Relaxing with great summer weather, beaches and diving

After hitting somewhat of our New Zealand’s base in Pukekohe we headed north longing for some warm weather which we haven’t exactly been spoiled with so far. First stop was the tiny town of Tutukaka with its main attraction diving. The weather was sure a lot warmer and we really enjoyed the beaches and the sun even if he water was fairly cold. Despite that Emil wanted to try out some diving out at the Poor Knight’s Island which according to the famous diver Jacques Cousteau would be one of the top ten places in the world. With some really thick wet suit Emil dared to enter the water. The visibility was good and it was sure different from tropical water but I guess my buddy Jacques must have been here during the summer when a warm current is supposed to bring heaps of sea life. We certainly didn’t got any warm current being 16 degrees and not much of the sea life either.

Heading north we hit Paihia and also some really great and hot weather. This is more like it! After freezing our buts of on the south island while the summer was long and warm in Sweden, we finally definitely are having great summer while it’s freezing cold and frost back home. Emil is using the kid’s 70+ sun block so it’s not easy to pick up too much colour even if the sun is really strong. This area is the birth place of New Zealand as a nation. Across the bay of Paihia the first British settlement was done which today forms the old village of Russell. Just north of here at Waitangi the British and the Maori chiefs signed the treaty forming the country of New Zealand. The diving here was also supposed to be good so Emil gave it another try and it turned out to be great. First dive was on Green Peace’ flag ship Rainbow Warrior which was mined by the French secret service while in Auckland harbour on its way to protest the French nuclear testing, 26 years ago. It was a cool dive to see the resunk ship and the coral covering it and the fish living around and in the wreck. Then it was reef dive with heaps of fish and some 10 sting rays reaching up to impressive 3 m in wing span.

After we left the camper van we tried quite wide variety of accommodation. We have stayed at friends places, cabins at camp grounds, hostels and motels. Since we brought a tent all the way from Sweden we figured we had to try it out. We all slept in it for two nights and it worked fairly well. We also passed through the town of Kawakawa for a toilet stop – it’s not all places which decide to get their name on the map by having a fancy architectural public toilet.

We really enjoyed being at these two beach towns relaxing for many days at each spot and not doing too much of driving as we had done before. It was very peaceful and we really liked the great weather and beautiful beaches.