With good wind and a 1 -1,5 M swell for most of Tuesday, we have managed to add a further 183 NM to this passage, placing us 225 NM away from the entrance to the Bay of Islands as at 0800 on 8 November. All going well, we should make landfall ahead of schedule sometime tomorrow afternoon. The Grib files show southerly wind to 20 knots for a period from early morning tomorrow - good old Huey delivering an absolutely not needed headwind - however it seems that this will dissipate as we get closer to land. We will know more later this afternoon when I obtain updated weather information and of course we are both wishing for more benign conditions and nothing on the nose! We will update NZ Border Security of our ETA as we draw closer although we are assuming that if we arrive after 1700 local time we are to just tie up at the separate (no shore access) Quarantine Dock at the BOI Marina and wait for officials to arrive the following morning.

We hit 32.3 degrees south at 0835 thus morning, making us parallel to Fremantle for the first time since November 2014. The days have been sunny with temps in the high teens to low 20s but it is bitterly cold at night and we have both resorted to piling on multiple layers of clothing plus wrapping up in one of our heavy cotton throws - very nursing home chic! Evening attire for me has been leggings, t-shirt, microfleece gilet, zip up hoodie, Freo beanie and my offshore jacket. Paul, who's feeling the cold a little more than me, is fashionably warm in shorts and t-shirt, trackie daks, windcheater, beanie, Freo scarf, his offshore jacket and a pair of very thick socks. Both outfits are accessorised with Crewsaver life jackets and personal MOB pendants; yep, we are serious escapees from the fashion police! Nights like these give hot bunking between watches a certain appeal - we've discovered that out at sea there's truly nothing better than snuggling down into a warm bed after being out on deck in the crisp southern air. The offshore sea temperature has plummeted to a mere 16.4C and my inner Miss Tahiti is seriously hoping that coastal waters will be warmer, or there will be little swimming this NZ summer.

All well onboard.