A little after midday we dropped anchor in Toturanui bay in the Abel Tasman national park and our mission to sail from north island to south island was complete. It had been a good sail though with more motoring than we usually like – the trade being super calm seas in an area more known for challenging conditions and storms. Most unexpectedly was the wind acceleration when we were in the supposed lee of Farewell Spit, 70 miles of sand spit wrapping around the northern end of the big island. Someone later explained the wind increases because it gets sucked into the Cook Straits to the east. Whatever, 25 knots of wind became 35 knots though seas were under 1m and then 2 miles off the coast the wind disappeared and the temperature shot up. In under half an hour we went from full foulies and hats to shorts and t-shirts. Incredible. This must be the famous micro system we'd heard about.
Waiting in the super calm anchorage to welcome us in were Michael and Gloria on Paikea Mist. They'd arrived in the dark last night. Ahead of a view to behold – a mile of golden beach backed with wooded slopes which released grade A perfumes. It smelt better than the cosmetics department in a posh shop.
Here's something we hadn't considered. At the latitude of 40°40s the days are longer than in the north island and by a quirk of the micro climate it's 5°C warmer! We are at the same latitude as the north coast of Tasmania, closer to the south pole than Cape Town and South Africa. Only mainland South America (56°s) extends below us. In the northern hemisphere 40N passes through New York, Madrid, Majorca, Istanbul
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