Fiji to New Zealand – November 2007
As our time in Fiji went on we organised a passport for George, and Elaine sewed up lee cloths and a modified carrycot so that George and Lisa would be safe at sea. We knew the journey of 1050 nautical miles to New Zealand could include gales and we needed to prepare for that, which was hard while also coping with a new baby!
Finally at the beginning of November we were in a position to leave. Friends of ours who left earlier kept in touch via our satellite phones, so we had some knowledge of weather conditions to expect.
We ended up with 9 days’ sail and mostly SE winds, so we were beating most of the time with some squalls gusting up to 30 or 40 kts towards the end. Not too bad!
In the middle of our final night a large flying fish arrived INSIDE the boat, having bust through our spray hood window, and bounced off the inside of the washboards. A lot of flapping later and a 14 inch flying fish lay beneath the cooker! Scary for me who was nearby at the navigation table at the time!
We are looking forward to a few months in New Zealand where we will visit several friends, this time we will travel by road for a change.