Six Days Across

Well, we're hot to get down to Stewart Island, and I'm not going to spend too much of this beautiful day online.  So the elegiac descriptions of our passage across the lonely Tasman will have to wait - for now, I'll just share the eye-candy...


I'll begin with the tooth that brought in six dollars – Australian dollars, nonetheless, which are worth more than the dollars from a certain God-fearing nation that we all know.

I asked the Tooth Fairy about this price, and she defended herself by saying a), that it was his first tooth, and b), that he is six years old.  Make of that what you will.  The good news is that Elias also lost his second tooth on this passage, and he was very happy to find "only" one dollar under his pillow for that one.

And, how's this for yachtie kid worldliness.  Elias, excited at putting the first tooth under his pillow, says to his mom: "I wonder what currency the Tooth Fairy will pay me in!"

Us, motoring away from Hobart.  Eric is looking fine here...

...but he soon went green.  The poor kid starts every passage with a glass stomach.

And so the drink rack in the cockpit soon sported anti-nausea meds and pedialyte.

But after those first two days he came right.  The sea was still calm, and the boys played through the days in the cockpit.

Knights on horseback, pursuing a dragon.

The boys' happiness, though, takes constant tending by two sleep-deprived parents.  Alisa gave me permission to post this less-than-flattering photo - I think it captures the parental vibe pretty well.

On the best afternoons, as I stood in the cockpit watching the always-the-same, always-changing scene around us, I felt enormously privileged to be in the Southern Ocean.

 White-bellied storm petrel (I think we saw black-bellied as well).

 Buller's albatross.  I think these might be "mollymawks" in New Zealand.  It was Alisa who ID'ed these guys.

 White-headed petrel.

 White-headed petrel.

 The wandering albatross, grand eminence of southern waters.

As we approached Puysegur Pt., the southwestern corner of New Zealand, the weather went a bit rough - and in a way that's a good thing, as Puysegur Pt. is that sort of place where you're quite glad to have weather that's only a bit rough.  Poor Eric started puking again.  For a two-year-old, he's quite good at hitting the bucket.

 Our first view of New Zealand - aka Aotearoa.

 And dawn the next morning, just outside of Bluff and north of Stewart Island.

~~

And, well, that's all for now.  Pictures really are such poor things for telling a story, but they are certainly quicker than words, and we're off for a sail.  More soon, and we'll continue to update our position with the tracker...