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Penguin Discovery at Kelly Tarlton's Aquarium

For 1 person
60 minutes
Instant book
KTN005

Highlights

  • Meet the largest colony of sub-Antarctic penguins
  • Get up close to the majestic King and playful Gentoo Penguins
  • Learn about how the team care for our penguins

Once in a lifetime opportunity to meet Penguins on the ice, and experience an on the ice encounter like no other as you venture into the worlds largest sub-Antarctic penguin colony.

What's included?

  • Meet the penguin colony in their enclosure
  • All equipment (waterproof pants, fleece jacket, footware, gloves, beanie) N.B those will be worn over your clothing, therefore skirts and dresses are not advisable
  • The experience takes approximately 1 hour
  • Animal Adventures include free admission to SEA LIFE Kelly Tarlton's Aquarium
  • Photos

Get up close and personal with some adorable penguins at SEA LIFE Kelly Tarlton's Aquarium. You'll venture into New Zealand's largest sub-Antarctic penguin colony and make friends with this cute and cheeky species of bird. You'll also get admission into the whole of the Aquarium so you can visit some of your other favourite marine animals!

Important information

  • Penguin Discovery runs Fri, Sat, Sun at 10.30am, and goes for 1 hour
  • Not available on Monday to Thursday
  • Bookings are essential.
  • Participants must arrive at least 30 minutes prior to session start time to check-in.
  • Participants must be aged 14 years or older - participants under 18 years must be accompanied by a parent or guardian 18 year or over
  • Have not been in contact with birds in the last 24 hours, or have not suffered from Flu/Cold/Gastro/Respiration infection in the last 48 hours
  • Participants need to be able to navigate stairs
  • No jewellery, watches, mobile phone or cameras can be taken on the tour
  • If you are in the 3rd trimester of your pregnancy, you cannot join the experience
  • Change your booking up to 48 hours before the start time of your experience
  • Changes are not permitted within 48 hours of your experience
  • Late arrivals or no shows may result in you forfeiting your experience
  • Tickets are non-refundable

Maximum 4 people per day

Gumboots, waterproof pants, fleece jacket, beanie and gloves are supplied

This experience takes place in Orakei, Auckland.

Reviews

4.2
20 reviews
5 stars 12
4 stars 3
3 stars 3
2 stars 1
1 star 1
Recommended

Kelly Tarltons was great, red balloon was not.

Busy mum 10 January 2026

I would recommend Kelly Tarltons, but dont use red balloon to purchase tickets. They have so many problems (as we did, and staff said so)

Response from , Customer Experience

Hi there, thank you for your feedback. We’re sorry to hear about the issues you experienced when purchasing tickets. We’ll reach out to the supplier to discuss this further and better understand what happened.

21 January 2026

Not great ticketing experience

Dienks 22 July 2024

Did not receive barcoded Tickets that are required by Kelly Tarlton's. When trying to redeem voucher online it says "voucher allready redeemed". Call centre on Australian time so had to wait 2houea to get help but unfortunately too late. No other way to get live help. Do not use Redballoon at short notice. Staff at Kelly Tarlton's were amazing and kind. They let me through after long explanations and showing banknstatement and invoice. Fortunately, not a long line behind me. Theybare actually have to have barcoded tickets. Had previously used them with long lead time and had no issues, great experience then.

Response from Mya, Customer Experience

Hey Dienks, thanks for your feedback. Great customer experience is incredibly important to us so we're deeply sorry to hear your experience has fallen short of expectation. We'd love to get a better understanding of what went wrong so we can improve. Could you please email me at info@redballoon.com.au, I'd be happy to help.

21 July 2024

Waste of money

One not impressed mum 22 May 2024

Spent $90 on 2 adults we went 2 years ago and thought maybe it would be better now but we were wrong . The tanks seemed so empty. I am breastfeeding so had to use the parent rooms. There was no privacy random people including men walked on in thinking it was another part of the things to look at. I find this highly disturbing and for the price we paid I would’ve at least expected a door or curtain so breastfeeding mothers have a bit of privacy. Extremely overpriced and not worth it at all

Response from Cassie, Customer Experience

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23 May 2024

Recommended

Kids loved it

Javed 26 April 2024

My kids loved their time at Kelly's. Awesome place to explore sealife.

Response from Mya, Customer Experience

Hi Javed, so pleased to see you enjoyed your Kelly Tarlton's SEA LIFE Aquarium Entry, we appreciate the time you have taken to share your experience!

29 April 2024

Recommended

Great family experience

Marg 16 July 2023

Made my family's day and opened during a public holiday Great time. Easy access

Ticket Info needs looking at

Lee 15 July 2023

I had issues with the tickets. I had printed each individual ticket to present at kelly Tarltons and they were Declined, after trying to sort it out for 20mins they finally let me in with my family who were very anxious at that point. Issues was the order numbers per ticket, nothing was matching up. Staff mentioned this is an ongoing problem when you use a 3rd party to order tickets.

Kelly Tarlton Experience

Lupe 5 July 2022

Thank you soo much for a wonderful experience My partner bought our tickets for us to take our son for his 10th Birthday and we all enjoyed our experience there. Took lots of photos managed to get some close up views of sharks and sting rays especially the funny cute penguins we get to see at the very beginning as we enter through to Kelly Tarltons. All staff were friendly and welcoming we will definitly be back again soon gor another experience and will def come back with more money so we can purchase some gifts from the gift store. Thank you again

This was a great experience!

Sandcher 14 May 2018

I had a really great time!!! I took my kids (who are older) and they loved it!!

Penguin discovery was a wonderful experience.

Colin 10 May 2017

Would recommend this to anyone who is an animal lover. Staff highly trained and very informative and professional.

The experience with the Penguins was amazing

Emma 3 November 2016

It was amazing getting to go in to their habitat with one of the penguin handlers and see the penguins close up. The people who went in with us talked with us about how they take care of the penguins. I absolutely loved it. The penguins would come up to the group while someone was holding one of the toys and we'd get to play with them. My sister who went with me and I had a great time.

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