New Zealand, better than Old Zealand

I just arrived on the northern most of New Zealand called Paihia. It's a lot like Grand Bend with mountains, dolphins, sting rays, and sand dunes to go sand boarding. Tomorrow I'm swimming with Dolphins, then going sand boarding! The town has a reallllllly cool vibe, with a lot of cafe/bars with open walls facing the beach. I've also actually found quite a few Canadians, mostly from Calgary or Vancouver, but one guy from Toronto. Our bus driver is "far out" (that's a popular term here), we drove by a very nice golf course on the coast line, and he would wait until a golfers mid-back swing then lay on the horn. Even earlier than that we went to Goat Island and drove around on a glass bottom boat, checking out caves and some giant fish. Unfortunately we didn't see anything but fish, although the driver said in his 18 years of driving the boat, he's only seen one Great White Shark. It's been a packed day, and I'm lounging around Paihia until Sunday! Hope everyone at home is doing well!