An early start to get the good weather at Cook Strait and the right tide at French Pass – we were up at 6.15am and off. 

We made it!  Finally in the Marlborough Sounds.  A long, but very pleasant cruise north, we came into the Tory Channel about 7.15pm

We had an easy, cruise up to Lyttelton – how beautiful Banks Peninsula looks from the boat, with its endless green hills, bush, bays and cave.

It was a big day today – we had hoped to get into Akaroa before dark, but it took a lot longer than we anticipated.  Having said that, as we came up to Banks Peninsula we were rewarded with the most stunning sunset

We cruised out of sunny Port Chalmers around 7.45am and by 2.30pm we had arrived in Oamaru.

We made good time over Foveaux Strait, which I’m pleased to say, continued to be pretty smooth, so it was also a chance to get the dusters out and give Salanjo a bit of a spruce up after a busy few weeks on the boat. 

It’s been a busy few days since my last blog.  On Monday I made my way home back to Auckland….dinghy into Golden Bay Wharf, a walk over the hill into Oban and I checked in for my flight on Stewart Island Air.

A much needed, quieter day today after the frantic laundry/shopping/cleaning day yesterday.

Off we motored, past Shelter Point, Rukawahakura Island, the Muttonbird Islands and now we’re heading into Tikotahai Bay where it looks like we can get off the boat and have a walk.

An easy day today, we’re just cruising around we left Glory Cove and went around the corner to Big Glory Bay and found a nice place to anchor opposite Bravo Island

Once the Shit Show was over and we were showered and all polished up, we up anchored and set off for Oban around the other side of the island. 

What a lovely surprise when we woke up after such a great sleep. 

Up at 5.00am for an early departure, what a beautiful sunrise to signal the end of our amazing time in Fiordland.

It was all worth the rough seas! Doubtful, Dusky, Cooper, Sunday, Sportsman, Cascade, Luncheon, Pickersgill -  breathtaking Fiordland!

Here we go again, not too long after we left New Plymouth, we hit the big waves and by 10.00am we were back to crashing around, waves over the roof and cupboards rattling with all the crockery and glasses moving about inside.

Welcome back - it’s been a while and now I’m looking forward to sharing my next adventure with you – back to the true royourboat blogging ….another sailing adventure on Salanjo! 

Our flight to Phnom Penh was originally around 3pm, but some weeks back it got changed and was now departing at 8.40pm, so it gave us a chance to really take it easy today which is good, as Ben has a big itinerary for the next two days here

I flew out of Rome yesterday at midday and arrived at Singapore Airport at 6.30am this morning and had a wonderful reunion with Ben who I haven’t seen since April last year!   

Back to Rome late yesterday afternoon after another bunfight at the airport – Europe is so busy at this time of the year and not helped if you are travelling on the likes of Ryanair

Another homage to Antoni Gaudí today – we had tickets to Parc Güell, so after an easy morning we took a taxi up to the Parc which is located on the north face of Carmel Hill which belongs to the mountain range of Collserola.