We made it to Opua, had to motor for the last four days due to head winds or light winds. Will be moving down to Gulf Harbor in the next few days to start our maintenance schedule, haul out, Repair SSB Pactor Modem, Rigging inspection and prep for the next leg in March. Didn't break much other than the pactor modem packing it in during the crossing. Our Spectra Watermaker is also acting up. When it flushes it does not turn off. Also the wind generator is sounding like a big fly buzzing around your ear. Something thought our towed generator looked good for lunch and it is now on the bottom of the Coral Sea. Don and Marie

We have 26 knots of Wind from the N and are reefed down, doing 7 to 7.5 knots. Lord Howe Island is 100 miles to the SE. Should have this wind through the day and it will ease a little tonight. Heading for a High Pressure Area so will get some rain and head winds over the weekend. Take an occasional big wave over the side of the boat, have 2 to 3 meter swell and 2 to 3 meter wind waves from different directions. The Auto Pilot has it's work cut out for today. Kind of a bouncy ride today.

Had a bird land on the solar panel last night at around 2000 and left at first light. He also had a rough ride trying to stay on the smooth solar panel. Today we have grandma's cookies and stuguron on the menu. Irv

We are once again leaving Australia. The first departure was delayed by the late arrival of our new sails. Once here, the main had to be sent back for modifications. That put us into bad weather. This is our first good weather window since the sails were returned.
We will be leaving Saturday afternoon to go South where we will anchor overnight with an early morning departure into light winds. May have to motor the first 24 hours to get south enough to clear Lord Howe Island and then do a rhumb line to the North end of the North Island of New Zealand. We may have wind on the nose for the last day, depending on our speed on the crossing. Should take us 7 to 8 days.
We will do updates by Sat. phone or HF radio.
Irv and Marie

We are finally breaking free from the dock at MBTBC and heading for New Zealand. Will depart in about a week. Waiting for new sails to arrive. Clean the prop and head SE. Will let you know when we leave. Had a great Halloween parade and fireworks at the park just outside the marina. A great send off. Looking at about an 8 day passage. Will try to do position reports as we go.
Irv

We've been on the ocean for seven days now and are indeed looking forward to arriving in NZ by midday tomorrow...have 160 miles to go...lumpy and bumpy night last night with noserlies (that's what we sailors call winds that we are heading into...not our favorite thing to do...maybe they should be called snotterlies...thanks to our excellent weather router, Ken McKinley form the east coast we have really experienced no truly bad weather or any breakdowns...the same cannot be said for other boats who have had some rough hours...we are really glad we paid the big bucks for Ken, he was worth the expense...thanks to Sue Dyer for telling us about Ken so many years ago...we are still in contact with the Hallowe'en Pod, however we are now fairly strung out, with anywhere from 5 to 40 miles between us...we'll all arrive Monday...poor customs, however I guess they are used to large groups arriving about the same time...spirits are good...looking forward to when they are in us...Irv broke down and had a beer late yesterday after he expended much energy adjusting sail tracks and angles...says he's getting way too old to be out on deck in seas that are breaking over the bow...I agree

Bucking headwinds of 13 knots from the south and very lumpy seas, had some rain which has washed the salt off the boat...it is amazing how encrusted the boat gets from all the salt spray, lumps of crystals everywhere...motoring...expect to do this most of today and hope the winds go SE tomorrow and we can once again sail...our group the "Hallowe'en Pod" has spread out over about 20 miles which is very close for boats on a passage...we are able to keep in radio contact which is very nice, sometimes a bit too much...228 miles to Opua, NZ, however it will be more as we are unable to maintain a direct course..expect to arrive sometime Monday 11/8