We saw ORCAS

Yes, we SAW ORCAS! Fucking free Willy style, breaching ORCA whales everyone, in the wild, on our way back from snorkeling at Poor Knight's Island. Absolutely amazing.

But I have to admit that I think I have been a little bit spoiled when it comes to underwater snorkeling/diving experiences. When you're living on an island on the Great Barrier Reef with baby sea turtles hatching at your feet every day and manta rays 3 meters across are swimming around you in the water, other snorkeling experiences tend to be, well, a little slack. Not to mention the water this weekend was a balmy 16 degrees C, just cold enough to give you the gasp reflex every time you put your face in the water, and frigid enough to make your fingers and toes go numb if you were in for more than 5 minutes. Call me jaded, but diving in 22 C water with tropical fish and corals abound was a bit more pleasant. However, the sub-tropical enviornment was defintely something I never saw before. The water was clear, there were HUGE fish everywhere, and kelp, which I have never seen either. And thanks to the crew on our boat, we were able to use the stand up paddle boards to explore the caves of the Poor Knights, which was very, very cool. And then we saw Orca on our way back, one of the highlights of the day. And then I got asked out to dinner by my dive instructor; another highlight of the day. And I also applied for a job at Dive Tutukaka because they were looking for seasonal staff, the last highlight of the day. Win, win, win!

I always find it really amusing when these dudes who run touristic businesses like these use it as an opportunity to pick up chicks. It's an ideal situation for them; they are "the local" bloke who is super cool and smart, he must be an entertainer or at least be somewhat personable, and tend to be reasonably good looking (please tell me the last time you have seen an unattractive Scuba instructor/surf instructor/river guide). They run these tours which go every day, turning over thousands of people every summer, ususally young travelers on Holiday, and can easily have their pick of whatever bikini-clad backpacker they so chose. And the girls they meet are obviously on holiday as well, with the "spring break mentality", so the boys most likely can quite easily get what they want from the backpackers they have woo-ed with no risk of any long term attachment because, hey, their stay is only temporary. I had my fair share witnessing this on my adventures down under, and I think I have calculated it out nearly to a science.

What is funny though, about this particular incident, is that 2 weeks ago, Andrew and Bianca had another American WWOOFer who had gone diving somewhere up the coast and was also asked out by her dive instructor. We all laughed and joked before Sophie and I went about how I better watch out for those kiwi dive instructors, they're on the prowl. Well guess what? It happened. And guess what else? It was the same dive boat, same instructor, same line. And unknown to him, he asked out two American WWOOFers who just so happened to be WWOOfing at the same family's house. Amazing. Part of me wants to go out and just fucking laugh my ass off as I call him out on his error. Part of my wants to congratulate him on randomly chosing two girls from the same household. Part of me wants to congratulate Andrew and Bianca for only taking wwoofers who seem to attract kiwi dive masters. People keep telling me that New Zealand is a small country, and yep. It definitely is.