Diving the Poor Knights

While I had an absolutely amazing time on my free weekend, it's hard to say what aspects of New Zealand culture stood out in my mind simply because it didn't feel like I was immersed in a different culture at all. Chris and I spent our weekend scuba diving at the Poor Knights Islands off the coast of Tutukaka, a small community about an hour south of the Bay of Islands. Although we spent three days there, we were absorbed in the scuba diving culture, rather than the NZ culture. This can sometimes be hard to explain to someone who hasn't experienced it firsthand, but the diving community is something of a close knit group, and it seems to be about the same everywhere I've ever been. From the Bahamas to Mexico, Australia to New Zealand, the minute you get on that dive boat, it doesn't matter what country you are in, for the next few hours all that matters is diving. The conversations on the boat center around your level of experience, where else you've been diving, your equipment, and, of course, how the most recent dive was. It was great to get to talk to the divemasters on the boat and hear a little bit about their lives, but of the two that I talked with, only one was a Kiwi, while the other one was from California. It's such a diverse, interesting group of people that you meet in a situation like that, but it wasn't a uniquely NZ experience. However, some of the things we experienced both getting to and getting back from Tutukaka did show us a glimpse of life in this country. We took a bus to Whangarei, but had to get a taxi from there to Tutukaka, which is about a half hour away. On the way there, there was a construction crew working on the road, so all the cars had to stop for about ten minutes. I've been in taxis stuck in traffic before at home, and the meter just keeps on running, but our driver was really nice and turned it off right away so it wouldn't cost us anything extra. Also, in the holiday park we were staying at, you had to pay to get hot water in the showers. The first time I went in to take one, I didn't know what was going on, and an older woman in there came right up to me and explained how it worked, then offered me a dollar since I hadn't brought any money with me. I didn't take her up on her offer, but it was in instances like these that you got to see the helpful, friendly nature of the people who live here, and how accommodating they can be to people who clearly have no idea what they're doing. Although diving was definitely the highlight of the weekend, if not the whole trip, I will definitely take home with me the memories of all the great people that I have met here.