Adventures in New Zealand: August 2013

Apologies that I have not updated the blog for a long time. In case you're wondering, I'm still alive, and still traveling. I've just been a little lazy in updating the blog. But don't worry. I will continue with my blog.

I have traveled to the Far North, the most northern region of New Zealand. Now, I am slowly traveling south, as Spring approaches and the weather gets warmer. The next few updates will be a little outdated, as they are from more than a month ago.

I stayed at Paihia for a week. This is a tourist town about 3-4 hours drive from Auckland. This region is known as Bay of Islands, which is popular tourist destination in the Far North region. The popular activities are sailing, fishing, kayaking, and diving.

Boats in the bay of Paihia

I signed up for a diving course. I had been interested to learn scuba diving for some time, but just never got around to it. This was the perfect time to take up this hobby. The Bay of Islands is a beautiful place.

But in the middle of winter? You might be wondering, isn't it freezing cold? Well, it's not as cold as you think. You see, unlike land temperature, ocean temperature doesn't change that much between summer and winter. NZ ocean is about 16C during winter, and 22C during summer. Considering the day temperature in Paihia is only 10-12C, the water is actually hotter than the air. This is why most NZ coastal areas are not very cold in winter. The ocean has a moderating effect.

However, 16C is still very cold, because water is a thermal conductor. You will lose body heat rapidly while in the water. To keep warm, I wore a wet suit, which is standard diving gear.

The course consists of a written test, followed by 4 dive sessions. Those sessions were spread over 2 days, doing 2 dives per day.

How is scuba diving like, you ask? Well, it's a little harder than I thought. Although I can swim, the added weight from the scuba gear makes it hard to maneuver in the water. It's also a little scary, at first. Being underwater can feel like being trapped, because you cannot instantly surface to get air if anything goes wrong. We were taught all the emergency procedures, however, so I didn't feel that I was in any danger.

The reward was definitely worth it. The underwater world is very beautiful. The water was very clear, free of any pollution. There were many fishes. On our last dive, we explored an underwater cave. It was very dark inside, but filled with many strange fishes. It's like an alien world. It is an experience I will not forget.

The course was not as expensive as I thought. I expected it to be more expensive than Malaysia, but it wasn't. The cost for the entire course was NZD600, including rental of all scuba gear. This is comparable to a similar course Penang, at the current exchange rate.

The diving school was nice to take pictures for all of us in the course. Besides me, there was another German girl who was also learning to dive.