Whangarei

Phew, talk about slacking off.  I just can't get motivated enough to use my precious 30 minutes of nap time a day to sit in front of the computer and type up blog entries.  But I'm going to bang out the past couple of months and get caught up and maybe the task won't seem so daunting then.

The weekend of February 6th a group of 10 of us rented a bach in Whangarei, which is a beachy town up north about 2 hours.  Our friend Megan managed to find us a ROCKING bach for a very reasonable price.  This place was fancy.  We each had our own bedroom and bath, there was a kitchen upstairs and downstairs, living room upstairs and downstairs, and a balcony with a lovely view of the bay.  No complains here.  James had all the room in the world to crawl around (not to mention 8 additional people to pay attention to him) so he was happy as a clam.

About 45 minutes north of Whangarei is a scuba diving area called Poor Knights Islands.  Lance took James for the day while I went on a full day diving excursion with our friends JC and Kristen with Dive! Tutukaka.  The Poor Knights Islands are a Marine and Nature Reserve.  They are uninhabited and it's a pretty hefty fine for even thinking about setting foot on land.  They are declared 'tapu' (sacred) by the Maori (native New Zealanders) because of an incident between tribes long ago.  The tribe living on the islands had a pretty sweet stock of pigs that they traded for supplies from the mainland.  No other chiefs on the mainland nearby had pigs so they were a hot commodity.  The chief of the tribe would only trade them dead so that no other tribes could raise their own.  A chief from the mainland traveled a very long way to get some live pigs, and when the island chief refused to sell them to him alive he was very offended.  When the island chief took all the warriors and went off to war in a different part of the country, the mainland chief came and slaughtered everyone left behind.  When the island chief returned and saw what happened, he abandoned the islands and marked them tapu.

How they got the name Poor Knights Island is in debate.  One obvious reason could be because they look like the body of a knight lying on his back with his shield on his chest (like a poor knight who couldn't afford a fancy tomb).

Head to the right, chest with shield, legs to the left

The other thought is that the islands resemble a desert called 'poor knights pudding' when the NZ Christmas Trees are in bloom.  Their flowers are red so the islands look like biscuits covered in fruit jam.

So there you go, a little history lesson for you.  You're welcome.

The islands are a popular dive spot because in the summertime it gets tropical plant and fish life when the Eastern Australian Current (or Eastern Auckland Current when it is in this area) shifts and passes close to the islands.  The EAC was on its way out when we were there so we got some of the residual benefits.

'Cause we were like, "woaaaah.", and I was like, "woaaaah." and you were like, "woaaahh..."
~Crush from Finding Nemo, resident EAC expert

We did two different dive locations: the Blue Mao Mao Arch and Cave Bay.  Here's a video I put together from the clips I took during the dive with the GoPro.

JC and Kristen

Maggie

Maggie and Kristen

While I was swimming with moray eels, sting rays, and fish galore, Lance went with the rest of the group to Piroa Falls and Waipu Glowworm Caves.

The rest of the weekend was filled with beach, board games, kayaking, Abbey Caves, Whangarei Falls (with a rope swing!) and tasty group meals.  Great times!

P.S. Anyone else as PUMPED as I am for Finding Dory, June 17, 2016?!