So, the big day was finally upon us. Cara had finished her last shift and December 31 2022 saw us throw off the lines and head up Otago Harbour. At the heads we turned right and enjoyed a northerly breeze of ten to fifteen knots. Our destination was Port Pegasus at the South East corner…

Hiatus We successfully sailed Taurus home to Dunedin in the month’s leave that we had before having to return to work. The trip was a mixed blessing: beautiful anchorages, stunning weather, and meeting all manner of friendly folk who went above and beyond to help us; on the negative side we found a number of issues with…

We travelled up to Opua in the Bay of Islands to take possession of ‘Taurus,’ a 12 metre steel Feltz Skorpion IIa, on the 10th of October, and spend a week getting to know her. This trip allowed us to take advantage of a friend’s local knowledge, as he and his partner had chartered a…

Having spent a little time living on board our current yacht, a C&C 34 called ‘Casino,’ Cara and I weren’t too worried about living on ‘Taurus,’ which is a little bigger at 39 feet long. We had applied for and gained ‘live aboard status’ at our local yacht club, the Otago Yacht Club, which was…

Having woken up to find the kids gone and the pets dead, Cara and I decided that we should buy a boat, live on her, and work towards cruising full time in a couple of years. This blog is an attempt to record our journey for our own benefit, so we don’t make too many…