New Zealand
Westhaven Boat Harbor

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    • Day 120

      Return to Auckland

      March 24 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

      Today was the big one. Yes we briefly popped back into Auckland on Friday, but today we headed in and berthed Starling back in her home where she'll be staying for the winter.

      We started the morning with a bit of fishing, adding a couple of snapper to the haul to take home. Mike and Cass sorted breakfast with a cruisers take on chicken waffles (nugget pancakes). We then hauled up the anchor and headed for Auckland.

      On the way, we popped the final back of the trip, a delicious marshmallow flavoured beer. We also saw a few work ups on the surface, so we threw the kahawai lure in and ended up with three nice fat fish. We stopped on the eastern side of Motuihe, where we turned one of the kahawai into some sashimi and cooked up some burgers for lunch. We went for our final swim off the back of the boat, and mucked around making a silly video for a bit of a laugh.

      A few last clouds of the trip, a motor sailing race against an old America's cup yacht and a trimaran, and then we were safely back in Westhaven. We quickly tucked Starling into her berth and then said goodbye to her. A little bit emotional, she had taken us all the way around the north island of NZ and kept us safe. It was a bit like saying goodbye to a cherished friend.

      Now our sailing adventure for the year is completed, it's time to set our sights on things to come as we take off on our international travels!
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    • Day 120

      North Island Lapped

      March 24 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

      Well, that's all folks. Our cruising adventure is over for this summer, but we aren't done with sailing and there is talk of more potential journeys in the future - watch this space!

      To try and sum up our whole trip in a single post, we each answered a few questions:

      Favourite location
      N - Cavalli Islands
      V - Cavalli Islands & Coromandel Peninsula (Pauanui to Great Mercury)

      Unexpected gem
      N - Whangaroa harbour
      V - Tasman Sea

      Biggest let down
      N - Abel Tasman
      V - Wellington

      Place we were saddest to miss out on
      N - Poor Knights
      V - Great Barrier Island

      Best hike
      N - Ketu Bay
      V - Dukes Nose

      Best snorkeling
      N - Cavalli Islands
      V - Peachgrove Bay

      Tastiest fish species
      N - Blue Cod
      V - Crayfish

      Fish species we wished we had got
      N - John Dory
      V - I think we had everything?

      Best moment
      N - Making it into Nelson after sailing down the West Coast
      V - Jumping into the middle of the Tasman Sea, Dolphins at Hen & Chicks, Dolphins in BoP, snorkeling near the sandy Peachgrove Bay, New Year's Eve with our friends, yoinking my first crayfish, skinny dip at Mayor Island, too many to go through

      Favourite marine animal
      N - Eagle Rays
      V - Crayfish

      Best Beer
      N - Sprig & Fern, Haze of the People #2
      V - Pina Colada

      And for those nerds out there, we've got a few trip stats for you:

      Total miles sailed - roughly 2000, 1942 miles as recorded by find penguins, but there would be some that weren't recorded

      Fish species eaten - 25
      Snapper, Leather Jacket, Parore, Porae, Kahawai, Blue Cod, Kingfish, Silver Drummer, Red Moki, Painted Moki, Koheru, Butterfish, Red Gurnard, Pig Fish, Goat Fish, Grandaddy Hapuka, Eel, Blue Maomao, Pink Maomao, Grey Maomao, Spiny Dogfish, Rock Cod, Trevally, Packhorse Crayfish, Red Crayfish

      # swims with sharks - 4

      # islands visited - 19 (21 including North & South Islands)

      # friends/family who have visited us on the boat - 39

      Top boat speed - 17.0kt

      Deepest water we sailed in - 1500m+

      Shallowest waters we sailed in - -0.1m (under the keel, must have been skimming the mud)
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