new zealand

In October 2017, we sailed to New Zealand from Vavau' in Tonga. The sail took 10 days. We aimed straight for Whangarei.

We stayed in the country for 9 months. We sailed down to Kawau Island and Pakatoa, and then stayed in Whangarei for a few months to haul Pino out to do repairs, and to paint the bottom. We re-did the windows that year, and changed Pino's steering from wheel to tiller. We also installed an AIS system (Vesper Marine), and had a new mainsail made (with a third reef) by UK Sails to navigate Japanese waters safely.

After our repairs, we tested our new sail and systems, cruised the east coast of the North Island, with stops in Tutukaka, Whangamumu and Oneroa Bay, and all the way up to Opua. We also visited Wellington, Tauranga, Mount Maunganui, Rotorua, Mt Ngauruhoe, and other famous sites around the North Island by van with our friend Hamish.

We wrote some blog posts about our time there:

• an island to oneself
• projects and pain

We left Opua on June 12th, to sail to Fiji.