ROTORUA, NEW ZEALAND

To further my plan of visiting all of the world's major aquariums, Chris and I stopped at the awkwardly-named "Kelly Tarlton's Antarctic Encounter and Underwater World" today on our way out of Auckland. This is a unique attraction in that the "underwater world" consists of former underground sewage tanks that some guy named Kelly Tarlton filled with water and fish and ran acrylic tunnels through so people could walk through them while sharks, rays, and other critters swam around their heads. (Other aquariums, including the Atlanta Aquarium, now have similar tunnel exhibits, but I guess this was the first.)

To me it was interesting mainly because it featured native New Zealand species I haven't seen on display elsewhere--sevengill sharks, for example, as well as giant crayfish (lobsters) and eels. They also have "Stingray Bay," which is a big tank with some really humongous stingrays that the divers feed by hand.

Oh, and the "Antarctic Encounter" part features a replica of the inside of Robert F. Scott's Antarctic hut, and a cheesy fake Snowcat ride through "Antarctica," which looks an awful lot like a penguin enclosure. The penguins were fun to watch, though.

After that, we drove several hours south to Rotorua, spiritual home of the Maori people and the most active geothermal area of New Zealand. Unfortunately, this last fact means that the town usually smells like rotten eggs.