Anchored in Port Macquerie, waiting for better weather to sail south to Sydney. Next stop Port Stephens.

Arrived in Vanua Balavu after a wonderful time in southern Lau, having visited Fulaga, Namuka, Komo, Oneata and Lakeba

enjoying a breal in Fulaga where it is getting cooler at nightime

Sailed to Savusavu from Vanua Balavu yesterday and are mored at Coprashed Marina, waiting out the low. Start heading west to Vuda next week.

On the hard at Vuda Point a week or two

Anchored at Blue Lagoon in the Yasawas. Waiting for the delivery of a new gear box and new engine mounts. Will stay in the Yasawas and move to Vuda Point in a couple of weeks to do the installations.

Anchored outside Royal Suva Yacht Club. Feels really good to be here. We had some great days at Minerva with fishing, lobstering, playing with sharks and finally whale watching inside and outside the atoll. We had to leave in strong winds since a nasty front was on its way up from NZ. Two days of sailing from Minerva with 25-35 knots of wind (with up to 40 knots for a few hours) and 5-6 meter of swell, but that is already forgotten. Made it a quick passage at least :-)

Leaving tomorrow for Suva. They are now the only boat in N Minerva.

After hearing wx forecast they may wait a bit before leaving Minerva!

not a great day as in the trough.

actually they are in S minerva but will move to north minerva and be in the area until around Aug 1. Please note that their sat phone is not working in this area so updates here will be via GHR until we leave for holiday on Friday. They must be in a bit of a dull spot as far as satellite coverage is concerned.

A beautiful sunny day with good and steady 15 knots of ESE wind and 1,5-2 meter swell yesterday was followed by a more mixed night. More clouds, and some rain showers, with messsed up winds again around the clouds. Wind died out in the early morning hours, so we motored for an hour, but now wind is 15 knots ESE and we are sailing along at 7-7,5 knots. 155 nM to go to South Minerva, so we have slowed down a bit in order not to arrive at night. Still no topical heat at sight. Hmmmm, we really want to start using shorts again!. All is well on board.

Squally night tonight. Some clouds ate up almost all the wind and shifted it 90-120 degrees, others shifted the wind 90 degrees the other way with windspeeds reaching 30 knots on the nose. Don´t like. Anyway, daybreak and a bit more and steadier winds as it seems now. Hopefully we are through this now. Caugh the first fish 17:48 last night - an Albacore Tuna. Will be lunch and dinner today, and maybe one more lunch tomorrow :-) All is well on board.

A really slow night with very little wind. Was motoring for three hours in the early morning. The good thing was that the sea came down a great deal and gave us a good nights sleep. Wind has picked up again with a better wind angle so we are now sailing at 8-9 knots. All is well on board.

Started off nicely yesterday with downwind sailing in 20 knots of wind up north along the coast of North Island, with beautiful sunshine and 1-2 meter following seas. During late evening we had to gybe to get back on course a bit. Wind and waves picked up and we didn´t have the nice following seas anymore, so it became a bit more uncomfortable. Still...doing good speed to target so we are happy.

Leaving Marsden Cove Marina on a crisp and beautiful day to head for the warm tropics!

Breeze in Marsden Cove Marina waiting for checkout on Monday the 20th. Finally we are ready to leave New Zealand!

On the hard at Gulf Harbour