New Zealand's largest stadium where they hold rugby, cricket and football matches.
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| Eden Park |
A main bus stop for the Hop On and Off Explorer is the Auckland Museum if you want to know more about Maori culture and history of New Zealand.
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| Auckland Museum |
Walking distance from the Auckland Museum is the Wintergardens.
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| Wintergardens |
But I decided to skip these 2 and opted to head straight to Eden Park coz I read it had a tulip festival the weekend before so I was hoping to still see some tulips and I did -
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Random photos I took while exploring Eden Park -
I was lazy to follow the park's map so I just randomly walked. One pathway led me to this beautiful view -
While waiting for the bus at the Eden Park bus stop, I met a Latina girl who was also waiting for the bus. Apparently, we both boarded from the same bus stop, both got off at the Sealife Aquarium, then both got off at Eden Park. So we were asking each other if our next stops could possibly be the same. Mine was Auckland Zoo but hers was Mt Eden. No Mt Eden for me coz remember, I scrapped itineraries that would require hiking? Haha... Anyway when she saw the passengers waiting at the Mt Eden bus stop and most of them were panting, she changed her mind and just decided to go to Auckland Zoo instead. Haha....
So here are some of the animals we spotted at the Auckland Zoo. Spotting the animals became team effort coz it's difficult to find some of them since the habitats are spacious.
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| Tasmanian devil |
This was the only good photo of the Tasmanian devil I got coz the Tasmanian devil went into hiding quickly. I've seen Tasmanian devils before at the Tasmanian Devil Park in Tasmania and they are such interesting creatures. I chanced upon their feeding time then - they fought over food, made a lot of noise, ran around like crazy (like Taz the cartoon character) and after eating and they are full, they sleep. The eating and sleeping behavior sounds like my weekend habit. 😂
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| Coastal Bearded Dragon - this camouflage creature was easy to spot. |
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| Capybara - the world's largest rodent. |
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| Cheetah |
How fast can a cheetah run? Up to 100 km/hour in 3 seconds - but only in short bursts. I bet in between short bursts, it still runs as fast as a car. 😆
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| Could this Burma the artist elephant? |
Auckland Zoo has an elephant named Burma (she came from Myanmar in 1990) and she paints. Some of her artworks are sold at the Auckland Zoo souvenir shop to raise funds for the zoo's conservation. How cool is that? :)
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| Rhinoceros |
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| Flamingoes |
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| I didn't know their wings are pink and black. :) |
Oh I almost forgot, the Auckland Zoo has a Kiwi sanctuary. For the second time around, I attempted to see a Kiwi (the first attempt was at Rotorua). And because they are nocturnal, the habitat was pitch black. Couldn't see anything. The Latina girl had to turn on her flashlight to light the walkway. Lesson learned - don't attempt anymore. Haha...
After Auckland zoo, we had to catch the last bus trip get back to the CBD. So 3 attractions is really tops for a 1 day. Maybe during summer when the bus arrives every 30 minutes, you could still perhaps squeeze 1 more attraction.
Anyway, I arrived in CBD around 5:30pm and since my next activity (watch Matilda the Musical) is still at 730pm, I still had time to explore. I just walked where my feet brought me. Haha...
Spotted this Grab-a-book shelf near a church. Anyone can just grab a book and put in a book into the shelf.
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| Auckland's Sky Tower |
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| Albert Park - beautiful pink sky! 😍 |
To end my day, I watched Matilda the Musical at the Civic Theatre. This theatre was built in 1929. Wow.
Check out the interiors of the Civic Theatre. How beautiful!
I super enjoyed Matilda the musical. It's so funny. I didn't care if I was alone - I was laughing out loud! 😂
As I was walking back to my hotel, here's the beautiful view of the Sky Tower.
P.S. One day pass for the Auckland Hop On and Hop Off Explorer Bus costs USD35. But you get additional value coz when you present your bus ticket to the attraction entrance, you'll be entitled to special discounts of about 10% to 20% (at least from the attractions I visited). So don't forget to present your bus ticket when buying tickets for the attraction.
The bus departs every hour from the attractions during winter, and every 30 minutes during summer. I was there in September which is spring and unfortunately, it followed the winter schedule - hourly departure so this immediately limits the places you can visit. Given the hourly bus sked, realistically, you can visit up to 3 attractions at max.
You might be tempted to do the entire route first before visiting attractions but please don't do this coz it will eat up your time. Even the bus driver would remind you not to make this mistake. Just get off when you reach your target destinations. I was able to visit only 3 attractions but with proper planning, I was able to complete the route of 14 attractions along the way.
BTW, in all brochures and online photos of the Auckland Hop On and Off Explorer Bus, the bus is either a yellow or red double decker with a large Auckland Hop On and Off splashed across its sides. Apparently, they also use a white bus (maybe sub-contracted to a service provider). So when I saw a white bus with a big "Ritchie" across its sides, it never occurred to me that was the bus I was supposed to board. And so I actually missed the first trip because I was on the lookout for a yellow or red bus! Wahaha...
The next time a Ritchie bus stopped, I finally noticed a small placard (about the size of a bond paper) that had the Auckland Hop On and Off Explorer bus logo. But it's ok even if I missed the first trip and waited for an hour coz if I didn't, I wouldn't have been able to catch the feeding time of the penguins at the Kelly Tarlton's Sealife Aquarium. 😉