34:49S 173:24E

 

It’s nearly four weeks since we arrived in Opua – eek where did the time go?  I’ve been very slack writing this blog but have had a few other things to do – like get married.  Yeap – we decided 15 years was a long enough trial so, with good sailing friends Ross and Jo Blackman as witnesses, we tied the knot in their lovely old church on their olive grove in Russell.   A wonderful day and night was had by all.   With Bandit on the hard for maintenance we hired a car and set off to reaquaint ourselves with NZ.   We headed up to Cape Reinga which was stunning....then over to the Hokianga Harbour and back to Opua.   Work on Bandit was slow – thanks to incessant rain – so we kept the car and headed down to Auckland and Hamilton to catch up with friends and family.

 

Bandit went in the water last Friday and we’ve been busy ever since getting her ship shape for arrival into the Marlborough Sounds.  It’s also been hectic socially as we’ve caught up with other cruisers coming in from the islands.   While we moaned about the strong winds we got, most of them have moaned about the fuel they’ve used.....many had to motor for days on end.  It would have been very easy to stay to keep socialising and greeting more arrivals but we need to head south and the opportunities have been limited.

 

Yesterday we battled our way through some fairly messy seas, against tide (through the Cavalli Passage) with wind on the nose to Whangaroa Harbour.   We ended up motor sailing as it was just too hard to make progress.    Today we had some great sailing up to Cape Karikari although it was pretty wet and wild.   We had steady winds of 25knots with gusts up to 35.  In one particularly nasty squall we rounded up so quickly we managed to lose everything off the chart table – including the laptop which flew across the saloon.  The laptop (also an extra chart plotter) has sat there for eight years, through Atlantic, Caribbean and Pacific squalls.    Hmmm....seems we have become too used to downwind sailing!   Welcome to NZ’s coastal waters.

 

Tomorrow we plan to head on up to North Cape – weather permitting.