Hi,
I did a fair bit of diving in NZ when I was there in Feb. I have to say that my favourite three sites were Northern Arch and Tie-Dye Arch at the Poor Knights islands and Laison's Reef at White Island. The amount of short and long tail rays was awesome - on my Northern Arch dive we must have had 50 or 60 sightings...quite a few eagle rays too. Laison's reef was one of the fishiest places I dove - loads of massive kingfish and yet more inquisitive rays, some as big as 2 metres. I also dived in Milford Sound - excellent black coral but rather cold! Also enjoyed the Mikhail Lermontov in Malborough sounds although visibility wasn't amazing. The first dives I did in NZ were off Paihia - dove the Rainbow Warrior - quite small but the small square room you sit in surrounded by Big Eyes was awesome. Also did a dive off Paihia called The Tunnels which was basically a set of narrow passages where you could shoot through like superman due to teh surge! I actually did my rescue diver course at Dive! Kaikoura and therefore I have a soft spot for there also...a very interesting bottom - there were all kinds of autumnal coloured kelps and seaweeds and the surge is always a nice and steady one. I would do them all again but sadly i'm back in the UK now!
ElmDiver