Home again, home again

Evergreen left the marina today and is now safely on her home mooring. Another cruising season done and dusted.

Fiji to NZ. Arrived

We arrived Opua at 0700 this morning. 3 days of wild sailing and 6 days of non stop motoring. On the other positive side it was sunny and the days were warm right up to today and even then the rain did not start until the middle of the night after we arrived.  

Clearing customs wasn't bad. They did take all our fruit and veg and meat and the popcorn. Didn't matter if the veg was frozen either , if not commercially packaged out it went. Same with the meat.  All frozen, raw or cooked meat had to go. Even Dennis' half finished plate of huevos rancheros went in the bag. Not as bad this time as when we arrived in 2013 as we hadn't half the people and I didn't provision as much. Didn't help that we didn't eat for 3 days. 

We are now safely tucked into a slip at the marina. The boat has had its first rinse with the hose and is getting a second light rain rinse as we speak and we will power wash it down before we leave. We have salt everywhere!  After getting into our slip, which took two tries, we got yummy coffee and caught up with Jo & Rob from Double Trouble. We spent the afternoon doing a basic tidy, having hot, long showers and having a good chat with Josh (including video that worked!!!). We had dinner at the boat club and got home thinking to crash and burn. I had been up since 0100, so that seemed a reasonable expectation. That plan came together well for Dennis, who was out sitting up at the computer. Me, not so much. Ifinally crashed around 10pm and am now wide awake at 1am. Yep doing my watch hahaha.  It's now 3 am, so hopefully I will get sleepy soon. 

Today we will go to Kerikeri to the market to replace the fruit and veg and do a little provision. Lots of chores to get done and logistics to figure out now that we are here. Soooo good to be home, even though we are sort of homeless. Feels weird. 

Another adventure in the books. Stay tuned for South Island travels Jan thru April. Off to sleep.

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fiji to NZ day 7

another nice day. the sea state is flat rolling swell, minimal wind, minimal healing. I am cooking, so we are catching up from the first 3 days of semi starvation - as if it hurt either of us HAHA. The OMG rough seas diet.

Otherwise kinda boring - just the way I like it. Would be better if the engine was off, but we are moving along. 270 miles to go, so maybe friday am? that would be nice. Flat long sleep and a cold beer - sounds heavenly.

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fiji to NZ day 6

Another nice day of motorsailing. night watch was chilly, glad for my hat and wishing for gloves. I think i got the better sleeping deal though, as Dennis had to use the settee in the salon for his sleep while I was able to use the bed for mine.
By my calculations we did 160 miles yesterday - yay. hoping for a friday arrival in NZ. Nothing new or exciting today. We had the egg and bacon (ham) pies recommended by Dinah on s/v Maragarita - they were as yummy as advertised.
Big rolling swell today, not bad kind of soothing really. so, all is well. fingers crossed it stays that way....

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fiji to NZ day 5

Nice day today - finished drying things out and so nice to to come up salty when you touch anything - at least in the cockpit. We were able to sleep in our own bed last night, which tells you that the winds are still light and seas calm. We are still motorsailing.
It is getting colder at night, the comforter is on the bed and watch attire is now sweats, long sleeve shirt and jumper (hoodie).

Otherwise we are just motor sailing along.

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fij to NZ day 4

We interrupt this passage for 3 hours of maintenance.....

Winds stayed up through the night, but started to settle after sunrise, by 1130am it was pretty nice except no wind. gotta love it 30 kts to 7 kts in less than 8 hours. So, we had a nice lunch of chicken curry and then put up the full main with the stay and full jib. Since we were flat so I could cook, we decided to do some chores. I cleaned the kitchen sink (which was so gross it made me want to hurl), and because we are flat was able to open the drains yay! I applied more silicone to the port cabin port hole - that's a new issue. And the biggest yuckiest chore - Dennis fixed the aft toilet (yuck!). He gets lots of points in the "atta boy" column for that. Meanwhile I washed down the cockpit and finally when it was all said and done, we had showers. OM,G the best shower ever. So we are well fed, clean and have a functioning aft head. The interior is mostly dried out - haven't looked to hard at the port cabin, cuz really what can I do at this point? All is definitely well now. Of course there is still no wind, so we are motor sailing.

We did comment that it seems that we haven't gotten very far for how fast we were going, only like 350 miles, but that is as the crow flies and I think we did a bit of an arc. Anyway I will enjoy the ride while it lasts.

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Fiji to NZ day 3

Well, we are still rocking and rolling. JOsh its like the last day before Oahu only bigger. We are dragging the starboard rail and taking waves over the cockpit. Thank god for the new enclosure, we are at least mostly dry. The waves are 1-2 meters and feels like the kracken is trying to break into the boat - waves hitting etc. its been loud. All drains still closed and to add insult to injury the back head isn't working right. I spent time trouble shooting to no avail. Oh and speaking of taking on water (i wasn't but hey). The porthole in the port cabin is leaking - no Paul not thru your new seal - around the glass. REally we are so wet and not from sitting in the cockpit. Its a bit frustrating (ok a lot frustrating - be glad you didn't hear me practicing my sailor talk)!!

Otherwise Mrs Lincoln the play was fine. lol. The moon was beautiful on my watch last night - even with 30 kts of wind. And I am not all the way seasick, just a touch that is cured by sitting under the fan or going up on watch. Dennis not so much. Its been a struggle for him he finally kept some soup down at lunch and is being good about drinking fluids. Oh and it has been sunny and not too hot or to cold. At the moment we both feel okay and the kracken is keeping his hits to a minimum. We are managing to make our course to the southeast, so we are on track to hit (not literally i hope) NZ. Also on a positive note, we are having this miserable trip under sail, so not using up fuel and not directly into the wind. NOt on the beam or behind, but its an improvement on the trip up - marginally.

to sum it all up, we are good and the crossing has been what crossings are - a pain in the butt. has calmed down some this afternoon, so back to being bearable.

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Fiji To NZ day 2

Yikes been a crazy day and a half. first 24 saw fine weather and winds 15-20 kts. We cruised right along at 5-7 kts. A bit bumpy, but not too bad. Had to close the sink drains as we are on a good heal on this port tack. that is the downside of having drains all on the same side.
Today has been pretty much full on, wind has clocked around more from the south big seas with 20-25 kts of wind. Neither of us are feeling great, Dennis in particular. finally had to shut all the sink drains as the kitchen sink backflowed onto the counters and into the cupboard.
Are we there yet?

So yeah all is good, its just the usual crossing issues that have to be borne (sp).

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01 November

We are out of here at the crack of 0800. Haha. Good wind from a good direction main on the first reef. Its a go Houston. See you all in a weekish. Remember sailmail :)