Kelly Tarlton

Aquarium Tunnel

Aquarium Tunnel - Kelly Tarlton

Kelly Tarlton (b. 1937, d. 1985) was a scientist, marine archeologist and diver whose love of the sea was started by French marine scientist Jacques Cousteau, inventor of scuba diving equipment, which Tarlton himself helped to improve.

To locals and visitors to Auckland, however, his name is synonymous with the tourist attraction around the harbour from the city. Standing on a conveyor belt, one is transported through an aquarium, staring up at the fish who largely ignore you, through a thick see-through acrylic tunnel.

If you read the walls, you'll discover the attraction was built in underground sewage tanks (disused, promise!) and that the tunnels were constructed by Tarlton himself.

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