Once again I have to fit two days into one post. This time I have a better excuse, because I did pretty much nothing yesterday apart from go see Pacific Rim (a fantastically geeky film that is silly and full of pretty amateur dialogue, but if the thought of giant robots fighting giant monsters doesn’t at least bring some interest out of you then I don’t think we can be friends).  This is partly because I was overcome with tiredness and laziness but also the weather was well and truly awful and I had no intention of getting caught out in the rain like the day before. i did eat some churros as well though, if that is of any interest to anyone. No? OK, let’s move one then.

Today was a bit of a filler day, because originally I was planning to go to Hobbiton (might as well be a real place to me) but there were no places left on the cheapest tour option they had so I had to postpone it until tomorrow. So instead I decided to go to the Seaworld next to mission bay. It was quite a walk (3.9 miles) and most normal people took the free shuttle from Downtown Auckland, but I thought that I might as well, and it did mean that I saw some truly amazing views across the bay. Auckland truly is a beautiful city.

The entrance into the aquarium was very low key, looking like a very small service station cut into the side of a cliff and very little parking space, so evidently this was meant to be a smaller and more personal affair then some of the more sprawling aquariums I’ve been to (Sentosa I am looking at you). After a quick walk down some ramps with mood lighting and ambient sea sounds (I think they were anyway, I had my headphones in at the time) I got into the aquarium proper, which started with a walk through a mock up of Captain Scott’s Antarctic expedition cabin, filled with mock ups of polar equipment from a hundred years ago. Very informative and well done but I didn’t pay much attention because I wasn’t there to learn about that infamous doomed expedition, I was here to get me some penguin love.

The main selling point of this aquarium was not your standard “biggest tank” or “largest shark collection,” but instead having one of the largest collections of penguins in the world, and this was definitely the highlight. I’m not sure whether its the way they waddle, the sound they make or the fact that they look like they are wearing little tuxedos, but they are just the cutest animals in the world, and I think are now my favorite. It got even better when it came to feeding them, because like all birds they are not able to use peristalsis (swallowing the way humans do) so they had to swallow fish whole by dropping it down their throats, and this was surprisingly more adorable then this sentence can give credit to.

After the penguins there was a small collection of stingrays, who I also saw get fed. they were cute in their own way, in that they seemed to cuddle the keeper feeding them trying to get food. I have always been intrigued at how friendly and inquisitive rays of all sizes seem to be, and the large number of schoolchildren present at the feeding only amplified this.  After that you had your standard shark tank full of very impressive specimens that looked incredibly sinister and reinforced by desire to stay well away from New Zealand oceans. The aquarium ended with a small collection of sea horses and some pretty impressive eels, plus a hodge-podge of smaller fish that any fans of finding Nemo would recognize.

so my day ended early today because I started early, but also because I’m going to need my rest for my geek hajj to the Hobbiton set tomorrow. This will either be the stuff of dreams or one of the biggest wastes of my money, hopefully the former. so once again until next time!