safely tied up at Q dock late last night. After a very long day tacking inisde the Bay of Islands we managed to get Hiraeth in using the dinghy and outboard. Many thanks to David and Patricia for their help.

Cold night. Expect to be in Opua this afternoon.

Wet and wild this morning with sporty NW 30+kts surfing down waves at 11kts!!! Front arrived at 1530 with change to SW 15kts. Now on reach hoping to get to Bay of Islands in morning. Currently poor visibility with lots of rain. Welcome to NZ!

Good sail through night, wind picked up round 1.30am still form N. Squally conditions this morning with poor visibility and rain.

Another great day sailing with wind and seas from behind. All is well on board.

A great night sailing relatively smooth seas and starry sky. All well on board.

Making good progress now - only 255nm to the Bay of Islands. All is well.

at last we pointing towards NZ. Bouncy night as seas very confused. All is well.

Very sporty sail today - at least we heading south now. Waiting for the northerly tonight so we can point to Opua. All well on board.

Hove too late last night - much more comfortable. Will set sail again this morning. All well on board.

Just reefed right down for the night. Looks like a front approaching from S hoping it bringing those Northerly winds. All is well on board.

rough night, not able to make any south in current conditions. All is well on board.

Bouncy day with confused seas, just reefing right down for the night. All well on board.

Heavy rain from late evening last night but little wind with it. Boat clean now! Slow night sailing. All is well

A report via radio an nour 15 later had SW20 g 25 and squally

slow day sailing today. Blue skies and sunshine most of day but now thick high cloud ahead.

Another beautiful clear starry night last night. Great sailing along at 4-5kts yesterday evening with good 10kt N wind, but eased off early hours so we slowed down to 3-4kts. Sun just up and another blue sky day in the South Pacific.

Great day sailing, wind picked up this morning and we sailing along at 4-5kts. Wind eased back this afternoon so bit slower going now. We spotted Norfolk this morning and we still have it off to our port!! Another fabulous sunny day in the Pacific!

no stars seen in the night - very high cloud cover but no rain. All is well.

ghosting along in very light winds; gear box issues so no more motoring (it's knackered!!). It will be a long passage in these light winds. Apart from that all well on board!

all well on board

beautiful sunny day with flat calm seas. Waiting for those northerlies. Motor working hard!

Another starry night at sea, sun is coming up. All is well.

spoke to Tuatara on vhf yesterday as they overtook us. Sailed through a mostly starry night but did have some cloudy patches with associated winds. Sun is shining & all is well.

Beautiful sunny day. All well on board

motorsaiing in flat calm seas, could do with a bit more wind. All well on board

great start to passsage, motor sailing and all is well on board.

leaving Kuto today bound for NZ

Ha! You know our secret. We drop the hook every night on passage and get our 8 hours! Thanks for the reply, will decide in the morning!

Well we checked out, got our duty free fuel, got our heads in the right place and now the wind is not playing ball. We are seeing strong southerlies for arrival next tues. Will be interesting to hear Dave's take on it!!

Anchored in Orphelinat Bay, readying boat for departure. Hopefully leaving this weekend

Anchored in Kuendu Bay, cleaning bottom ready for return to NZ