Yes we’re here!  Arrived at 03.00 this morning – pretty tired after quite a windy but pleasant trip (yes I did say pleasant!) But extremely pleased to report that we didn’t have any gales or storms this time – just strong winds most of the time forward of the beam and some rough seas part of the time. No damage to either us or the boat.  Only down side is that we’re in Opua on the north island and not Nelson on the south island where we really wanted to be.  Why?  Well the low which we had been watching turned into a ‘complex low’ and split in 2 – one part going south east and the other in a northerly direction.  That meant we had more head winds than we anticipated and had we continued to Nelson it would’ve been about 400 miles with the wind on the nose!  So in the end it was a ‘no-brainer’ and we shortened our trip by a couple of days and came round to Opua.  We will now have to watch for weather to make the 400 mile trip down to the south island!  Another plus - my different type of sea-sickness pill worked a treat – I felt great – what a difference it makes to a passage!  We have both probably put weight on as I was able to go down below and cook in the galley (well no gourmet meals – but that would have been a miracle anyway as I never make gourmet meals!)  Brilliant.

Passage time:  5 days 17.5 hours;  Distance travelled: 970.67 miles; average speed 7.06;  Highest wind speed recorded 33 knots

Thanks to all of you for your support along the way.

All the best

Jean and Matt