This is edited from Mary’s Journal and the photo above was the last photo we took together as we said goodbye to Matilda and The Rock.

Today is the day we depart from Kororareka, it is currently 0710am and I feel horrible. My cold is worse than the previous days and I’m tired but luckily I’m only suffering with a blocked nose and no sore throat. Regardless of how I feel, we are all excited to get going to Fiji. Dana is prompt and ready as always and Artemis is excited to explore the decks; Tim ran away to organize his bat cave (engine room) and attempts to install the horn before breakfast. Sophia is fast asleep which is no surprise to the crew and cloud is sipping on a hot beverage. I head upstairs to see a rainbow over waitangi and it reminded me of a message that was given to me from Te Awhina last night she said, ” Shae wanted me to tell you that she really wanted to be here to say goodbye; that she will always be with you in spirit and everytime you see a rainbow that it was her saying hello”.  I sat there for a bit before noticing Barb and Ras had moved Matilda behind Boreal as friends, not hostages this time. If you ever needed two people to stick with you until the end, they most definitely are that couple. Barb heads down to the kitchen to get it in order and wipe down anything while she can while her amazing husband heads back to Matilda to fetch her some breakfast which I find very cute.  It sets the pace for the morning and it’s all go from here. Everyone on board are hands on with cleaning, organizing, stacking, storing, safety checks while myself and Tim head upstairs to remove sail covers.  The more we do today will allow us to rest tomorrow so it was a big day ahead of us and the time was 08.30hrs, which meant retrieving Malcolm and Di from shore because the man is like clockwork. Malc had rung last night to let us know he was boarding to do his last safety checks before giving us the all clear. I quite enjoy how the old boy operates, its not often that you meet many blokes like him but I guarantee the man is an asset. His wife Di who is very spiritual moved her way through the vessel doing her last blessing to boreal and us. I hold these two dear to my heart and of course do my best to avoid them so I don’t cry too soon, as soon as Malc gives the all clear they wish us well and they set off home.  With everyone helping in every way possible, the closer we got to departure not that we had a time in place. Cloud had gone into shore to fill up our fuel cans which became quite a task with my eftpos card I had given, he had to come back for a second card. As the time flew past Zander, Deb and morgan arrived and sister Dana had an opportunity to head to land to get us our Last barrista coffee from Kororareka and give the kids a chance to stretch their legs.  The only people I hung around for to say goodbye to was a beautiful wahine by the name of Isa and her son Taro who I’ve come to call family, reassuring our sister that if she was to continue the journey to us for our goodbye cuddles that we would not leave until she arrived which worked out well because she also picked my my sail needles that I had forgot about. Isa and Taro arrive with the Admiral and staff came and gifted a kahukura shirt with 2 vest and because the Kings flag had only been ordered the Admiral had given his which was great.  Everything had come together and we got the all clear by all whanau on board that they had done all they could which settled me and my family.  We sit and relax for a little bit and realize its 1300hrs and we soon communicate to each other that we are ready to go.  Because we were unsure of what it looked like around Tapeka we had decided for safety reasons that we would sail accompanied by Dana who was organized to capture all the moments on film. This made things more manageable and comfortable because my anxiety had hit the roof. I have spent a lot of time with Dana and the Roopu that we have an unspoken language we have become pro’s at reading each other’s body language and she already knew aswell as Isa. With the support of the sisters they soon organised everyone on to Matilda and The Rock and we were taking our positions. Lifting the anchor followed by 2 short and one last blast of the horn we set off for Fiji.  We past Princess cruiseliner heading towards Tapeka point. Uncle Bob’s Natural Mystic can be heard in the background and horn’s can be heard in the distance, thats because Tim was so eager to get going he left the flotilla behind which amused myself and Dana. The air is fresh and it’s very warm outside, Tamanui te ra shines on us as the wind picks up. As much as we try to hang back to wait for The Rock as planned unfortunately we have reached whale bay too soon I had to make the call to Matilda to retrieve sister Dana instead. With a quick change of plans and a call to Ras he immediately explains to me that they would drop the sail and come along port side to get dana off safely. With the wind in our favour and the possibility of it getting too rough to jump boats the further we went out only minutes later Matilda was alongside of Boreal for the last time of 2023. I took my sister in my arms and help her secure her belongings. With her backpack secured to her, gimbal in hand unsure of what she’s about to do we set boreal to autopilot.  The crew moves port side ready to catch ropes and Dana finally asks how doe’s this work, with smiles on our faces on both boats we soon tell her she has to jump. She looks at me and holds for a moment before saying okay as she adjust her bag waiting for the right moment. I ask her for her phone and pass it to Ras and without hesitation she jumps so elegantly to Matilda like a pro. We throw the ropes back to matilda and The Rock is soon port side of Matilda so I move to the helm to put her into gear. We are soon waving goodbye to each other and on our way to Fiji.

1840hrs Sighted our first Cargo ship heading to Aotearoa 18:42hrs First dinner together.

1930hrs Captain went for a sleep until 2300hrs.

2030hrs Sophia heads to bed.

The night looked absolutely beautiful, not quite a full moon but it lit up the night sky. The bivy stick sophia’s dad brought her worked well, all we had to do was point it to the satellites and with the app send messages out to her dad and Malcolm. This gave sophia and her dad reassurance that they could keep in contact and a brilliant way for them to track us at sea.

2330hrs I went to bed until 0430hrs.

Pomarie whanau.