Imported post
A guy called Richard Scarsbrook (email: [email protected]) posted this on the BSAC site on 21st Jan 2003, so the info is right upto date:
[Richard wrote]:
"My wife and I spent a month in NZ last year, and leave for 2 months on Saturday.
The February/March edition of Dive New Zealand should be out by the time you get there. It is the main source of NZ diving contact. Mike Halligan's reply gives the web address. Dive shops and the bigger newsagents like Whitcoulls stock it.
The dive operators run scheduled trips throughout the week at popular places like Poor Knights, Rainbow Warrior (Bay of Islands) and Kaikoura. Elsewhere scheduled trips tend to be at weekends. If you express interest in diving but no trip is scheduled, we found that operators would start a list and try and fill a trip. Obviously the sooner you contact them the greater the chance of getting something going. There are plenty of dive shops that will rent you tanks so you can go off and do your own thing. Not sure if they would rent a full set of gear for this purpose - we take our own, flying via the US with 64kg baggage allowance each.
The tourist hotspots, diving and non-diving, can be quite crowded and a little regimented, though in most cases still worth visiting. If you visit places advertised locally that aren't in Lonely Planet/Rough Guide etc you will have them to yourself. If you are into multiday walking (tramping in NZ) the famous tracks are a case in point. You have to book in advance for routes like the Milford and Routeburn tracks, but there are dozens of other huts you can use to do other walks equally good without seeing a soul.
NZ is a big place and if you try to cram in too many places into a short trip you can end up spending most of your time travelling rather than doing.
As to dive recommendations, I don't know what your taste or experience is so treat the following with caution. We liked Poor Knights, especially Northern Arch. We used Dive!Tutukaka www.diving.co.nz and were sufficiently impressed that we are using them again. A lot of the divers at Poor Knights appeared to be inexperienced. If that is an issue for you (it is for us when we're paying)make sure you get on the boat designated the 'advanced' boat.
We thought White Island was even better than Poor Knights. We booked on an excellent boat called Black Shag through Dive White www.divewhite.co.nz. World class dives, a visit to an active volcano, and the only day boat that has ever supplied me with freshly baked pizza and cake.
There is a river drift dive out of Lake Taupo that we recced but didn't do. It looks quite interesting. There is a dive shop in Taupo [email protected] If you like mountain walking the nearby Tongariro National Park is worth a visit. The 1 day crossing is splendid, if crowded. Do Mt Naurohoe and Mt Tongariro at the same time and you lose the crowds and catch them up at the end - a fairly tough day though.
Other dives - plenty of stuff in the Bay of Plenty, and out of Auckland. Not so much in South Island. Kaikoura was a bit like St Abbs with bigger kelp and lots of juvenile crayfish. Fjordland is remote and really needs a liveaboard. Three Kings is on my must do list. They are islands 50km off the north of North Island. April and May is the time to go, there's too much chance of big seas from tropical storms in Feb/March (tried to charter a liveaboard there - it's taking us to fjordland instead). Stewart Island also has good diving, again with poor sea weather at the moment. There is a freshwater dive at Pupu springs near Abel Tasman, which often gets recommended. We went for a look. It has amazing 100m vis which you can see through a viewing gallery without getting wet. There are restrictions about when you can dive there posted locally, lots of spectators, and the whole thing is only the size of a swimming pool, so we didn't bother diving.
NZ is a brilliant place if you enjoy the outdoors. The diving is good, but do other stuff as well. Enjoy."
[Bren wrote]: Sounds just a tad good that eh? I dived the Bay of Islands when I was out there (1992) and it was truly awsome. Hey Gunna Do, care to comment on any of the above?
A guy called Richard Scarsbrook (email: [email protected]) posted this on the BSAC site on 21st Jan 2003, so the info is right upto date:
[Richard wrote]:
"My wife and I spent a month in NZ last year, and leave for 2 months on Saturday.
The February/March edition of Dive New Zealand should be out by the time you get there. It is the main source of NZ diving contact. Mike Halligan's reply gives the web address. Dive shops and the bigger newsagents like Whitcoulls stock it.
The dive operators run scheduled trips throughout the week at popular places like Poor Knights, Rainbow Warrior (Bay of Islands) and Kaikoura. Elsewhere scheduled trips tend to be at weekends. If you express interest in diving but no trip is scheduled, we found that operators would start a list and try and fill a trip. Obviously the sooner you contact them the greater the chance of getting something going. There are plenty of dive shops that will rent you tanks so you can go off and do your own thing. Not sure if they would rent a full set of gear for this purpose - we take our own, flying via the US with 64kg baggage allowance each.
The tourist hotspots, diving and non-diving, can be quite crowded and a little regimented, though in most cases still worth visiting. If you visit places advertised locally that aren't in Lonely Planet/Rough Guide etc you will have them to yourself. If you are into multiday walking (tramping in NZ) the famous tracks are a case in point. You have to book in advance for routes like the Milford and Routeburn tracks, but there are dozens of other huts you can use to do other walks equally good without seeing a soul.
NZ is a big place and if you try to cram in too many places into a short trip you can end up spending most of your time travelling rather than doing.
As to dive recommendations, I don't know what your taste or experience is so treat the following with caution. We liked Poor Knights, especially Northern Arch. We used Dive!Tutukaka www.diving.co.nz and were sufficiently impressed that we are using them again. A lot of the divers at Poor Knights appeared to be inexperienced. If that is an issue for you (it is for us when we're paying)make sure you get on the boat designated the 'advanced' boat.
We thought White Island was even better than Poor Knights. We booked on an excellent boat called Black Shag through Dive White www.divewhite.co.nz. World class dives, a visit to an active volcano, and the only day boat that has ever supplied me with freshly baked pizza and cake.
There is a river drift dive out of Lake Taupo that we recced but didn't do. It looks quite interesting. There is a dive shop in Taupo [email protected] If you like mountain walking the nearby Tongariro National Park is worth a visit. The 1 day crossing is splendid, if crowded. Do Mt Naurohoe and Mt Tongariro at the same time and you lose the crowds and catch them up at the end - a fairly tough day though.
Other dives - plenty of stuff in the Bay of Plenty, and out of Auckland. Not so much in South Island. Kaikoura was a bit like St Abbs with bigger kelp and lots of juvenile crayfish. Fjordland is remote and really needs a liveaboard. Three Kings is on my must do list. They are islands 50km off the north of North Island. April and May is the time to go, there's too much chance of big seas from tropical storms in Feb/March (tried to charter a liveaboard there - it's taking us to fjordland instead). Stewart Island also has good diving, again with poor sea weather at the moment. There is a freshwater dive at Pupu springs near Abel Tasman, which often gets recommended. We went for a look. It has amazing 100m vis which you can see through a viewing gallery without getting wet. There are restrictions about when you can dive there posted locally, lots of spectators, and the whole thing is only the size of a swimming pool, so we didn't bother diving.
NZ is a brilliant place if you enjoy the outdoors. The diving is good, but do other stuff as well. Enjoy."
[Bren wrote]: Sounds just a tad good that eh? I dived the Bay of Islands when I was out there (1992) and it was truly awsome. Hey Gunna Do, care to comment on any of the above?