I came up to Whangarei on the east coast of North Island near the Bay of Islands to get in a bit of diving before the parents arrived. And that plan was semi-successful.

After a bit of a false start trying to get to Goat Island just south of here (no bloody public transport ANYWHERE!) I came straight up here. The weather's not great - I think I had the best of it on the first day I was here, when I took advantage of it to go on a 3-hour hike past Whangarei Falls - gorgeous - and down the river towards the town through a beautiful national park. Lots of stunning scenery and exciting multicoloured parrots that were the only reminders I was somewhere quite exotic!

The following day I booked my diving and spent the day at Poor Knight's Island. Although the weather packed in after a really promising start, the diving was pretty spectacular. We saw TONS of eagle and stingrays, which was really something, plus some huge snapper and morays. It was totally different to other diving I've done - temperate for one thing - and FREEZING (well, 15 degrees, but trust me that's pretty cold) but the topography and different marine life was amazing. We also went into the world's largest sea cave, amazing stuff.

After that day, it's been raining, and with very little to do up here I've decided to put diving on hold for a bit and hightail it back to Auckland. Mum and Dad arrive in not long so I'm going to have a good weekend in preparation for their arrival!