Today is Saturday and again no rest for the wicked.
We left the Northcote area at 8.00am for the Otara flea market on the south side of Auckland. This is a long established and well known flea market run in the main by Pacific Islanders. We managed to snare some bargains and be entertained by the buskers so it was something different for the team to experience.
Next stop was the Auckland museum where we had a good look at the history of New Zealand. We also went to the cultural show which was entertaining. And finally we experienced a simulated production of what it would be like inside an Auckland house if one of the many potential volcanoes in the area were to erupt.
Time had marched on so time for lunch and for this we travelled down past Mission Bay and lunch at the Karvah Cafe overlooking the harbour.
Then it was off to Kelly Tarltons for an Antartic encounter. This is the home to New Zealands only colony of sub Antartic penquins. So we boarded our snow cat and headed below the waterline to watch penquins frollicking below the surface. As our snow cat headed upwards we were treated to close up views of a penquin colony including young penquins being nursed by their parents.
Further on we watched large manta type rays being fed in a tank with many large fish swimming around. Next was the worlds first underwater transparent tunnel where sharks etc swim quitely within inches of your head.
Kelly Tarltons is a must see on any visit to Auckland and a great experience for our team members from Papua New Guinea and the Solomons.
Our camera's have all run out of battery life today as we have taken so many photos in the past few days.
Hopefully tomorrow will be a quieter day for the team as another busy day awaits us on Monday.