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After our long flight from Manchester to Auckland via Kuala Lumpur, many meals and G&T’s later, we eventually arrived at our hotel 36 hours after leaving Brighouse.  Whew what a journey!  A quick shower and we were miraculously revived – so off we trot for a jaunt around Auckland – known as The City of Sails – up the Sky Tower then down to the harbour to soak up some nice warm evening sun.  By 10 o’clock we were dead on our feet and had to hit the sack.  A good night’s sleep and off we go again – harbour cruise – trip to Eden Park to watch a national 20/20 cricket match – Auckland v Wellington - dead exciting – down to the last ball.

 Next we set off on our 10 day tour of South Island – flew to Queenstown in the South – quite an approach through the mountains – fantastic views of the snow covered Mount Cook on route.  Picked up our hire car and off we go.  We stayed in Queenstown for a couple of nights – did the tour of the famous Millford Sound – WOW what a country the scenery really is amazing – every corner you drive round seems to get better – numerous photo’s later we arrive back in Queenstown – the home of the bungy jump and every other dangerous sport you can think of!  From there we toured all around South Island  – visiting the glaciers, driving through rain forest, ending up in Greymouth on the west coast to catch our trans alpine train across to Christchurch.  Overnight here – just long enough to visit a few Irish Bars and sample the famous “Sheep Shaggers Lager” – mmm beats Pendles any day (not!)

Off on the train the next day to Kaikoura – a fantastic little town in a lovely setting – home of the whale watching.  We booked ourselves on a low level flight to see the whales – about 10 miles off shore. Flew around the whales at 500ft – saw about six enormous sperm whales – they grow up to 20m in length – awesome sight – they dwarfed the on-looking sightseeing boat (full of Japanese tourists).

We then called round at the local dive shop – at last we booked our first diveof the holiday for the following day – excitement – our first dive in the Pacific Ocean.  However it felt just like being at home – woke up and it was blowing a hooley – off down to the dive shop and yes you’ve guessed – all diving cancelled for the day – boohoo – never mind will just have to wait a few more days.  Our next stop is Picton in the north of South Island – a beautiful little town in an amazing setting in Marlborough Sound. Off we pop again down to the local dive shop – hurray – a dive is leaving in the morning to the 20,000 ton liner – the Mikail Lermontov which sank 20 years ago in 1985.  We sign up and sort kit out for the day after. Mmmmmm…water temperature 16 degrees and we’re given a WET SUIT!!!  No – can’t believe it but no other option – sure we’ll be fine!!

We dived with Blenheim Dive Centre (www.blenheimdive.co.nz) – only 6 of us on the boat – a great skipper called Brian – turns out his parents own the dive shop.  OK guy’s time to kit up – funny – how come our dive guide is donning his thick neoprene drysuit and here we are in our wet suits – looks ominous!!  Anyway off we go – Brian (the dive guide – you know the one with the dry suit) had done over 200 dives on the wreck so was well qualified to give us a tour.  Sure enough he did – the viz was pretty poor around the outside but once we entered the wreck was quite good.  We toured the ballroom, complete with chandeliers, bolted down chairs and tables – through the bridge and then off to the bar – quite eerie really – the wreck lies on its starboard side so everything is at an angle.  There were some fantastic fish life around the wreck – many new to us.  Back to the boat to have lunch and a chat.  Oh yes surprisingly temperature not too bad (although would have been cosier in a dry suit).   Back in for second dive – this time tour of the swimming pool, bars, and stern section – 2 great dives on a lovely hot sunny day.

Next we take the ferry across to Wellington then fly north to Auckland and drive north to Tutukaka to dive the famous Poor Knight Islands. These are a set of islands 15 miles off the Tutukaka coastline.  The islands and rocks of the Poor Knights are the remains of lava domes from ancient volcanoes.  They were declared a marine reserve in 1981 and with virtually no runoff from the islands; visibility can reach 50m (or so the book says).   We had booked a couple of days earlier with Noel and Jo from Yukon Charters – absolutely brilliant set up – fantastic boat – really friendly crew. On the way out to the islands we dived a lovely wreck called the Waikato – a purpose-sunk 113m frigate that sits upright with a slight list to port.  This was a great advert for the sinking of wrecks to create dive sites – it has only been down since 2000 but was absolutely covered in life – a really brilliant dive. Next was our first dive at the Poor Knights at a site called Middle Arch – WOW what a dive – just amazing – the water deep deep blue – crystal clear viz – must have been 25m+. It’s a really unusual mix of colourful rocks covered in masses of anemones – much like some UK dive sites but with tonnes and tonnes of tropical fish.

We were surrounded throughout the dive; in fact it just felt like the M1 for fish – awesome. To finish off a perfect days diving on the way back from the Poor Knights the boat was surrounded by a large pod of dolphins – quite an experience.  We did several more days with Yukon and they were brilliant.  We dived on our own for all of the dives – which after Noel’s thorough dive briefings was fine.  Met a few interesting characters on the boat – one guy from Namibia had dived all over the world – including several trips to Scapa.  Stephen had to hide his Scapa tee shirt though when the Germans came on board!!

We also dived further north from Paihia on the Rainbow Warrior.

 This was the greenpeace vessel that was sunk in July 1985 in Auckland.  After being refloated the Rainbow Warrior was towed to Matauri Bay 250 miles north of Auckland and sunk as an artificial reef in 1987. It was a fantastic dive, clear water with lots of life.  We dived with Paihai Dive Centre on an enormous RIB – complete with ladder to re-board.  This time we had dolphins on the way to the dive site.

After diving further north we then headed back south to the Poor Knights for another couple of days diving with Yukon Charters.

 We thoroughly enjoyed the diving – the temperature here was a warm 21 degrees – which after 16 degrees in the south felt much more comfortable.

Sadly it was now time to leave beautiful New Zealand – but all was not lost we had a 3 night stop over in Kuala Lumpur – a fantastic city in an amazing country.  Here are a few shots from our stay there.

Looking back we really enjoyed our trip to New Zealand – stayed in some great places – all really cheap – had some wonderful food and wine and most of all some brilliant dives – we would definitely recommend anyone to visit New Zealand and without a doubt book your dives with Yukon Charters (www.yukon.co.nz)  – BRILLIANT.

Left and above - more shots from the trip.