Anchored outside Russell after a couple of nice days cruising near Kerikeri. Back to Opua Marina for a couple of nights while a weather front passes over. Plus we have eventually fixed our MacBook and I have just updated our blog with a new post about the final leg of our trip up to the Bay of Islands. Better late than never, right? http://svdesolina.blogspot.co.nz/2015/05/the-final-leg.html

Back cruising around the Bay of Islands after a week off the boat. Had a nice afternoon walking around Marsden Cross before dropping the anchor off Moturoa Island for the night.

In Opua marina where we are leaving Desolina for a few days while we fly back down to Wellington for a wedding.

A short sail in perfect conditions to Paradise Bay off Urupukapuka Island. Will probably stay around the island for a few days, exploring all the walking tracks. We also have a new blog post on sailing gadgets over on our blog site: svdesolina.blogspot.co.nz

Spending the night at Roberton Island after catching up with fellow cruisers David and Janet on Navire, who we've not seen since they left Wellington just before us last year.

We finally made it all the way to the Bay of Islands. Even had the kite up for a while up to Cape Brett. It feels like summer has come back again! Also nice to hear Gulf Harbour radio this morning.

Anchored up in Whangamumu harbour. Enjoyed a beautiful sunset just as we dropped the hook after another 30+ kt run up the coast. Looking forward to getting into Bay of Islands tomorrow, and hopefully some better weather!

Fully stocked up again. We left Marsden Cove Marina this morning and we're now anchored in Tutukaka Harbour. It was a quick 20 mile sail with winds gusting over 30kts. We had our third reef in the main sail for the 2nd time on this trip.

Currently at Marsden Cove Marina, Whangarei; making friends and waiting for the gale to pass before heading up the Tutukaka coast. I'm a little worried about how excited I am at the prospect of being able to do laundry in the machines and have unlimited hot water; luxury! Plus we had a nice brunch at the marina cafe. Feeling very civilised.

After 10 days of the very peaceful Fitzroy Harbour, Great Barrier, we've made the trek back over to the mainland. We had a fairly quick, although a little rolly, 45nm sail over to Whangarei harbour today. We're anchored up in Urquharts Bay just at the entrance of the harbour. Will probably be here a couple days, exploring the area whilst we wait for the Easterlies to die down before we head up to Bay of Islands.

First update in a while! So we spent a week on land over in the Coromandel with Ruth's mum (blog post coming soon). Then we got asked to help out at the Kawau Boating Club for Easter so have spent the past 10 days or so in Bon Accord Harbour at Kawau.

We met up with a few old friends at Kawau and made some new friends too! What a great week, many thanks to all those at the club.

Today we had rather brisk downwind ride to Great Barrier Island and we're now anchored up at Smokehouse bay. Looking forward to trying out the heated bath on the beach!

Well we survived Cyclone Pam. Gulf harbour was nicely sheltered with the winds peaking out at around 30kts in the marina. Just a normal sunday afternoon for Wellington...

Today we had a nice fast downwind sail from Gulf Harbour to Kawau Island. After lots of motoring around moored boats trying to find space to escape the fresh breeze we eventually settled on Harris bay in Bon Accord Harbour. Looking forward to exploring Kawau Island over the next few days.

A couple of pictures from the past few days to brighten up our page!

After a good couple days sailing round Waiheke and a night in Auckland to catch up with friends we're now back at Gulf Harbour. Cyclone Pam is bearing down on us and after briefly considering anchoring out we're quite glad we're safely tucked up in a marina. The forecast for the local coastal region now showing 55kts of wind, 6m of NE swell and 4m of SE swell. I think thats the definition of grim! I hope everyone else up here is all tucked up nice and safe too.

After a pleasant sail over from Gulf Harbour we are now anchored in Oneroa Bay off Waiheke Island. Feels good to be back cruising and away from overnighters and marinas!

Gulf Harbour marina, Auckland. Now it feels like we've come quite a way. Wellington-Auckland. We had a pretty good overnight sail, leaving Mercury at 9pm and arriving at Gulf Harbour Marina by 8am. Rounding Cape Colville with the full moon out and a light wind from behind was a fairly pleasant night sail. The wind picked up as we sailed across Hauraki gulf with 15-25kts on the beam. Thankfully we're now all tucked up in a marina for the worst of the weather.

A nice downwind (finally!) sail from Slipper Island to Great Mercury today. Unfortunately it is going to be a very brief stopover. The weather for the next few days is looking pretty bad and we need to be in Auckland for Sunday. So we're planning an overnight sail to get into Auckland for tomorrow morning. Shame, the anchorage here is really nice!

Today we have made a little bit of progress in the right direction and are now anchored just off Slipper Island on the east side of the Coromandel Peninsula. Enjoyed the company of some dolphins who escorted us some of the way.

So after our engine set back and a couple of nights in the marina at Tauranga, we are back at Mayor Island once again on route to Auckland.

After a good look at the engine, we found a bolt that had sheared off holding the heat exchanger. No way to get at it without taking a bunch of stuff off first so we've gone into Tauranga marina to fix it. Tauranga is a lot bigger than we thought, we're looking forward to spending a few nights here exploring the city and surrounding area whilst we give the engine some tlc.

No more overnight sailing for awhile! We're made it Mayor Island after a fairly grim 36hrs of beating into wind and motoring from East Cape. A pipe on the engine also came off and all the coolant went into the bilge at 4am. Back up and running now, but probably need to visit a marine soon for a more permanent fix...

Good downwind sail up to East Cape, with a bit of motoring at night. Sea around the Cape fairly easy going which is nice.

After 100nm of reshaping waves we are now in Gisborne. We'll probably be here a couple nights before the final push around East Cape. Now to find a pub...

We have arrived at Napier after 55 hours on passage; 28 hours motoring, and the rest close hauled in light winds. Glad to be on a level floor again and looking forward to a good night's sleep in a flat bed.

Half way through our trip from Marlborough to Napier. We left Tory channel at 10am and had a good sail into wind (as always!) until Cape Palliser and the engine has been on since. Hopefully the wind will come in again this afternoon for us.

Sailed from Catherine Cove around Cape Jackson and back into Queen Charlotte just before the forecasted gale comes in. Quite a long day, some sailing, some motoring, quite a lot of rain. Very thankful for our cockpit enclosure and autopilot!

Motor-sailed from Adele Island, Abel Tasman to Catherine Cove, Durville Island. A 5am start to make sure we got the tides right going through French Pass, 7 hours of beating into wind and waves, and a bad night's sleep on a lumpy anchorage made for a very long day and two very tired sailors.

Today we had a quick downwind sail in 25kts from Bark Bay to Adele Island. It was blowing 20kts from the North when we arrived, then 15kts from the South and now the wind has died off completely leaving us with an awesome sun set.

After a lovely sail up the coast a bit we came back down and anchored in Bark Bay. The bay is quite shallow at low tide. We dived down and whilst standing on the bottom we could touch our keel!

After 40 miles, whirlpools, seals, barracuda, flat calm and 30kts we have arrived in Abel Tasman.

We've now left Pelorus Sound and staying at Catherine Cove off D'Urville Island. We're planning on going through French Pass tomorrow morning, and hoping to get to Abel Tasman tomorrow afternoon.

Unfortunately we're heading back to Havelock for some unplanned maintenance. We were hoping to start to make our way over to Nelson but our engine requires a little TLC. There'll be a blog post up soon...

Arrived a Hallam Cove. It was a bit of a blustery sail to get here. We eventually gave up and put the motor on. The weather forecast is not so good for the next couple of days. Think we'll sit and wait out the rain here for a bit.

We have arrived at World's End after a great day's sailing. We're planning on spending a couple nights here to spend some time exploring the area.

Anchored in the beautiful Dillon Bell Point. This area is a scenic reserve so we are surrounded by gorgeous native bush and birdsong, pulled in close to shore.

Again, moved a matter of a few miles today. We dropped into Portage this morning, got a coffee from the resort and walked over to Torea Bay in Queen Charlotte. The walk between the two sounds took about 40mins, the sail took 2 weeks.

Today we moved the boat a whole 2 miles! We're now staying in Fernglade bay in Kenepuru.

Spent the night anchored in St Omer Bay, Kenepuru Sound after re-stocking the boat in Havelock.

After almost 3wks its time for a re-supply. This morning we motored into Havelock marina where we're planning on being for a couple of nights whilst we clean/wash/tidy/re-stock ourselves and Desolina.

Currently moored up in Putanui Point West in preparation for going into Havelock Marina tomorrow morning. We will probably stay a couple of nights in Havelock to do a few boat jobs, laundry and shopping.

Currently moored in Marys Bay in Popoure Reach. Another day of great weather and good sailing. Even had a couple of dolphins join us for a quick play in our bow wave while sailing down Tawhitinui Reach. This will be the last night with our friends for a while.

Stayed two nights at Deep Bay in Tennyson Inlet. Pretty little bay with a walking track along the coast.

Made the trip over into Pelorus Sound. We were flying along in strong southerly winds. Got up to 10kts with just a small hanker-chief of headsail and a third reef in the main, with 8-9kts average speed. Now rafted up with friends in Maori Bay. Very bouncy waiting for the forecasted Northerly wind to come in.

Anchored in Tawa Bay, just a short way into Endeavour Inlet. Finally met up with our friends and planning to sail over into Pelorus Sound tomorrow.

This morning we were rudely awakened by a change in wind direction that brought waves into our previously sheltered bay so we moved early over to Burney's Beach. We're now anchored up in Chaucer Bay in Bay of Many Coves and have the place to ourselves!

We sailed up to Resolution Bay yesterday and hiked up to the view point over looking Resolution Bay and Ship's Cove. Now sat inside waiting for the rain and 40kts of wind to pass over.

Stayed another night on anchor at Mistletoe Bay before heading into Picton for some shopping and laundry. Stayed another night at Kumutoto Bay and then sailed over to Spencer Bay to meet up with some friends. Currently rafted up together on the mooring in Spencer Bay.

Spent Christmas day eating, drinking and paddling around Kumutoto bay. Today we sailed further into Queen Charlotte. Rafted up with a couple other boats on a mooring, not much fun, so decided to anchor instead. Now sat in sunny Mistletoe Bay.

We have officially entered the slow lane. Spent our first day of the trip yesterday relaxing at Ngaruru Bay. My task for the day: make marzipan and ice the christmas cake. Tick. We also got out our new Sea Eagle kayak and took it for a paddle round the bay. Today we sailed approx 11 miles to Kumutoto Bay in the Inner Queen Charlotte Sound.

The adventure begins! Departed Wellington 14:45 for Tory Channel. Good sailing the whole way across Cook Strait with a 15-25 knot Northerly. Very little swell. Arrived 20:00 at Tory Channel, but had to wait to enter due to Ferry traffic and tides. Now safely moored in Ngaruru Bay.

Awaiting adventures in Chaffers Marina