What not to miss in new zealand/australia?

[almitywife]

Dude. Havnt your Government told you that Australia has officially been renamed West Island. They thought It would boost your national IQ to become a part of New Zealand, although unfortunately it lowered ours somewhat.
The proof is in the picture

this coming from a man who lives in a country that cant even afford an airforce and expects us aussies to come to the party when either war is declared or you run out of beer... whichever should come first.

Drew, as you can see - if coming to Australia and New Zealand you had better bring your boots because of the BS depth coming from both sides of the ditch.

 

[boxcar]

As for Australia there are a lot of good sites, I wouldn't bother diving the cairns area of the reef, too beat up, try and go in the whitsundays or one of the islands in the reef like lady elliot island.

As a Queensland resident who doesn't live on the coast and so gets to pick where to dive in south queensland and northern NSW, I second a vote for Lady Elliot and also Lady Musgrave Islands...One of my favorite trips is a 3 day liveaboard on Venus II from Bundaberg...(www.divemusgrave.com.au ) ...the interary has changed in the last year to include more sites and I found the reefs they visit to be teeming with life. I'm off again on that trip at the end of the month and then again in Dec...its that good, I reckon.

 

[Moose016]

Bare island is one of the best shore dives around sydney and theres a dive shop right near there called sydney dive academy, if you can get out on a boat to shark point we saw some grey nurses, theres usually a few there (or were).

 

[AndyNZ]

Stupid kiwis, when are you going to realise that it's only a matter of time before you become another state of Australia?

Not likely, we had the sense to turn down a free trade agreement with the US!

And we could also mentiona few words.... Bledisloe, the Ashes... y'know! Will just have to see what happens with the Bathurst this weekend, eh?!

I don't reccomend the poor knights, I found it to be a BIG dissapointment

Really??? Who did you you go out with, what time of year, where did you go and what was the dissapointment?

Poor Knights have got some incredible diving, but a lot of the interest is in the encrusting life and you have to get up close to the walls to really see what's going on. It's not "easy" diving like the GBR or the islands, where the life is abundantly obvious, so it's well worth going out with a guide for the first dive or two just so you can get into the style of the diving.

 

[AndyNZ]

this coming from a man who lives in a country that cant even afford an airforce and expects us aussies to come to the party when either war is declared or you run out of beer... whichever should come first.

It's actually worse than that, he says laughing at his own country......

We recently bought some rapid transit armoured cars for the Army that are based in the South Island. Unfortunately, they're too big to be carried in the few remaining military transport aircraft so they can't actually be deployed anywhere..... they can't even get onto the North Island because of the regulations of the Cook Strait ferry.

I reckon it's a con, though. I'm sure the South Islanders just bought them to defend the "Main Island" from the "Pig Islanders".

 

[almitywife]

It's actually worse than that, he says laughing at his own country......

We recently bought some rapid transit armoured cars for the Army that are based in the South Island. Unfortunately, they're too big to be carried in the few remaining military transport aircraft so they can't actually be deployed anywhere..... they can't even get onto the North Island because of the regulations of the Cook Strait ferry.

I reckon it's a con, though. I'm sure the South Islanders just bought them to defend the "Main Island" from the "Pig Islanders".

hey - sounds like the same guy bought those Collins class subamarines for the Australia navy a few years back... they make SO much noise when in the water that its laughable! and again... i think we just bought a whole heap of helicopters from the US that were last used in the vietnam war.

to be honest Andy... there is one thing that NZ has that i would really really want - Nuie Island!!!! ever been there??? fantastic! one thing i can be jealous of... i'll swap you tasmania for it???

 

[AndyNZ]

to be honest Andy... there is one thing that NZ has that i would really really want - Nuie Island!!!! ever been there??? fantastic! one thing i can be jealous of... i'll swap you tasmania for it???

Well, as long as you don't sneak John Howard onto Tasmania before the swap......

No, never been to Niue but actually thinking about it for next winter. I missed out on my winter escape to the islands this year as I took some time off after a work trip to Canada. Hmmmm, August would be nice... right in the middle of whale season!

 

[almitywife]

ok, we keep little Johnny becaue that PM of yours is kinda scarey, you get Tassie and we get Nuie!

I sent hubby to Nuie a few years ago, just before resort/money started coming into Nuie and he loved it!

best viz he ever had, whales, sea snakes, swimthrus.... and on sunday when everyone was at church the most amazing caving day he ever could have imagined. before he left i did some research and said "oh look honey, they have a kmart so you can buy water etc"... kmart ended up being a shack with a painted "K" on it and their main square had chickens roaming around... our kind of getaway! its also small enough to bike around and the people were fantastic.

we're planning on going back in a few years again.

 

[Mark Goodchild]

I was in Oz this June just past. Had a fantastic time. I suggest Western Australia, Exmouth and Coral Bay are worth a look. Also the Coral Sea was fantastic but we did a liveaboard which might take more time than you have.

Check out the reports here.

http://www.zerovisibility.co.uk/Reports.htm

 

[AndyNZ]

ok, we keep little Johnny becaue that PM of yours is kinda scarey

Aw, Auntie Helen isn't that bad! She just looks a bit scary when she's in a mood.

we're planning on going back in a few years again.

Hmmmm! The stuff dreams are made of! Definitely want something other than Fiji or Vanuatu next winter - though some friends have just started a buisness on Tonga and I could probably blag free accomodation and discounted diving, decisions decisions.