Tasman crossing on the homeward leg.

Pumice Stones 

We have aboard a piece of the new world - Pumice, which was now 6 months old and pretty organic & ripe. On the NZ leg we never managed to catch a "new" piece  - just goes to show how things slow down with a bit of growth attached.

We did 160nm per day for the 3 days after clearing Opua - with a strong post frontal system. At Norfolk island the wind stopped and then turned unfavorable, we decided to push on. (A light 15knot wind was predicted, which is easy sailing.)

200nm off Brisbane and 
definitely on watch!

BUT one hell of a passage resulted with 10 days of strong westerly head winds driving up a shitty steep seas against the prevailing current.

We were regularly tacking, when our VMG dropped and were finally down to storm tri-sail and storm jib for the last days of the passage.

Hard yards won on Port tack

Add to the fun were idiotic fisherman cutting across our bow, large ships and all the while knowing fellow cruisers are enjoying Fiji's anchorages.

We were heading home for some much needed work. I'm happy to say that Tasman was the hardest passage I've done.