Number 9: Go Scuba Diving

On Tuesday, we did a bit of shopping around Rotorua in the morning and then drive to Auckland for the afternoon and evening. We are kind of done with museums at this point, so we walked along the harbour and then had lunch on Queen at a little Chinese place for noodles. Then up the billions of hills to K' Road, what's touted as Auckland's "quirky" area of town with fun shops and eateries.

K' Road turned out to be home to a few cafes, about six secondhand shops (which would be great, but I'm on the hunt for a hat, and the only fairly newish and cleanish looking hat was a white baseball cap with gold sequins on the front - The Boy said no.) and a few sex shops. "Quirky" is subjective, I guess.

We went to the Skytower, not to go up ($84 per person!?), and certainly not to walk around the ring (please.) but just to look. After a bit of shopping, we went for dinner at Burger Fuel (the floridian girl at the Sydney Lululemon recommended it, and it turns out to be a chain!) and it was delicious but way overly filling. We waddled back to the Jucy hotel and hung out and waited to wake up at 4 for our flight back to Australia.

So yesterday, we returned to Australia! And within the first six hours of being in the country, I'd acquired 11 new moquito bites, and then another dozen or so during the evening. Cairns is bloody humid. We went from wearing pants and layers in New Zealand to wearing almost nothing in this godforsaken town. It has the charm of Byron Bay with only a smidge of the douchebagginess. No beach though! they have a weird "lagoon", this open air public pool near their section of the Pacific in between the harbour and dirt. We explored the town and got our gear for our dive trip....which we are now on. :)

which brings us to Number 9. Go Scuba Diving!
The Boy and I have now been on THREE (Count 'em!) (one, two, three) unguided scuba dives at Pellowe Reef! It was SO exciting! We saw a pink anemone and lots of schools of fish of varying sizes and lots of black-tailed humbugs and half and half pullers. We saw brown coral with blue tips and gold coral with yellow tips, brain corals that actually look like brain (not that I've seen a real brain), and mushroom coral that looks like mushrooms! It was really fun and the water was super warm, even at deeper depths. At the surface it almost feels like someone peed in the water because it's so hot! You know what I'm talking about.

The second time we went down we saw a small manta ray. CRAZY! Other people saw a shark!

The third time we went down, we saw a turtle! it was so fun.