We can see land and expect to be tied up outside the quarantine wharf at Opua about 2300hrs. It?s been a lot of motoring in the last 3 days, but it?s been easy and even coming into NZ the sun is shining and it?s relatively warm. Not at night though as we are both layered up big time. Looking forward to going for a walk and seeing a few people we haven?t seen for a while. It?s good to home.

Another night of motoring. The wind has turned SE, but only about 11kn. So we are sailing into the wind, but it?s not too uncomfortable. We should be at Opua late today all going well. It?s been quite a lot of motoring, especially the later half, but on the upside, it?s been a pretty cruisy passage. Looking forward to getting home and catching up with friends and family.

A full day of motoring, initially - very sloppy seas with a 2 m swell coming from lots of directions. The sea has calmed down now with just a 1m S swell and 3 kn of wind, so quite glassy. Still warm enough to shower outside, but there are no fish in the ocean. One more full night of motoring before we head towards Opua. Hoping that it stays this warm.

Another night of next to no wind and motoring compiled with a 2m messy swell, makes for a bit of a washing machine effect. We have a very good side berth that allows us to get a bit of sleep, so not complaining. So far it?s been a pretty easy passage. We did see one ship come by very close during the evening, but other than that, just RhumCocoa following close behind.

we have been motoring all day due to lack of wind and a 2 meter swell is making it quite rocky. We have beautiful hot weather and still showering outside. Unfortunately still not a fish in sight. I?m not even going to mention tomorrow! At this stage we are on target for getting to Opua late Monday night - all going well.

The wind has finally disappeared and we are motoring with about 7kn of N wind. Sails are all down as they tend to bang around when there?s a bit of slop and no wind. Anyway can?t complain, we have another fine day and we are not getting hammered (yet). We are about half way through our passage and it?s been very comfortable.

Another great day of sailing averaging between 6 - 8 kn in approx 11 kn of NE winds, aided with an ocean current from behind us. We turned on the motor for an hour, mainly to make water, but are currently sailing. Just as well we have meat in the freezer because the fishies don?t want to jump onto our hook. Tomorrow?

A great nights sail with 13kn E winds. We are heading east in anticipation of the E / SE winds that are predicted on our arrival into NZ. It?s been easy sleeping so far at night, so may it continue.

A good day of sailing but light winds of between 8-14kn E. We did put up the gennaker for about an hour, but the wind came around too much on the nose, so had to bring it down. Still no fish. There?s always tomorrow.

A good nights gentle sail with 10-14kn E winds. We did the odd bit of motoring during the night. The wind is slowly dying, but hoping for another day before we need to start the motor for a high in the middle of our passage. Not a bad nights sleep considering it is the first night. Another gorgeous day on the horizon and Rhum Coco is the only boat we can see, a few miles behind us.

A fabulous first day with blue skies and 10-15kn E for nice comfortable sailing. Fairly calm seas, but haven?t caught any fish yet. We can still shower outside, but I?m sure that may change in the next couple of days. All in all, a good first day.

We checked out of Noumea yesterday morning and had a fabulous kite at Maître Island in the avo when we should have been getting ready to go, but we are on the road now and we are sailing in a lovely 16kn easterly breeze. Looking forward to a light passage home.

It is 0500hrs NZ time, but 0400 hrs in New Caledonia. We have arrived safe and sound, sailing all the way mainly just with the main up. The rain has arrived to wash our boat down. We are looking forward to a couple of hours of normal sleep before heading in to Noumea to check in.

We have slowed down so that we can go through the Havannah Pass with an incoming tide in the early hours of the morning. The sea state has been messy today and we are sailing only with a main sail. One more night and we will be there, which is a nice thought.

We sailed all night but with the wind slightly more easterly (from behind) sloppy seas and up and down winds, we decided to pull in the Genoa as it was flapping a bit. Not good when you are trying to sleep. Anyway we are racing along now with just the main up between 7 - 9.5kn, so not complaining. One more night to go and we will be in New Caledonia. Yeehaa!

After motoring half the night, the wind came up enough 12kn SE in the morning to gently sail again and have been sailing ever since. The forecast says wind for tonight, about 17kn SE, so looking forward to a good sail.

We sailed under a full moon until just after 0100hrs when the wind died to about 11kn. Because it was slightly behind us made the conditions very sloppy, so we pulled down sails and put on the motor, which is still going now. Oh well, we are all charged up, so can?t complain.

Making good ground with continuing winds of SE 19-21kn. A couple of leaks to sort out, but otherwise a great days sailing. We are both a bit tired, but the first day is always the worst. Looking forward to another good nights sail.

Great night of sailing with SE winds just aft of beam, with full mainsail and stay sail a nice combination. A full moon made it easy to see, and we both managed a little bit of sleep, so all in all a great start. Looking forward to another beautiful sunny day.

Its 2.30 in Friday afternoon and we are just about to head through Navula Passage to New Caledonia. Our time in Fiji has been fabulous so very hot and sunny, just like today. We are just about to put up our sails as the wind is coming around nicely. Hopefully set them today for the next four days. We will friends here, but are looking forward to catching up with some other ones.

After spending a fabulous couple of weeks in the Yasawas, we headed back to Lautoka for a dentist appointment that was finally successful and then onto Musket Cove where we have had friends, Brett and Jann stay for a few days. The weather has been fantastically windy and we have been kiting most days. Yesterday, we were kiting with whales which was an awesome experience. Brett and Jann are now staying in the Musket Resort and head home on Thursday, so we will take them into Denarau and we will then be catching up with Team Huggett. Looking forward to that!! We intend to head to Noumea end of August.

After spending a couple of days with the Mantarays, we headed up to Blue Lagoon and had 3 days of great kiting with the Guys off Joli Fou, Roxanne and Mustang Sally. The wind has disappeared for a few days so have headed further up the Yasawas and are staying in a gorgeous secluded bay with lots of pretty coral and fish. We are still waiting for my second dentist appointment, so until that is established we will enjoy the Yasawas and the wind that is meant to turn up on Thursday.

We have been at Musket Cove for a while and have just said goodbye to Julie and Celia who have been on board. It?s been great catching up with a Bruce and Lyn from Jolie Fou and Grant and Jude from Blinder and lots of others. We met some new friends, Tom and Lynn from Roxanne. Tom gave me a go on his foiling kite board behind the back of his dingy, which was a new experience for me. Totally different from normal kiting, but lots of fun trying. Last night we stayed at Mana Island and now we are anchoring at Mantaray passage, hoping to see the Mantarays. We intend heading up to Blue Lagoon in the next couple of days hoping for some wind and maybe go even further up the Yasawas.

We are still at Nananu-i-ra and enjoying the kiting. The wind is slowly building and the kite size is getting smaller. Whistler and ourselves did go out for dinner at Wananavu Resort on Saturday to watch France get dicked. Great game and good food.

We keft Namena on Wenesday and tried to sail to Makogai with our Geneka, but ended up having to motor most of the way. We stayed only one night in Makogai, because there was too much sea lice in the water. We had a smooth ride going to Nananu-i-ra, absolutely no wind, so we made water, beer, did clothes washing and cleaning the boat inside and out while we motored. Its lovely to be back here snd see that the effects of cyclone Winstone have gone. Lots of greenery and building going on. We went for a big paddle board this morning, because it was nice and still, but there is lots of wind in the forecast, so we are looking forward to getting into some kite boarding, along with our friends from Whistler.

We had a lovely sail yesterday from Savusavu to Namenai. We didn?t dive, but had a nice snorkel around. I think we are heading off to Makogai today with a couple of other boats.

We spent a couple of days at Duff reef kite boarding in the most amazing warm aqua blue water. The kiting was great even though we were on an offshore situation, but the anchorage was a bit rolly at high tide. Both SV Whislter and ourselves decided to do an overnighter to Cousteau, (Savusavu), making the most of the wind. We had a great sail, the wind was beam on all day and night apart from the last two hours, we motored, making water and powering up. We intend to rest up today (being a Sunday) and then cruise on in to the market and get provisions for the next journey.

We spent 5 days in Vanuabalavu which was amazing. Lots of swimming, snorkelling and paddle boarding. We met lots of lovely cruisers and are travelling with a couple from Canada - Monty and Marge off Whistler. We had a great sail and are currently anchored in a Reef Called Duff Reef. A tiny little island with 2 palm trees. We went for a kite this afternoon - flat aqua water, one of the best kiting spots we have ever been in and have just come back from having dinner on Whistler. Fabulous day.

After spending a few days at Savusavu, catching up with a few boaties, we got our Cruising Permit and we headed to Cousteau Resort for some snorkelling and lazing around. Yesterday we headed for the Northern Lau Group. We knew we weren?t going to get anywhere before dark, so we did a very slow overnighter and arrived in Vanuabalavu this morning at 0600hrs. What a fabulous place with lots of little mushroom Islands everywhere. We are anchored in 5 meters of crystal clear water. Just heading out for a paddle board to have a look around. Paradise!!

We motored for the last 6 hours making water, washing down the boat and clothes washing. All those normal things you do early hours of the morning. Arrived into Savusavu about 0200hrs and slept. We are now waiting for customs, immigration, bio security and health to turn up before we are cleared into Fiji. Not too hard really with fresh hot meals and hot showers every night with very little diesel burnt. Now we can moan about how hot and sticky it is. Nice to be here though.

The wind has finally calmed down and we have 11.8kn NE. A nice gentle sail to do all our clean up, washing down all the salt that had been coming over the boat. It has been nice passing all the surrounding Islands. We still haven?t seen a soul during either of our passages, but I?m sure that will change during the night. We should arrive into Savusavu sometime around 0200hrs. Yippee!

After downloading weather grips that said maximum 20 kn NE, we set our sails, but probably could have done with another Reef in the main, hence to say it was a bit of a wild ride. It was raining most of the night with winds between 25-34 kn NE and a very messy sea and lots of water coming over the canopy. We are currently passing Islands connected to the Lau Group and daylight is making everything a bit more comfortable. We will probably make Savusavu later this evening. (A corrected position for this morning)

After downloading weather grips that said maximum 20 kn NE, we set our sails, but probably could have done with another Reef in the main, hence to say it was a bit of a wild ride. It was raining most of the night with winds between 25-34 kn NE and a very messy sea and lots of water coming over the canopy. We are currently passing Islands connected to the Lau Group and daylight is making everything a bit more comfortable. We will probably make Savusavu later this evening.

Raining steadily with 22kn NE winds. Stay Sail out with Reef in the main. We nearly had to get our wet weather gear out. Thank goodness for canopies.

A nasty NE wind unexpectedly turned up st about 1900hrs ranging between 25-13kn. The NE was predicted for later Sunday. We furled up our stay sail and have had an uncomfortable night of bashing into it and not going very fast. I?m sure we will have a decent sleep when we get to Fiji.

We are having a nice sail with 20kn E winds. It?s a bit cloudy, but warm and looking a bit black ahead of us. We have put out the stay sail instead of the Genoa and have reefed the main. It is meant to get windier tomorrow.

After having a nice respite and a few beers with the crew from a big motor launch called WILL, we are leaving North Minerva now and it looks like it?s going to be good wind - 18kn E winds and half m swells. Yay!!

Another good night of sailing with full main and reefed Genoa. 12kn ESE winds (beam on) perfect conditions with very little swell. We are coming into North Minerva Reef now and the sun is just about to come up - perfect timing. This part of the journey has seen us use about 3 hours motor time. We intend to stay here for one or two nights before heading to Savusavu in Fiji.

A fabulous day of sailing with full main and Genoa. 18kn SE winds (beam on) perfect conditions with 1 meter swell. We should reach Minerva Reef about midnight tonight. We are hoping for a full moon and clear skies to manoeuvre into Minerva. Looking forward to sleeping in a real bed with little movement.

We sailed all night apart from a couple of hours where we motored because the wind had died and it was coming from behind. Fortunately the wind moved around to the east and now we are sailing nicely with 16kn (beam on). The most comfortable we have been since we started out.

Another day of leisurely sailing with SSE winds 20-30 knots. We have only the main sail up as we will not get to Minerva Reef by sunset tomorrow. We thought about going straight to Savusavu, but would get pinged with extra costs being a weekend. We are stopping at Minerva for a night or two.

another night of sailing under a full moon. The pace is a bit slower than when we left NZ, around 6-7knots, but still making good ground with 16 kn SE winds. The sea has settled down a bit, with about 1 m swell. Sleeping is getting easier too, although not awake enough to realise I put SW in my first report rather than SE.

another night of sailing under a full moon. The pace is a bit slower than when we left NZ, around 6-7knots, but still making good ground with 16 kn SSW winds. The sea has settled down a bit, with about 1 m swell. Sleeping is getting easier too.

We motored for a couple of hours allowing us to charge up and make some water before the wind came back up and we have been sailing ever since. Not quite as quick as before, but a bit more comfortable. Still big 2-3 SW swells making the boat rock around a bit. We have been catching up on some sleep today, hoping for another good night.

The wind seems to be dying. We have been sailing all night, but half an hour ago, we started motoring as the wind is nearly directly behind us. Sleeping is getting easier as we get used to the motion again.

A fabulous days sailing with SW winds between 20-30knots. We have been sailing just with the main sail until mid morning when we put up the stay sail. Cruising between 6-14knots. The boat is still rolling around a lot, but we are getting used to it. We have had a number of Albatross circling most of the day. They are awesome to watch. Hoping for a better night sleep tonight.

A great night sailing travelling between 6-13knots with winds between 20-34kn SW winds. Not great sleep with the boat rolling around, but making good ground tho and it?s always a relief to get the first night over with. Looking forward to more sailing today.

Just leaving Marsden Cove Marina heading for Minerva reef. A rough ride out of Whangarei, but a nice southerly breeze to start our voyage on. We will not miss the cold, but we will miss our friends & family.

Just leaving Marsden Cove Marina heading for Minerva reef. A rough ride out of Whangarei, but a nice southerly breeze to start our voyage on. We will not miss the cold, but we will miss our friends & family.

we are anchored in Leigh Harbour, waiting for the NW winds to turn SW to head further north. We are hoping to leave for Fiji in the next week.