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Saturday, 22 December 2012

Wet, wild and a big black fishy



Some suburbs of Auckland had recently been hit by a tornado about 2 weeks ago, but whilst we didn’t see any of the damaged areas the weather certainly hadn’t changed. Still wet and still windy but fortunately no more tornado's. So what to do in a city when its tipping it down? Well go to the pub of course! Not just any pub either, but the aptly named Father Teds for a game of pool and a massive lunch.

Jed and Annah went up the Skytower and we took some time out to explore the brilliant museum of Auckland and give the girls time for some window-shopping.
Headed north in the evening across the bridge where the wet weather followed, although we were lucky to get a quick burst of sunshine on the beach where we were camping just as the sun went down.
 Next morning snorkeling was on the agenda. There are some magic spots in New Zealand to get up close and personal with some fishy friends and the marine life all around the country is spectacular.  Up at Goat Island north of Auckland is a marine reserve that has been left untouched for more than 30 years. It is now thought that the ecosystem has returned to a state that is somewhat close to how the waters would have been before man arrived.
A heavy dodgy bloke on a tractor wearing an Olly Murs hat kindly rented us a glass bottom kayak and some wet suits for us to take a dip. The water was extremely salty and we had been told to look out for two 3 foot 40 year old giant snapper fish and a big black stingray that lived in the bay.

Unfortunately the weather remained gloomy and visibility was limited to about 2 meters at the most as you’ll see from the videos. We did catch glimpses of a few schools of smaller snappers and Jed called out at one point to say he just saw a much bigger black fish swim past. You can just make him out in the background of one of the pictures below waving his arms, presumably as the big one grab hold of his shin and started thrashing.

Next stop – The Legendary Black Water Rafting Company to go exploring the Waitamo Caves…

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