Tahi Whangarei

... fly in an out of Brazil - think its to larger distance to drive.

Spain - 3 weeks
{Spike: (only thing about 3 weeks here will be the cost- my mate went there and its 8 bucks for a beer and 8 x 50 is heaps).
Dave: Was pretty cheap to buy at the supermarket - a litre of gin was 8 bucks. But yeah I do know what you mean. I will flick raton an email and see what he recons - or whats worth seeing, or if he is ...

... to expectations, no one seems to have/had any for her so she 's doing fine. Report card evaluation: could do better, I hope she grows up and does.

Tony, Kiwi, Adult (with kids). Abandoned as baby and adopted (not orphan just not wanted, 'a foundling'), Tony is a classic wheeler and dealer. Tony is our boss and seems not to care what we do but he's not daft, he just not quick with praise, criticism or comment. He drinks, smokes and I think given a choice would recruit all ...

... along the roadway. The top of the volcano was stunning with a 360 degree view of the entire city. BEAUTIFUL! Some daring Brits even raced up the steep crater for a free beer courtesy of the hostel. We decided to rent a car after talking to a couple backpackers who strongly endorsed checking out the country independently rather than doing a hop on hop off bus deal like Kiwi Experience. At only 16 bucks a day we decided that the stress of ...

... surfing....and "real" surfing waves. We had a blast body surfing....the bonus was that it was a sand point....so no reef to worry about. Today, we went on a boat tour to the Poor Knight Islands which is a marine reserve about 25 km off of New Zealand. Here we snorkelled and kayaked and say manta rays and loads of smaller fish. We also saw a king fish that was about 5 feet long and 2 feet tall. I thought it was a juvenille shark, but I found out later I was wrong ...

... in England. So it was definitely faster than the scenic route, but there's still not a lot of opportunity to put your foot down and really crack on. After doing the inevitable supermarket shop as you do after a trip away, we were back at 'home' getting the washer on whilst congratulating ourselves on another good adventure (four years ago, we went to Kakoura and Christchurch on the scenic railway). H.x

... later. The sea on the east of the islands was encouragingly smooth. We stopped and anchored at Cave Bay, had the briefing and kitted up. There were I think nine of us doing "straight" diving as opposed to training or snorkelling; we were all going in a gaggle, but loosely buddied-up. My buddy was Aaron (I guess that's how he spells it; pronounced "Oren"), who had about 30 dives. Aaron and I went ...

... vervolgd naar een andere grot maar het pad hield ineens op en geen nieuwe grot te bekennen. Inmiddels had ik het ook wel gezien en ben terug gelopen naar het begin punt en terug naar de plaats. Onderweg begint het weer te regenen en na een kop koffie en de krant te hebben gelezen loop ik terug naar de hostel. Zondag 13 Juli Vanuit Whangarei vertrekken duiktochten naar de Poor Knights islands. Deze eilanden groep is door Jacques ...

... after a couple of hours drive, so spirits were raised and Em tentatively lifted the frown that had taken up seemingly permanent residence across her face. We sourced a cracking little campsite with friendly locals (a Kiwi called Rex helped plan our journey up through the north island) and a cheap swimming pool with water slides. The first night was spent just allowing our weary bones to warm through before hitting the pool the following day. It was great ...

... caves, arches and tunnels. Everything that makes for great diving! With the water slightly colder (20 degrees Celsius) than tropical seas the visibility is amazing and on both dives the visibility was 20 plus or more. Obviously you need a serious wetsuit in 20 degree waters so we were each clad in two piece 5 mm wetsuits with hoodies and I must admit were still a little cold. Must have been due to the 3 years of hot weather in Dubai ...

... out 'Juicy' rentals and he saw us go in there. As we came out, he came over to us and said yes, we could have a van and it will be ready for 12pm. We were both so pleased and we went to have a walk about for a few hours - mission accomplished! We first went to a cafe for a cup of tea and to study our maps and decide where to go. We agreed that we would head North towards the Bay of Islands and see how far we get. Next, we went onto the quayside to have a look at the boats ...