Kelly Tarlton's Antarctic Encounter and Underwater World Entry Ticket

Auckland, New Zealand

Plunge under Auckland's waterfront and you'll discover spectacular secrets of the Southern Ocean and see the magic of an Antarctic fantasyland, complete with Penguins strutting in fresh snow and ice!

Head for the Antarctic Encounter, where you'll be taken back in time to the life-sized replica hut of intrepid South Pole explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott. Come out of the hut and into an Antarctic snowcat, where you're transported to a magical world of snow and ice. Frolicking in the white wilderness is a colony of sub-Antarctic Penguins. From your snowcat, you'll get a fantastic fish eye view of the birds as they swim underwater.

After your Antarctic encounter; head to the Amazon tank to view the deadly Piranha. Now step onto the moving walkway in the Underwater World, you'll come face-to-face with a Broadnosed Sevengill Shark, proudly displaying some of the most powerful jaws on the planet.

You're travelling in a clear tunnel, surrounded by two million litres of ocean water and the hundreds of awesome sea creatures within it - you're just centimetres away from a Bronze Whaler and a two-metre wide Stingray!

There's so many sea creatures for you to enjoy at Kelly Tarlton's, including the Moray Eels, magical Seahorses, huge Crayfish and some of the worlds most poisonous fish.

There's even a special learning place [The NIWA Discovery Room - located next to the exit] where children can see, feel and hear the special sea creatures including Snuggles the Octopus, who changes color and texture to match his surroundings!

Stingray Bay Now Open:

Stingray Bay shows off Kelly Tarlton's stingrays to their best advantage in a giant 350,000 litre open topped acrylic tank allowing visitors to view these remarkable winged creatures at close quarters. There will be opportunities to learn more about the stingrays from staff as you can now hand feed them.

USD $26.06

Traveler Reviews

Review by: Elizabeth B	March 2012
Somewhat basic, but good to have the Viator voucher.

Review by: BRIAN B	March 2012
Really enjoyed the whole experience,especially the penguin viewing

Review by: Desmond B	January 2012
Love those penguins, they are just so impressive. Didn't see any from happy feet but they did look good. The aquarium has a lot in it, very impressed. Go there early in the day, very popular can get crowded

Review by: PETER N	January 2011
Fun place to see the Penguins. They need mors shuttle buses since it is quite out of the way. Overall good value.

Review by: Vincent K, United States of America	March 2010
The Antarctic penguin exhibit pictured was the highlight of Kelly Tarlton's for me. The penguins are SO cute! However, other than the penguins, Kelly Tarlton's is much like other aquariums in other major cities around the world, so I'd only go if you're excited about seeing penguins.

Review by: Naresh C, United States of America	February 2010
Impressive.

Review by: Anonymous, Australia	January 2009
The place is not big and cold enough to be called an Antarctic encounter.

Review by: Howard F, United States of America	December 2007
Not quite what we expected, good for young families.

Review by: Anonymous, United States of America	October 2007
This is the best overall view of the area and its sea life, and the staff are very knowledgeable. Don't miss it!

Review by: Anonymous, Australia	September 2007
If you love penguins, you have to visit. The penguin exhibit is incredible, I have never seen anything like this before.

Review by: Michael E, United Kingdom	May 2007
Very enjoyable.

Review by: Kelly G, United States of America	November 2006
I really enjoyed our visit to the Antarctic Encounter. All of the animal life was fantastic! In particular the penguin habitat was really impressive, you can view very closely the penguins and their newborn chicks, and riding in the snowcat was a lot of fun. The historical photographs and films of early Antarctic expeditions were also very interesting. It was worth checking out as part of our trip to New Zealand.