Whangarei to Paihia

Yep...it's raining... rain rain rain.

I'm in the bay of islands right now in a small town called Paihia. It's populated principally by backpackers, which is cool. For the last three days, I was in a city called Whangarei. We were staying right by a nature reserve at the top of a waterfall. Yesterday I went down to the base of the falls and had my picture taken by some tourists. Everything is so peaceful and green here. It's sort of like stepping back in time.

We managed to catch an art festival in the town. It was such a cool atmosphere, Hippies and backpackers mingling about. We listened to a rock reggae bad who could have been quite good, if they'd had more volume on their vocals. There really isn't to much to whangarei, so teh town isn't that exciting to explore. Our hostel was actually outside of the city, which was a bit of a pain. However, there are some great trails right there and it's quiet.

New Zealand is magical in the rain. The whole bay is sort of trapped in a misty cloud... it's really neat to see. We got out on the water yesterday and went diving at poor knights island. The bottom is covered in volcanic rock choss with a kelp forest growing on top. we swam into some caves and poked about in an old volcanic crater. swimming into the dark of the cave was a bit weird, but when I turned around, the light filtering through the cave entrance took my breath away. kelp plants and schools of fish sat silhouetted against the blue light streaming into the cave mouth. I wish that I could have captured it somehow. I didn't want to leave, but sadly I was running low on air and had to return to the boat. The dive was quite expensive, but totally worth it.

We'll be in the bay of islands for a few days. Hopefully this rain clears up and we are able to get down to the beach. It's so humid right now, everything feels damp and sticky.

I love you all
Sydney