A couple of hours motoring across the bay brought us to the large marina in Opua. We tied up to the Quarantine pontoon where a customs lady came fairly promptly and sorted our paperwork. The bio security man was slower having a1/2 dozen boats to work through before us and he was thorough -checking the bottom with a camera and confiscating all our remaining fresh food before searching for hidden contraband and spraying a couple of ants that had stowed away at Vavau. Saddest loss was 1/2 a jar of Niue honey. He did explain the risk but his accent was a bit difficult to understand (I think perhaps from Japan) so we don't know how honey can spread disease or pests.

By lunch we were tied up in our berth -the marina is very well engineered with finger pontoons alongside the boat and pristine concrete paved walkways. We registered at the marina office and  enjoyed a very nice bowl of seaford chowder in the cafe next door. We bought food for supper in the little marina store and looked for dinghys in the well stocked chandlers. The have a 2.7m at a good price but I think it may be just too long for the foredeck.

The marina lounge has good wifi so we are exploring options for our New Zealand tour. I made out a draft schedule using the rough guide while on route, and now need to put dates and book some accomodation, train tickets tramping trails etc. A camper van would be an easy option but hire rates are very high and availability limited. We thought we might sail down to Aukland for starting our tour but the lady in the office put some doubt into our heads by warning us about tube worm (a nasty growth on your bottom) which is rife down there and clear here. Hence strict controls for yachts coming back up.

Probably last blog for a while as we become land based tourists.