Motor over this morning after a weekend of repairs and prep at a lovely anchorage in Oneroa Bay close to Russell. Weather window is finally here! Today we cross to Australia!!!

Couldn’t manage to fix our main halyard so had to motor the rest of the way to Opua until we could get a new one.

Started the day with motoring out of Whangārei harbour and a beautiful sunrise. Mellow upwind sailing but directly upwind so lots of tacking. Conditions started to deteriorate earlier than anticipated and faster than anticipated… Gusting 35 knots+ with building seas. Our job wouldn’t furl then the main halyard snapped/jammed and we couldn’t lower the sail (in 30 knots of wind). Stressful. And we leave for Australia in two days! 😬

Took the dinghy up the river to do some provisioning, errands and a nice walk! Very nearly ran out of fuel so rowed half the way back 😆

Nostalgia sets in as we motored up the river back to the very spot where it all began. In fact we dropped our anchor just tens of metres from our very first anchor spot! And we can see the boatyard where we boat the boat over a year and a half ago! What a wild journey! Oh and of course our engine failed in the last 30 minutes, time to change the fuel filter and hope that’s all it is 😬 Anchored in 2.1 metres of water, thankful for our lifting keel! 😆

I can’t believe we’ve done it!!! Back to where it all began! A full, figure of 8, circumnavigation around New Zealand’s north and south islands!!! 3901 nautical miles. That was one hell of a shakedown cruise! 😆 Now, sleep. Next, cross to Australia! 😬

Pretty cool to be back here on our own boat as came here in February 2024 (while we were doing our refit) for a week of sailing lessons on a small boat! Super nice day of sailing, upwind but in that happy place 15 knot range and then beam reach and a bit of downwind at the end. O ly ~1.5m swell so it was really mellow and just pleasant!

Thought this would be a perfect trip for the Aloha Olukai challenge as my husband and I are now just 100 nautical miles short of completing our circumnavigation of New Zealand!!! 👏 Wow. What a trip! Over 500 nautical miles up the west coast of New Zealand and round the top!!! Day 1 - 3 metre swell with 7-8 second period and 30 - 40 knot winds! Downwinding so managed 15 knot boat speed surfing down a couple of waves!! Oh and some rain! 😆 Day 2 - Mellowed out with 2 metre seas but longer period and 15-25kts, still downwinding 👌 and sunny today! Day 3 - Wind died overnight so a bit of motoring, then sailing again 8-15 knots wind. Died again so a bit more motoring in the morning and then picked up and got the sails back up 👏 Day 4 - I guess it was only fair we had at least one day of beating into it upwind 😅 2+ metres in 7-8 second period and 15-23 knot winds. Bashy bashy 🌊 🤣 We decided to pull into an anchorage just before sunset instead of continuing to our original destination (would have been another 50 miles and arriving at midnight). This way we could get a good meal in and a good nights rest before continuing tomorrow! 😊

Short(ish) sail to our next anchorage for the night before our big hop around the north of the island. Nice mellow sailing although a little soggy! Anchored just before dark 👌

So good to be back in New Zealand and back on the water after a 6 week hiatus while we went back to work and Fin Explorer waited patiently for us on the hard. Splashed her a couple of days ago, provision and everything sorted for our final leg of our NZ 🇳🇿 circumnavigation!! Good sailing conditions today with around 20 knots of wind and just 1 metre seas. Some downwinding, beam reach and upwind. From all three sails out to one reef in the main. All conditions! Good to shake off the cobwebs! Just me and my hubby as we prepare to cross to Australia! (Steve was even wearing his Olukai’s to represent!)

Docking in 15-20 knots of wind in a tiny narrow spot was a little stressful but surprisingly nailed it! 😅

Time to put the boat to bed for 6 weeks while we go back to work. Nice downwind sail with consistent 25-30 knots of wind (2 reefs in). Had one section close to the coast where we hit a strong tidal rip and everything stood up to 3+ metre waves in like 5 second periods… 😬 luckily it was short lived. Dark when we arrived so just picked up a mooring and will head to the marina in the morning after 😴

Just a short trip to move anchorages but ended up being quite sporty! Wind from 8 knots gusting up beyond 30… downwinding for the win. Then took the sail down to go through a narrow pass and our intended anchorage didn’t look good so went in search of another and eventually found one.

Just a little motor to switch up our anchorage as the wind shifted directions. Found a nice little protected cove.

Started the day with motor sailing but then the wind picked up so got some really nice 15 knot upwind sailing in. Primo!!! Lots of dolphins came to check us out on the way too! Sail down to go through the narrow current filled Tory Channel and back into Marlborough Sounds. This completes our circumnavigation of the South Island of New Zealand!!!! 🤩

Leaving Banks Peninsula after a few days sheltering from the weather at the marina. Headed north to Marlborough Sounds, pulled into Kaikoura to see if we could spot any whales. No whales but Dusky dolphins! (The 4th dolphins species to ride our bow!!) Decided to stop and anchor for the (2nd) night as the wind died anyway. Awesome downwind sail. Overnight was spicy with 3+ metre seas at 8-9 second intervals and 25-30 knots of wind. Two reefs in and still cooking along at 8+ knots! 🤟 Sleep now and will finish the trip tomorrow.

Can’t believe we are on our way north again! All the way from Stewart Island to Christchurch. First night very little wind (but bioluminescent dolphins!!!) and then pretty steady wind the rest of the trip. And made it into Lyttleton Marina before the storm hit! And had the rare Hector’s dolphins bow riding coming around the Banks Peninsula!

Quick trip around the corner to the beautiful pest free Ulva Island. The morning of rainbows!

Had to do something to get out for a little explore…