Auckland to Paihia

Quite a lot of places visited since my last post.

The day I left Auckland, I went to Piha (for the beach), Kumeu (for the wine) and Murawei to see a gannetts’ colony.

I spent the following days slowly going north to Whangarei to meet Roger and his family. It is my contact in NZ I met at my parents’ while I was in Canada this summer.

I joined them on the 25^th, to start a Christmas party where everybody started drinking at 11:00 am. That is quite early to start indeed. I am usually asleep at this hour of the 25^th.

Did not do much the following days and until the 31^st. I played 9 holes on a golf course.

I went to Whangarei Heads for a small walk to Bream Head Scenic Reserve.

 

 seen the Whangarei Falls, and went to Parahaki Memorial.

For New Years Eve, I spent the evening with Roger’s family again.

On the 1^st of January, I went to Waipu for the day. There was the 142^nd Highlands Games with “weird” events like throwing a bag 10 meters high, throwing a wood log and running with 2 weights of 80kgs each.

The 2 next days, I was in Tutukaka to dive the famous Poor Knights Islands. It is not the Great Barrier Reef of course, but it is stil interesting. I have never seen so many nudibranches and so big. The flora is also completely different from what I was used to see on my previous dives.

Yesterday, I arrived in Paihia after driving Russell Road through the first NZ capital: Okiato.

Today, I tried to swim with dolphins. I saw a few, jumped overboard 3 times but could not see any underwater. There was too many boats and people around them, so they kept  fleeing.

Oh, Happy New Year by the way.