Antarctic Penguins

Jan 14, 2020. This was our big day at the aquarium. We jumped on the Tamaki Link bus (TMK) to get there, using our recently-acquired metro cards. We hit the stop button too late, so overshot the aquarium and had to walk back.

Okahu Bay, right outside Kelly Tarlton’s Sea Life.

Merrianne found tickets for $24 on the internet, which was cheaper than normal admission for a 3-year-old. The penguins alone were worth several times that. Truly amazing. Nothing like it.

There were two kinds of antarctic penguins in the refrigerated enclosure. It was chilly even on our side of the glass.
The King penguins are larger and have some yellow. The Gentoos are all black and white, except for orange feet.
Some of the penguins were molting.
There were 5 nests in the colony. The eggs are under the bulges of the sitting King penguins. A band on the left or right flipper designated male or female, and each was color coded.

This Gentoo was interested in Merrianne.
This is the adult size of whitebait, the Kokopu.
When we exited the aquarium, the weather had turned slightly rainy. Not too bad.
At one place in town, the Japanese restaurant had rice balls on the grab and go table. Really big, about 4 inches in diameter and 2.5 inches thick.
In New Zealand, the dollar store is a two-dollar store.
And I thought 9¢ was cheap!
At a store called Cotton On, I saw this Hunger Games Reaping dress.

We ate in, again – supermarket food. I microwaved a sausage roll.

Merriane had a Spinach and Feta Quiche. The instructions said it was better heated in an oven.
Took a while to figure out the oven. 1) All appliances have wall switches. 2) The middle knob (not shown) is a simple wind-up timer. 3) The right knob (not shown) is temperature in °C.