Special Day

The beer and wine are being chilled as I write this.

Today is very special to us for many reasons but the big one is that we have completed a total circumnavigation of the North and South Islands of New Zealand.

Our actual track is shown in red.

To start the celebration, we thought a few fireworks would be in order. Since we have none on board, we decided on the next best thing – at daybreak we anchored up, dropped the dink and went ashore to an active volcano. A lot more to come on that (and all the other posts that I am so far behind on).

The actual completion of the circumnavigation occurred just a few hours later as we passed Whangamata offshore as we head for Great Mercury and a few weeks touring the Hauraki Gulf before heading back to Whangarei and home.

Big John – our 6068 John Deere propulsion engine celebrated a bit of a birthday today as well. We just turned over 1000 hours on the engine. Using an average of 9 knots, this milestone translated to a total distance traveled around New Zealand since leaving Whangarei of just over 3000 nautical miles.

Thanks Iron Lady – what an adventure – and Happy Birthday Big John – no beer for you. Well, maybe a few drops poured into your coolant overflow bottle once you cool down.

Cheers!