Burrfish42
New
I've dove the GBR twice (2019 and 2022) as well as North and South Island NZ (2023). I've also done a few hundred dives around the east and south coast of Australia. A few thoughts on diving in both countries below.
TLDR: Aus and NZ both have great diving if you know where to look. The GBR is overpriced and overrated for tropical diving and has certainly been affected by climate change. If I were to fly from the US to this side of the world for tropical diving, I'd head to Indonesia or elsewhere in the coral triangle instead. Better diving, better service, lower price. But if you want good temperate water diving and plenty of unique wildlife to see topsides, Aus and NZ both deliver.
But I should ask, what's your dive experience like? How many dives total, how many in the last year, highest certification level? The following recommendations are assuming at least AOW, 50-100 dives total, 10-20 dives in the last year with at least a couple in the last few months. Essentially this advice is for someone who is relatively comfortable in the water. Operators in both countries require recent dives (last 6 months) so you should do a few refresher dives stateside before you fly over here. This approach lets you do it at your own convenience without wasting vacation time.
Australia
The GBR is iconic but is a tourist trap in a lot of ways. I did a liveaboard from Cairns out to the Coral Sea and Osprey Reef in 2019, and despite getting a great last minute deal and having a half filled or less boat (I went solo and had a 4 share room to myself), I was not particularly impressed. The diving was average considering the hype around the GBR. Many places had coral that wasn't the healthiest or was bleached/dead. Recall this was shortly after some of the hottest years on record for the GBR.
Diving in 2022 was much better. I did a super budget liveaboard out of Townsville and the skipper knew where to go for good sites. Much healthier reef with more variety between dives. Southern sections of the reef have also suffered less severe bleaching events over the past few years. Some of the worst dives on this trip were still better than nearly all the dives on the previous trip; needless to say the diving was good. The absolute highlight was diving the Yongala shipwreck, definitely a top 5 dive in Australia. To get an idea of what this dive is like imagine banded sea snakes swimming between your legs as a manta ray glides below you and the wreck structure is obscured by schools of fish. But be warned it's an extremely exposed site that can experience heavy current so can only be done when conditions allow. If you're on a tight schedule, it may or may not work out.
In Australia, you pay for pretty much everything when it comes to diving, especially private guides if they even offer them. So depending on your experience level and your random insta buddy, this may not be ideal. Contrast that with countries in SE Asia where guides are great and often included. If you absolutely need a private guide, get it in writing from each operator before you go and expect the extra charge. Either way you'll be paired up with a buddy, but in tourist hotspots, most of these people are same ocean buddies that haven't dove in 5 years.
If a visit to Far North Queensland is essential for your Australia trip to be complete, I'd do a day boat or two from Ayr south of Townsville out to the Yongala (it's amazing!) and perhaps a day trip from Port Douglas, Cairns, or Townsville to the GBR just to have done it. And while in the area, I'd highly recommend visiting the Daintree for at least 2 days. There's plenty to do out of Cairns that isn't diving so you'll stay busy if diving doesn't need to be the entire focus of the trip.
Elsewhere on the east coast has great diving as well but it depends on how far you want to travel. I'll start the list from around the Brisbane area and work south a bit past Sydney. All of the following are done as day boats or shore dives.
Around Brisbane you can dive some good sites on the Sunshine Coast, Stradbroke Island, or Julian Rocks down near Byron Bay. Big animals include mantas, turtles, and sharks. Topsides Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo is worth a visit as something iconically Aussie.
Moving further into NSW, the North Solitary Islands are probably my favorite day trip on the east coast since you get a great mix of temperate and tropical species. The South Solitary Islands out of Coffs Harbour are also good with opportunities to see grey nurse sharks.
Closer to Sydney, the Nelson Bay area is excellent for critter dives. There's also boat dives out to Broughton Island. Sydney itself has plenty of good diving either by boat or shore. Taronga Zoo in Sydney is stellar and you'd see heaps of native wildlife you might otherwise miss. Further south, Shellharbour's Bushrangers Bay is one of the best spots to dive with grey nurse sharks and one of the few that can be done as a shore dive. Lastly, diving with the seals at Montague Island out of Narooma is a great dive.
I could go on for a while but that list will get you started. Last tip on Australia is to make time for things to do topside. There's a lot to see! And don't stretch yourself too thin by trying to visit everywhere. It may be a single country, but it's still the size of a continent!
NZ
The diving here really surprised me with how varied it was, the relatively warm water (late summer Feb/Mar), and the good visibility (10-15+m, 30-50+ft). I've dove California from San Diego up to Monterey and expected a similar kind of diving. NZ was markedly better in my opinion with more fish life, better vis, and more interesting reef structure.
If you only have time for the Poor Knights, you can't go wrong. I'd recommend the dive lodge liveaboard up that way. Do some Google searching and you'll find them. It's a husband and wife run dive lodge and they keep a tight ship. Good food, good hospitality, responsible and experienced fellow divers. Coolest thing was the electric diver platform that literally lifts you back up out of the water after the dive with fins and all; no more clambering up a ladder as the boat rocks in the swell.
If you can make time for other diving in the area, the Rainbow Warrior and other sites in the Cavalli Islands make for a good day trip. Further south, there's plenty of diving in and around Wellington.
The South Island also has great diving. I dove Milford Sound and would do it again without hesitation. Stunning scenery above and below the waves. I have also heard great things about the diving around Picton on the north side of the South Island, but haven't dove it yet.
NZ has so much to do topsides it's wild. And unlike Australia, you don't have to drive 6+hrs to get to the next place that's interesting. If this trip of yours wasn't solely focused on diving, I would consider just visiting NZ for 2+ weeks.
If you have a specific question about operators when you narrow down your search, let me know. Either way, enjoy your trip!
TLDR: Aus and NZ both have great diving if you know where to look. The GBR is overpriced and overrated for tropical diving and has certainly been affected by climate change. If I were to fly from the US to this side of the world for tropical diving, I'd head to Indonesia or elsewhere in the coral triangle instead. Better diving, better service, lower price. But if you want good temperate water diving and plenty of unique wildlife to see topsides, Aus and NZ both deliver.
But I should ask, what's your dive experience like? How many dives total, how many in the last year, highest certification level? The following recommendations are assuming at least AOW, 50-100 dives total, 10-20 dives in the last year with at least a couple in the last few months. Essentially this advice is for someone who is relatively comfortable in the water. Operators in both countries require recent dives (last 6 months) so you should do a few refresher dives stateside before you fly over here. This approach lets you do it at your own convenience without wasting vacation time.
Australia
The GBR is iconic but is a tourist trap in a lot of ways. I did a liveaboard from Cairns out to the Coral Sea and Osprey Reef in 2019, and despite getting a great last minute deal and having a half filled or less boat (I went solo and had a 4 share room to myself), I was not particularly impressed. The diving was average considering the hype around the GBR. Many places had coral that wasn't the healthiest or was bleached/dead. Recall this was shortly after some of the hottest years on record for the GBR.
Diving in 2022 was much better. I did a super budget liveaboard out of Townsville and the skipper knew where to go for good sites. Much healthier reef with more variety between dives. Southern sections of the reef have also suffered less severe bleaching events over the past few years. Some of the worst dives on this trip were still better than nearly all the dives on the previous trip; needless to say the diving was good. The absolute highlight was diving the Yongala shipwreck, definitely a top 5 dive in Australia. To get an idea of what this dive is like imagine banded sea snakes swimming between your legs as a manta ray glides below you and the wreck structure is obscured by schools of fish. But be warned it's an extremely exposed site that can experience heavy current so can only be done when conditions allow. If you're on a tight schedule, it may or may not work out.
In Australia, you pay for pretty much everything when it comes to diving, especially private guides if they even offer them. So depending on your experience level and your random insta buddy, this may not be ideal. Contrast that with countries in SE Asia where guides are great and often included. If you absolutely need a private guide, get it in writing from each operator before you go and expect the extra charge. Either way you'll be paired up with a buddy, but in tourist hotspots, most of these people are same ocean buddies that haven't dove in 5 years.
If a visit to Far North Queensland is essential for your Australia trip to be complete, I'd do a day boat or two from Ayr south of Townsville out to the Yongala (it's amazing!) and perhaps a day trip from Port Douglas, Cairns, or Townsville to the GBR just to have done it. And while in the area, I'd highly recommend visiting the Daintree for at least 2 days. There's plenty to do out of Cairns that isn't diving so you'll stay busy if diving doesn't need to be the entire focus of the trip.
Elsewhere on the east coast has great diving as well but it depends on how far you want to travel. I'll start the list from around the Brisbane area and work south a bit past Sydney. All of the following are done as day boats or shore dives.
Around Brisbane you can dive some good sites on the Sunshine Coast, Stradbroke Island, or Julian Rocks down near Byron Bay. Big animals include mantas, turtles, and sharks. Topsides Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo is worth a visit as something iconically Aussie.
Moving further into NSW, the North Solitary Islands are probably my favorite day trip on the east coast since you get a great mix of temperate and tropical species. The South Solitary Islands out of Coffs Harbour are also good with opportunities to see grey nurse sharks.
Closer to Sydney, the Nelson Bay area is excellent for critter dives. There's also boat dives out to Broughton Island. Sydney itself has plenty of good diving either by boat or shore. Taronga Zoo in Sydney is stellar and you'd see heaps of native wildlife you might otherwise miss. Further south, Shellharbour's Bushrangers Bay is one of the best spots to dive with grey nurse sharks and one of the few that can be done as a shore dive. Lastly, diving with the seals at Montague Island out of Narooma is a great dive.
I could go on for a while but that list will get you started. Last tip on Australia is to make time for things to do topside. There's a lot to see! And don't stretch yourself too thin by trying to visit everywhere. It may be a single country, but it's still the size of a continent!
NZ
The diving here really surprised me with how varied it was, the relatively warm water (late summer Feb/Mar), and the good visibility (10-15+m, 30-50+ft). I've dove California from San Diego up to Monterey and expected a similar kind of diving. NZ was markedly better in my opinion with more fish life, better vis, and more interesting reef structure.
If you only have time for the Poor Knights, you can't go wrong. I'd recommend the dive lodge liveaboard up that way. Do some Google searching and you'll find them. It's a husband and wife run dive lodge and they keep a tight ship. Good food, good hospitality, responsible and experienced fellow divers. Coolest thing was the electric diver platform that literally lifts you back up out of the water after the dive with fins and all; no more clambering up a ladder as the boat rocks in the swell.
If you can make time for other diving in the area, the Rainbow Warrior and other sites in the Cavalli Islands make for a good day trip. Further south, there's plenty of diving in and around Wellington.
The South Island also has great diving. I dove Milford Sound and would do it again without hesitation. Stunning scenery above and below the waves. I have also heard great things about the diving around Picton on the north side of the South Island, but haven't dove it yet.
NZ has so much to do topsides it's wild. And unlike Australia, you don't have to drive 6+hrs to get to the next place that's interesting. If this trip of yours wasn't solely focused on diving, I would consider just visiting NZ for 2+ weeks.
If you have a specific question about operators when you narrow down your search, let me know. Either way, enjoy your trip!
