Nananu Beach & Dive Resort Rakiraki

... as I was it there they were! Now if someone had said to me a few months ago that I would be in shark infested waters feeding them without a cage I would have I don’t think I would have gone but because the locals were so blasé about the whole thing we jumped it and it was incredible. We were with 6 white tipped reef sharks that were about 5foot in length so not too scary but they looked like proper sharks, well they were but not the size of crazy big sharks you may imagine. We went ...

... of the train, I could only consider it a huge disappointment. The views were nothing compared to some we had seen previously in New Zealand, and the train itself was pretty run down. By this point however I had decided to fly to Sydney the next day to surprise my Irish friends, so was in pretty high spirits regardless.
We returned to Christchurch, and went straight away to the Escape office, where they very kindly paid for all our accomodation and ...

... happy-hour to acquaint himself with the local beers, and for Mel there is a decent cocktail list to work through. When snorkelling amongst the goldfish-bowl of tropical fish just off-shore we spot (amongst other things) a stingray and an octopus, but no sharks (which might be a good thing). The starfish here are purple and there are loads of them. Day 59 The 11th of April - Today we set off for LA - we're ...

... with the addition of fantastic indian food. We didn't move around too much here, just stayed in our resort for got stuck into the water activities. We both done an introduction scuba dive which was fantastic, even 30 meters or so out from the shore there were all sorts of coral and millions of tropical fish. Awesome.

... to see me right now, I'm crying with laughter!) Anyway, Brandt of course was freaking out. Making his own odd noises, like, "UUUUUHHH", "WHAT?!", "HUUUUH?!" as he tried to get out of bed. (I'm still crying with laughter!) I can't even spell the sounds he made. It was a priceless moment and every time I think about it, I laugh. Now, of course I feel horrible for scarring him...his heart was pounding and all...but the situation is hysterical ...

... impression was of poverty. Although the children themselves looked healthy and wore clean uniforms, the classrooms were bare and basic and the facilities sparse and dirty. Indeed, apart from the children themselves, the whole place seemed very much of the 3rd, rather than 1st, world. Strangely, the only thing the school did appear to have an abundance of was stationery - the very thing we'd been requested to donate! One building was new - a 35,000 pound office and ...