New Zealand - Auckland & Northland

Thursday 11^th December

Living with Lisa and Sam was like living in a hotel. Lisa served me tea in bed while I was skyping with my family. She provided us towels, breakfast and even a ride into the city. It was luxury. 

We slenderer around Queens street in CBD. Auckland city center is small compared to the population, but the surrounding area is massive, and there a lot of water surrounding the island suburb. Just south of the city there is only 15 km from east to west, and that’s where the north island is thinnest. 

Our plan in the city was to find the money exchange store with the best exchange rate, Erik read about a specific one, so after using almost an hour, trying to find it, we gave up, and checked the rates at some other ones, and finally found one with a much better rate than all the others. We then relaxed for a bit to a small free concert, during the workers lunch. 

We were trying to find the backpacker area in the city, and by mistake we went to another area, which we to begin thought was the backpackers, but after a long walk we realized it wasn’t. No harm was done though, we got to see some of the city and to our luck Ponsonsby, the area we walked to, is one of the most stylish and fancy areas loaded with specialty stores, bars and restaurant, apparently also one of the more expensive places to be. We decided to act rich and famous and get a beer in one of the bars. At the same time Lisa was off work, and offered to pick us up. She came to Ponsonsby and we had a few beers at happy hour with her, before we ventured home in the peak hour. Auckland has a horrible infrastructure, but it seems like we were lucky this afternoon. 

The night continued with drinks on the balcony and Lisa and I made homemade pizza for us all. As said before Lisa and Sam live together with another couple, Jake and Natalie. So their home is always alive, and they are all very friendly and nice. It seems like their friends are coming and going as they want to, just popping by to say hey. It’s very delightful, easy going and admirable how relaxed they are about visitors and their home.

Christmas decoration in the city

Jake's big dog Stella

Friday 12^th December

Last night got later than planned, not that we had a lot of plans for this day anyway, but Sam was pretty knackered all day at work, and Lisa as well, luckily she could work from home. 

The easiest way to describe the weather is a regular Danish spring day! Not freezing cold, but rain and wind. We stayed inside most of the day, watching the Surfing World Cup from Hawaii live. It is world class entertainment and unreal how those guys and girls act in the water.

After a lazy day we borrowed Lisa’s car (after driving them to a Christmas party – they were on it again). We drove up to one tree hill, it’s supposedly the best view over the city of Auckland, unfortunately the clouds were making the city look grey and boring, and the view was nothing spectacular, but it was nice to get out and see something anyway. Sadly we can’t control the weather and we don’t mind the colder weather, it’s all right, but it gets a bit annoying when you wanna see and explore things and the weather won’t let you. My choice of dinner was disappointing. We got the most tasteless Mexican food ever. It was like sticking your tongue out of the window. It wasn’t our day, which is also why we just went to bed when we got back. 

 Aucland city 

 My first real night shot, in Mission Bay

Saturday 13^th December

I was restless and went for a jog to the beach front of Mission Bay. At this time I appreciated the rain as it was cooling me down. Meanwhile Lisa and Sam had gotten out of bed and Erik and them apparently went for a nice brunch at Coffee House. I got home, realized they weren’t there, went for a shower and then they had come back. I was a little disappointed that they didn’t wait for me to join them, but on the other hand I understand, because the hunger you get with hang overs is uncontrollable, and there’s no time for bucking around then. Erik had brought a chicken wrap home for me, so I least I got to taste some of the good food. The weather wasn’t really improving and we didn’t feel like doing anything. Maybe Lisa and Co. wishes that we did so, but we couldn’t drag ourselves out in the grey weather. We didn’t know what to see and do anyway, so we figured we would have another lazy day. 

Already the day we arrived in Auckland, Erik had been in contact with our Spanish friend Ivan, who we originally planned to explore the northern part with from Monday to Friday. He could borrow his friend car and had invited us to join him. Unfortunately he had changed his plans a bit, and wouldn’t leave before Tuesday. That was too late for us, so we planned to take a bus up north Sunday morning, to get our travels started. 

We felt restless in Auckland already, not because we didn’t enjoy the company we were in, but because we wanted to explore as much as this country as possible. The plan was to meet up with Ivan somewhere in the north then, and hopefully get a ride back to Auckland on Friday. We got our laundry done and started to pack our stuff together. 

Sam and his mates are really into surfing, so the world cup competition live from Hawaii was followed intensely throughout the whole day. The Vikings (Lisa & us) decided for to make the previously voted most traditional dish in Denmark; Fried and crumbled pork bacon with parsley sauce and beetroots (Stegt flæske med persille sovs). There was a lot of love put into it, and it turned out perfectly. The kiwi’s (and us off cause) absolutely loved it. Erik made a little wine testing round for me and the girls. It got us in a pretty good mood the rest of the night, so while the guys skulled down a whole bottle of Jack D. and Coke, we finished every single wine bottle in the house. It was a wonderful way to end our first visit with them. 

 Wine tasting with Natalia and Lisa

 Erik and Jake

Video !!

Sunday 14^th December 

As we planned yesterday, we would now leave Auckland, to start our trip up to Northland (the part above Auckland), but because of the many drinks we had the day before, we didn’t get up to be able to reach the 10.30 bus. We already kind of knew that yesterday I think, but the next bus was at 13.00, so we would catch that. 

The thing about travelling for so long time is that small things like this doesn’t really matter that much, as we are not on a tight schedule, as tourist would be, but of cause we still wanted to get going. 

We got up, showered, ate breakfast and packed our stuff, and were ready to leave when we finally heard back from Ivan. He now had changed his plans again, and would leave Monday morning – so with our feet almost out of the door, on the way to the bus – we decided to wait another day, and then go together with him in a car he had borrowed from his friend. In the bus, we wouldn’t be able to stop wherever we felt like, we would also save some money by going with him and most important it would be much more fun. 

So instead of leaving Lisa and Sam, we borrowed Lisa’s car, and drove a bit around Auckland, and ended up in the central, where we met up with Ivan and planned the trip over a couple of beers. 

We actually got it sorted out perfectly and covered everybody’s need. We would start on the west coast, to explore the immerse Kauri threes, then see the Aupouri Peninsula with its famous Ninety Mile Beach and Cape Reinga in the far north, possibly by a bus trip. We planned to have at least two nights in the east around Bay of Islands - to do some exploring of the bay and the last day we would dive the Poor Knights, while Ivan would practice his surfing skills. We arranged a pick up time the next most and split up with him. We walked to the Sky Tower in Auckland, the tallest building in New Zealand. I had made up my mind, that this was the place to have our dinner (in the turning restaurant on the top). Sadly we couldn’t get a table, since it is high season AND Sunday! 

We will see if we can plan that better when we again get back to Auckland in the beginning of February. Instead we found a fantastic steak restaurant where we had two monstrous steaks. We were rolling back to the car and drove home. 

The important thing is the size of the steak, not the quality of the picture.

Monday 15^th December

We both woke up before the alarm, probably because of the excitement for finally going out and explore some of this remote and beautiful country. After having a quick shower we were ready for our pick up. 

Ivan arrived just as planned around 8am, and off we went. Well it took a couple of small detours in the Mission Bay area before we were on the right track, since we don’t have a very good GPS. 

Erik quickly got annoyed about Ivan’s driving, he seemed a bit unsecure, but I mean who wouldn’t when they all of a sudden needs to drive in the other side of the road. Since he was unsecure we both found it a bit frustrating that he was doing a lot of other stuff while driving, for example changing music, sending text messages etc. Anyway we tried not to get too carried away by these facts, since he was taking us on this trip we couldn’t complain too much. 

The weather forecast predicted a lot of wind and rain for the following days, so we had planned to do the most boring part of the trip and also the longest legs, these days. Luckily the weather wasn’t as bad as predicted – not at all actually we even had to turn on the air condition a couple of times, in the 21 year old and small, BUT perfectly running Toyota Cynos 3. 

Our first stop was at a coffee shop in Wellsford. Ivan had to get his morning coffee and a break after just an hour of driving. We were in no rush so it was fine. The main reason for driving west was to see the huge Kauri Tree called Tane Mahuta. It is estimated to be over 1500 years old and it reaches 51,5 meters in height and 13,8 in girth. It was an awesome sight. 

In the waterfront village Opononi we enjoyed fish and chips on the beach. Not because it was nice weather but because we couldn’t bring our own alcohol near the kiosk. 

We realized that Ivan was much more relaxed outside the car, sometimes too relaxed, for example later when it was raining and we were walking towards the car, he was in no hurry to unlock it and get in. 

We caught a ferry from Rawene to Hokianga, and after a lot of sharp curves and winding roads during the day we decided to take the easy but less pretty road up to Kaitaia. We saved some time as well and discovered it was a clever choice, as every accommodation in Kaitaia was fully booked so we quickly decided to drive the 15km further west to Ahipara to get a bed in the hostel there before that was booked out as well. 

Ahipara convenience store had very limited food options, so Ivan offered to make us a Spanish Tortillia, which he made sound very fancy. Off cause we were keen for trying something new, so while we were working on the blog, off cause supplied with a cold beer on the side, he made dinner for us. Spanish Tortillia is what we call egg cake at home, served with potatoes inside and some bread on the side. The only different was the tomato oil bread and the missing bacon. 

We looked into the different bus trip to Cape Reinga, already at this point of the trip it became a tradition to make every decision and choice with a cold beer while discussion the opportunities we had. We decide to go with the company who we were told served the best lunch, as all the busses were all doing the same thing during the day, this company seemed outstanding with their big lunch buffet. 

 Kauri forest

I actually wanted a picture of both the car and the guys, but sadly you can't see much of the car

A social cuddle with Tane Mahuta ( the most famous tree)

 View from Oponini Square

 Fish, chips and beers.. What a healthy lifestyle!

Ivan's homemade Spanish Tortillia (sorry if I spell it wrong)

Tuesday 16^th December

As planned we drove to Kaitaia to jump on the bus. The Aupouri Peninsula is the northernmost area in New Zealand, and it’s the place where the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea meets and break into each other. We were only twelve in the bus this day, as it wasn’t the most tempting day to go and explore a beach and do some sand boarding. 

Our bus driver and tour guide was very informative and told us a little bit of everything, culture and his own views of the area. As we were driving along the Ninety Mile Beach he revealed that it was allowed to spear fish while diving in this area – something that caught Erik’s attention, even though he was half asleep. 

Another interesting thing, since we aren’t into the historical part of it, is that a lot of trekkers walk down the beach from the Cape to Ahipara in 3-4 days and in all kinds of weather. It’s an easy 53km walk along the beach, and the camping is going on behind the high sand dunes. One of the passengers on board was planning to do so. She didn’t seem completely satisfied with her choice of the season as it was both very windy, probably the worst part, but also rainy and grey clouds everywhere. 

The beach looked very similar to the west coast of Denmark. At the end of the beach we went up stream and inland again, to reach the sand boarding area. The guys enjoyed the sand boarding. It’s easy to describe as the name already gives it away. You get a board walk up a sand dune and board down, lying on the board facing the low tided river. I couldn’t be bothered getting that much sand on me, so I was the camera woman. The sand was still a bit wet from the rain, which the guys later discovered was probably better than dry sand, as they didn’t get a lot of flying sand in their faces on the way down. Before we left the area there was about four busses that had pulled up and ruin the spectacular part of the experience. The place was suddenly crowded and we left at the right time, before Erik killed some of the Asian that stopped on the boards in the middle of the dune. 

We were in for a big disappointment when lunch was served later. First of all because we thought we would get a lunch buffet, but apparently that was another company. Second of all because the sandwiches they served us were all with cheese. Erik managed to take the shredded cheese out of his, I didn’t even wanna try. Instead the bus driver was put on a job to get me something else, luckily for him and everybody else he was able to change my sandwich (with one of the other busses, which was in our tale all day), to something just as boring, a white bun with two tiny pieces of salami, but at least no cheese. Luckily the cold brought beers made us both feel less irritated. The food situation was a misunderstanding from the company, so we had to talk to the owners when we got back. 

Anyway, after lunch we had one hour to explore Cape Reinga. Walking towards the lighthouse was exciting, as we couldn’t always see it. The clouds moved fast and made some brilliant views and the views changed all the time. On top of the hill we were almost blown away by the strong wind. 

The northern region is full of avocado plantations and farms. While we were passing them we were wondering why we didn’t stop to explore one of them, but sadly that experience is ruined by too many tourists. The tour busses use to visit a farm on the way back, but the farmers had discovered that they were missing to many avocados after these visits, plus they gave a lot away, so they stopped it, and visitors can’t come there anymore. 

We stopped at an ice cream store and were told they made some of the best ice cream in the area, even though the weather wasn’t ice cream weather we decided to have one anyway, since they should be so great. We continued our journey and after just 10 min. we were given an ice cream voucher, which we could use when we got back to our drop off point. So actually we shouldn’t have bought the other ice cream, but the bus driver was told not to hand out the vouchers before the ice cream store. What a rip off! Why would we want to have two ice creams within an hour? This made no sense and it made the bomb explode, if you know what I mean. But I had to wait till I could blame it on the right person, the owner. After complaining to her about both eating issues we continued our journey in the car to Bay of Islands. 

Ivan couldn’t really understand why we had complained, he thought it was rude to do, but after a long conversation with him, he understood. We know it’s human mistakes, maybe not the ice cream thing, but the lunch, and it’s not to be rude, it’s more so they can improved themselves and be better. The problem lays in people not complaining, if they’re unsatisfied, because if you never tell the company, or go on tripadvisor and tell them and the future visitors they will never know what to do better. Plus you’re helping the next visitor not to get in the same situation, and for example tell the future visitor that they shouldn’t buy an ice cream in the store, because they will get ice cream vouchers later (which is still a rip off in my opinion). 

Anyway, in strong headwind we reached Paihia in the Bay of Island. Bay of Island. It is the major tourist draw in the north, and offers visitors several different water-based activities as well as superb coastal scenery. We had decided to stay in Paihia, as we were told earlier that there were plenty of hostels there, which equals plenty of backpacker and the social environment we were looking for. 

To get the best out of our money and our stay, we went to three different hostel and asked for availability, prices and compared facilities. We decided for the last one, Centabay Lodge, which we soon realized was a bad choice, as the dorm was full of long-term stayers, who lived in a cave, and the kitchen where we would cook our dinner was a mess. Some people just shouldn’t go travel, or they should bring their mom along, so she could clean up after them. It’s shocking how little some people care about others. We came into the kitchen and had to clean everything we should use beforehand, as everything was dirty, the table was soaked in water and people even left their table without taking their plates, glasses etc. away. It was a nightmare. Before dinner we had walked around town in rain and looked for a better option for the following days, and we manage to find a better hostel, Bay Adventure Lodge, where we could get our own dorm for $26 (120kr) for just the three of us, get free unlimited wifi and the place seemed slightly cleaner as well. 

 Ninety Mile beach (Mig & min kæreste)

I got it (Ja' har'en)

Cape Reinga

 Just an easy walk  on 18029 km to London

Enjoying the view of the lighthouse with drinking liquid

Dinner at the hostel

Wednesday 17^th December

The red wine tasted too good the night before, so we were a bit tired when we checked out at 10am. 

We were pleased to leave the shitty hostel though. While we were waiting for the check-in time at the new place I went for a refreshing jog around the waterfront of Paihia. The weather still hadn’t improved and the sight of the water wasn’t comparable to the sight we had seen on several postcards. We were crossing our fingers for better weather the next couple of days. 

Erik and Ivan used half of the day to arrange a boat trip to the Bay of Island, meanwhile I was making our lunch. When the guys finally came back they had arranged both a boat trip the following day and sorted out what we should do in the afternoon. 

We packed our little cooler bag with cold beers and went on a smaller road trip around the bays, then caught the ferry to Russell and enjoyed a beer on the pier in the, to our surprise, liquor ban area.. Oopsi! When this was discovered we finished our drinks and explored the long beach on the other side of the little peninsula. It was one of the coldest swim we have had in a long time, but it felt mandatory to try it. 

Back at the hostel Erik and I got in contact with our friend Iben from home, who is planning to travel by herself in South East Asia, but she’s quite nervous about it. We told her how we can meet up with her, and how she can start travelling with us, before she jumps out in it by herself. So fingers crossed that she will make the right decision and come and see us in Bali. 

Meanwhile Ivan had lost his patience about our barbeque dinner, so he had started heating up the sausages already. I hurried up and made some vegetables for us, before the sausages was totally dead. The night turned out to another wet and late night. It’s our way to celebrate Christmas! 

 That's what happens when you drink in a liquor ban area

 Russells charming waterfront

Thursday 18^th December

We were running late, so I walked to the pier to register us on the 20 meter long sail boat, at the same time the guys were in charge of buying some beers for the trip and get there in time. They got it perfect timed, and off we went with the awesome sail boat. I was in my right element as I prefer sail instead of a noisy engine. We were twelve guests onboard, a captain and a crew member taking care of the setting of the sails and making food. We participated in setting the sails. The weather was finally improving, and we were lucky that it was warm and the sun eventually came out and heated us up. It was an enjoyable sail tour. 

We got dropped off on one of the islands and went for a barefooted hike to the top of the hill. I disliked walking barefooted, as the grass was tall and we couldn’t see what was underneath it, but the spectacular view over the bays and islands was worth the discomfort. 

Back on the beach the water was literally filled with tiny jellyfish, the same size as a fingernail. There were millions of them - it looked like jelly drops in the water. Erik and some of the other went for a swim in them. I can’t imagine it being very fantastic, but at least they weren’t dangerous. That’s one of many big differences between Australia and New Zealand. In Aus. everything can kill you, but New Zealand is like at home, there’s no danger in the nature and no life-threatening animals either. 

We enjoyed the fresh made sandwiches on the deck before we were in for a treat. The captain had found the well-known big group of dolphins in the bay, and they were chasing the boat. Everyone was astonished over the many dolphins surrounding the boat. It was incredible to see how they played around us. It was a sight that you only see in movies and it was mind-blowing that it actually happened right in front of us. 

The crew member told us to clap and cheer, as the dolphins like that, so we got them to stay around the boat for longer. It was amazing! Definitely a one-in-a-lifetime-experience.

 The trip back to Paihia was great, I tried to steer the big sail boat, to prove Erik that I could sail it, and convince him that if we should ever have a boat again, it should be a sail boat. 

We were back in town in the late afternoon, and we went to take advantage over the spa bath in the hostel and enjoyed the last bit of sun and a cold beer, while discussing how to get the most out of the night. We all had to pack, shower, cook, exchange pictures and sort out the last stuff before leaving early the next morning. 

Yesterday I had taught Ivan what moisturizer means, but I forgot to tell him that it’s a word that can be used in every kind of product. So he had bought some moisturizing body wash which he thought was lotion. So after his shower he happily rubbed his face and body in the body wash, believing it was lotion, but it started to make bobbles the more he rubbed on it. We told him that he bought the wrong stuff and after a while and a good laugh he started to realize it was right. It took a little longer to convince him that he had to shower again to get it off. It was hilarious!

Before making dinner we discovered that the original hostel kitchen was closed for a complete cleaning process, since Ivan and other people in the morning had seen several cockroaches having a party in there, and afterwards reported it to the staff that then closed the kitchen. So we had misjudged the slightly cleaner hostel from the appearance of it, but we are not fussy so off cause we still would eat our food. The risk of the cockroaches harming our food was small, so no worries. 

The staff had opened two of the apartment on the other side and we could use the kitchen facilities there instead, so we were satisfied. After dinner I was tired and beered-out, no more alcohol for me, Erik joined me on that decision. Ivan was keen for some girl contact and some more beers, so he went out with all the young ones from the hostel.

 Silly clown! 

 Island walk

 Erik's new hobby.. Silly clown!

 Dolphins and plenty of them

Northland Video

Friday 19^th December

Yesterday I hit my pinky toe on a corner of the sailboat and this morning it had swollen up and started to get purple. Later I was told it was broken. It was a bit awkward to walk, but it wasn’t too bad. 

It was quite hard to get Ivan out of bed, due to his huge alcohol consumption the night before, but we had to leave early to make it to the dive boat further south in Tutukaka. 

The morning turned out quite stressful, as we all of a sudden couldn’t get into our food in the kitchen, the door was locked! The only window in the kitchen wasn’t closed properly so Erik managed to intrude through the window and get our food out. Ivan had the funniest way to pronounce muesli, with his strong Spanish accent is came out as mu-es-li. To begin with none of us got what he was on about, and when we realized what he had said we used the word all the time. It was specially used this morning, as he was still really drunk and silly! 

After swallowing our breakfast we hit the road, 10 minutes later than planned, we got even more delayed when we had to make a u-turn and drive back to town to fuel up. The road was windy and sadly we couldn’t go as fast as we wished to do. Eventually we reached the turn off to Tutukaka and could tell by the time that we would make it to the dive boat just on the clock. Ivan dropped us off and would hang around and wait for us to come back. It was so nice of him. 

The boat was an immense catamaran with plenty of space for us twelve divers. There were only two crew members, and that was the captains. We were really looking forward to this day and it was our main drag to visit the Northland. The day started really good with the spotting of a whole bunch of bottlenose dolphins that swam and played in front of the boat. It was even more amazing that the day before as the water was much clearer and the dolphins more colorful. So I guess it possible to experience that two times in a life time then! 

The dive sites at Poor Knights is said to be listed in the top 10 best dive sites in the world. What we didn’t know was that the dives was self-guided, that explained the small boat crew. This was just the top of the iceberg. We both felt unsecure about diving by ourselves, but apparently everyone else was satisfied so we didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. After a small introduction to the dive site, which should be much more detailed since we were going to be on our own, we jumped into the blue and started our dive. 

Already in the beginning I was quite nervous and hyperventilated a bit. None of us liked the fact that we had to navigate ourselves around, we didn’t exactly know where to go, as things doesn’t look the same underneath the surface. 

We started to swim towards the arch, it was all right to find, and then the captain had said we could swim around the cliffs, which we decided to do. He hadn’t mentioned anything about that it was oval shaped, we thought it was round, so after swimming for quite a while we got disorientated. We were afraid that we were swimming out to the blue and away from the boat. We wanted to swim over some boulders, to cut our way through it, but they were really shallow and all of a sudden we popped up to the surface, it was the surf that washed us up. And we realized we were behind the big cliff, where the boat couldn’t see us and we were caught in the waves washing in for a while. 

We both panicked when we saw and could feel the powerful waves, especially because there was no help to get. I got out of the waves and swam towards the corner to get in contact with the captains. Erik was sucked in to the cliffs by the waves for a while, but eventually he got out. We were both so frustrated, annoyed and scared after this experience. And when we got back to the boat we told the captains about it, they just laughed and said ‘Yeah that’s what happens’.. They didn’t even bother helping us up on the boat and getting our equipment off. It was the worst service and experience ever. We really felt unsecure about these guys, they had definitely done this too many times and didn’t care about the bad experience we just had, that was just another day and more money on their accounts. 

We haven’t felt uncomfortable one single time during our 69 dives, except for this time. We consider ourselves as experienced divers, but the dive briefing had been horrible and we were just left to ourselves back there by the cliffs. They didn’t even have a dinghy boat to pick divers up, if they got lost. While waiting for the other divers we saw several other popping up just around the corner of the cliffs, they experienced the same as us. But to our big surprise no one said anything when they got back on board. 

There was no service to get for the oncoming divers either, the two captains was standing on the bridge, relaxing and chatting. Already at this point we started to ask ourselves what we actually paid for, cause there was no dive master, no service and minutes after we realized there wasn’t even lunch included. We were speechless. We paid $520 (2392kr) together and couldn’t believe that all those money didn’t include lunch. 

I honestly can’t remember I have ever felt so disappointed in my whole life before. It was a fucking rip off and we were mad as fuck! We tried not to ruin everybody else day, so we didn’t say anything to the captains. But we literally wanted to jump off that boat and ask the other dive boat that had arrived if we could join them to the mainland again, I was so angry. 

All the other divers was really nice and shared some of their lunch with us, apparently we were the one ones who didn’t know about the lunch. We had booked it through the phone, but on all our daytrip as diver there has always been dive master and lunch included in the price. Later we checked online and it doesn’t say anything about the self-guided dives. Anyway, we couldn’t thank the other divers enough for the sandwich and the mu-es-li bars. 

For the next dive we asked if we could get a guide, the second captain surrendered himself but didn’t seem passionate about the dive at all. There was one other couple who would join us as well. There was absolutely no organized system for us divers to jump in as fast as possible, it took ages, because there wasn’t enough space for us all to get ready at the same time. They should have separated us into two groups but they couldn’t even handle that. When we started the dive there was all of a sudden a lot of people joining us, so my guess is that most people felt unsecure but didn’t have the guts to say it. 

The water was only 20 degrees, so we very quickly got cold. Even though we had a guide this time we didn’t enjoy it. I felt dizzy and weird at some point, maybe because of the cold water. There was nothing to see, only a lot of seaweed that made us disorientated. But the marine life was little to non-existing. 

I reckon these guys only sail to the easy dive sites, so they can get away with navigating people from the boat. The disappointment just wouldn’t stop. 

Ivan had to be back in Auckland before 8pm, so we had specific asked when we would be back and was told not later than 4.30pm. We got back at 6pm. We couldn’t wait to get off that boat and get the hell out of there. Words can't describe how humiliated and disappointed we were.

We were already running late, and felt bad on Ivan behalf, but luckily he was taking it easy. He had talked to his friend, who owns the car, and he was all right with us getting back later than planned. 

We met the wife to the captain and told her in the sweetest possibly way how our day had been and then we left. Ivan totally understood the misery we had been in, so on our way to Auckland he stopped by a liquor store to make us relax again. 

The trip went smooth without too much traffic. In Auckland just as Ivan turned towards Mission Bay (our base) a police car pulled up behind us and gave us the signal to pull over. Ivan was driving 78 km in a 50 km zone. Instead of blowing for an alcohol test he had to count to 10 while facing a little machine that sensed his breath, and if there had been any alcohol in it, it would sense that, but he hadn’t been drinking, luckily. 

He got away with a verbal warning about the speed limits in the city, lucky bastard. At least HE was lucky this day! We started driving again, and off cause you are a bit nervous after such a situation, but we had to laugh when we soon saw he was speeding again. He was around 70 again. Oh my god, it didn’t seem like he learned his lesson. Maybe he should have gotten that speeding ticket, so he would think about it! It was a funny ending of the roadtrip with him. We had a lot of fun together and we hope to meet him again someday in Barcelona or Denmark. 

He dropped us off at our base at Lisa, Sam, Nat and Jakes. It felt good to be ‘home’. Lisa and Sam came home from a bar shortly after our arrival, and we catched up before going to bed. They left the next morning for Christmas holidays with Sam family. And we sorted out the last blog update, got our laundry done and waited for our car to arrive. Sam had arranged a car for us, which we can borrow for our travels to the south island. It’s awesome!

Poor Knights Diving