Bye Bye New Zealand
After our six-week expedition in the South Island we are back to the Whangarei construction site. We decided to leave New Zealand at the beginning of May for Australia. But before we give ourselves 12 days at the shipyard to prepare the boat and sell our car.
Whangarei – Norsand Shipyard
07 April 2023
As soon as you arrive, it is the big cleaning of the car in order to put it on sale quickly. It is "brand new". Two hours after the publication of the ad our car is sold and it does not surprise us given the maintenance we gave it during 3 years and a half.
The buyer is in a hurry to recover it he quickly organizes a towing to his home.
Our days are organized according to the weather because it rains regularly. The "little DIY" for me and the work a little more serious for Philippe as the maintenance of the boat's engines, of the Annex, the support of survival to fix etc ... In summary we are busy from morning to night.
D-2 before the release of Tao.
We've done everything we needed to do, all that remains is the intervention of the site for the Antifouling paint and then we leave the Norsand site definitively.
Bay of Island
We find our HQ the Bay of Island because we have to pick up our new sail at the marina of Kerikeri. In a few hours the team of "Willis Sails" installs us the mainsail which fits perfectly along the mast. It looks "great" compared to the old one which was at the "end of life"!
Sunsets in Kerikeri
Opua
The weather is not terrible to consider a departure. Depressions follow one another with winds reaching the 35 to 40 Knots and torrential rains do not stop. We will take shelter in front of the marina of Opua where we must carry out the exit formalities with the authorities and fill up with Diesel HT on the day of departure.
We wait for the depression to end and leave New Zealand on 11 May 2023. That same day about thirty boats leave New Zealand maybe we will meet them in Australia?
Head for Bundaberg which is a port of entry into Australia.