So we've spent the last few days in Ruakaka. It's been freezing cold as the wind has been blowing straight out of the south.. which is comming right from Antartica. Who would have thought it could get so cold in the spring. Nick and I have been all bundled up in our snow pants, jackets and as many layers and we could put on. Brrr. On Monday we were so cold we went to the aquatic center and sat in the hot tub and swam in the heated pool for 3 hours! Ha ha We explored some of the more touristy areas of Whangerie, including some of the parks, the aquatic center and the town basin. We went to the fudge factory and sampled some delicious home made fudge... the traditional way.. crumbly... not creamy. mmmmm Yum. Nick got a session in the waves Tuesday evening... I decided to play photographer and not jump in the fridge water. Nick had a great time! All smiles when he got off the water. Wednesday was the highlight off the last few days. In the morning we went for a try dive, meaning we went to the dive shop and one of the instructors took us into the pool and gave us a basic basic intro to scuba diving. The point was to see if we liked diving. Of course we loved it! Nick was like a fish.. swimming up and down and all around the pool. I had a slightly harder time getting comfortable with the idea of breathing under water and relaxing knowing that I could always return to the surface.. but I finally got it and had a great time. All and all we spent about 2 hours in the pool learning about scuba diving. Now we are trying to figure out how we can fit in a PADI open water dive course into our trip. New Zealand has some amazing dive sites... including the world renowned Poor Knights Island marine reserve. We will keep you posted for sure. After we finished our dive we headed to the beach to do some kiteboarding as the wind had picked up. We spent the next 3 hours kiteboarding in 8 meter conditions. What a blast! I worked with Sue Kay on some tricks and had great success. Can't wait to get back on the water. That's what we call a perfect day... diving in the morning, kiteboarding in the afternoon. We both fell into bed totally exhausted.

The next few days are looking light with no wind.. but the air temp did warm up substantially. What a relief. So we are heading to the Coromandal peninsula to do some more exploring. We are both looking forward to seeing some new scenery and hope to get some kiting in on Sunday/Monday.Pics to follow of course.

Cheers!