Kia Ora!
I’m Pete, and I’ve just joined the team at Dive HQ Wellington!
I’m a Lower Hutt local, but I’ve only just come back after spending 8 years running around other parts of the country and the world.
I’ve been diving since 2016, when I did a summer course with Dive Otago down in Dunedin. Despite those chilly waters, I was instantly hooked. I kept diving as a hobby rather than a career for a while, and ended up working in wildlife tourism on boats in Dunedin, before heading over to California to work on whale watching boats. When COVID shut down the California operations in early 2020, I headed back to New Zealand and got back into the tourism industry. I spent a summer watching people going diving as I was commuting to and from my workplace, and became itchy to spend more time down under the water.
In order to scratch that diving itch, I went back to Dive Otago in early 2021 and did my instructor course. Before too long I headed over to Cairns, working as a dive instructor in those toasty Australian waters. I spent the first half of 2022 travelling around Europe, and then came back and found myself joining the team here at Dive HQ Wellington. I’m super stoked to be able to enjoy everything the ocean around Wellington has to offer, and I know I’m going to have a great time working here!
My favourite place that I’ve dived was Milford Sound. I took a trip there with Dive Otago after completing my instructor course, and was blown away by the geology, topography, and marine life. Some of those crays looked like they could have eaten me for breakfast, and the Jason mirabilis nudibranchs were incredibly beautiful. Add to that the small sharks we’d see on nearly every dive, and the wall diving with hundreds of metres of water below us, and you get a pretty awesome place to dive. Aside from diving, I’m big into wildlife photography and filmmaking. I haven’t quite made the switch to take these interests underwater yet, but I’m sure it’ll happen before long! My favourite animal to photograph has to be Humpback Whales. I’ve spent some time snapping them breaching and lunge feeding, and it’s always a rush!
Anyway, it’s really good to be here. Come and say hi if you see me in the shop or out at the dive site, and I look forward to meeting you!