Kristopher's New Zealand Trip

Last time I left off we were just starting to surf on the Gold Coast in Australia. We continued to do that for a couple of weeks while staying at the campground. We managed to stand up more and more often. One day while out at see we saw a fin. We started to freak out thinking it may be a shark. Then it jumped to the surface and it was a dolphin. For a couple minutes we had a whole pod of dolphins swimming around us. Somewhere along the line I damaged my surfboard and had to get it repaired. It sucked because it took about a week out of my surfing. Once I got my board back it was one more week of standing infront of the waves.

After our time on the Gold Coast was up we took a train to Brisbane and flew to Cairns. Cairns was even hotter than Brisbane but luckily the hostels were cheaper and air conditioned. As soon as we got down on the ground we started looking for the company we would be doing scuba with. We decided on CDC (Cairns Dive Centre) because they focused more on diving great spots on the reef instead of first class luxary. For about $850 each we would get 2 days of pool training and 4 days living on a boat out on the reef. After the first day of instruction we quickly relised it would be smart to purchase our own mask and snorkle so we did so. I have never used a nicer mask and it made the whole experience even better. After completing the days in the pool we headed out to the reef. After a 2 hour ride out on their smaller boat we made it to the ship. When we had our first meal it was amazing. They were not suppose to have the best food in the world but after 6 months of backpacking their food was glorious. After lunch it was time for our first dive. How can I describe the beauty I saw. No picture had ever done justice to what we saw and felt diving on the reef. The fish were everywhere and in ever colour. All types of corals and plants. We even saw Nemo. After we completed that dive there was still 12 more dives to go. Each dive was as unique and amzing as the last. By the end of the trip we had seen sharks, sting rays, every fish possible, and Jordan even saw a turtle. A couple of our dives were even at night. These dives were really neat because a fish called the red cod had learned to fish off the flashlights. All you had to do was keep you torch on a small fish and a big red cod would swoop in and eat it. After the end of all our dives we were certified to dive to 30m and at night by ourselves. This was one of the best experiences of my life and worth flying out to Australia to do if you can get the chance.

After the diving we had a couple days to kill in Cairns and then we flew to Auckland to kill a couple more. See everybody at home!!!

(If you still haven't check out the pictures I posted of the reef, they are pretty cool)