1 – 11 October

We had always planned to leave in the first available weather window in October to give us plenty of time to get back into New Zealand before our insurance imposed deadline of 31 October – all to do with cyclone season in Fiji. It turned out that 1 October was just such a window and since we had already booked our nights on a mooring ball in Denarau it seemed to make sense to leave right away.

We knew that we would have to do a little motoring but did not really expect to have to motor most of the way. So had we chosen the wrong weather window? The next window was over a week later and several of the boats that departed then chose to turn back after two days as a significant storm system had appeared unexpectedly. Those that continued had a very rough passage. We were happy to trade the cost of a bit of diesel for a delightfully smooth passage.

Our journey is best described in the entries in the PredictWind tracker:

We had chosen to enter New Zealand in Opua rather than Marsden Cove so that Claire and Jonathan could get to see the Bay of Islands and explore some of Northland’s coast on our way south.

It proved to be an excellent decision.

Opua Marina was easy to access and after docking at around 8:15 am we only had to wait a few hours for the customs, immigration and bio-security officers to turn up. The check in process was all very friendly and painless. The only disappointment was losing our dinner. We had a beef mince bolognaise thawing out on the bench top. It had been made in New Zealand before we left and been in the freezer until that day. The problem was that there was no way for the biosecurity officer could identify the meat. Since it could have been pork, it had to go. Oh well, tuna again tonight!

With the formalities complete, we were free to go. Next stop; Russell wharf and the start of a short New Zealand sailing adventure.