We are still in Tasmania, but not for long. If all goes according to plan, later this week we will be heading east through Banks Strait with Nelson (or Opua) in New Zealand our next port of call. On this occasion New Zealand will be more of a 'pit stop' than our real objective, and was chosen as the initial destination because to reach Fiji and the nearer Pacific islands from Tasmania, it is easier to travel via 'The Land of the Long White Cloud'.

The prospect of a 1250 nautical mile (minimum) passage, south of  40º latitude, has had us both lying awake at night in a cold sweat. To try and allay this, we've spent the last two months in Launceston attacking 'The List'.

All you who are cruisers will be familiar with 'The List'. It is a dreadful thing, relentless; no matter how much you attack the awful beast, even at times nearly extinguishing it, somehow it survives to haunt you. You can spend an entire day attacking it, only to find that what you've been doing wasn't on 'The List' at all. Try as you might to make it smaller by; changing the priority of items from A to B; sneaking things onto your partner's list; even disguising the entire thing by changing its name from 'Before NZ' to 'when we can afford it' etc, you soon discover you are wasting your time. We've even resorted to moving the whole thing to a new page and in the process missed a few items off (in the vain hope they'll go away) but still it survives and fans into new life, like the Phoenix from the ashes.

If I tell you that the 'When we Return to Oz list' is already alive and growing, you will understand.

In truth, Mendana was probably already well set for a little jaunt across the Tasman, but the very act of preparation has endowed us with some of the confidence we need. Most of the work involved securing loose objects, locker doors etc. in Mendana's interior, to stop stuff spewing out into the cabin should we be unlucky enough to be knocked down or rolled over.

We've loved Tasmania and will miss the place and the very friendly natives. I expect we will be back for more before too long. There are particular spots we'd like to revisit to do justice; the Freycinet Peninsula is just one. Stupidly we discounted local advice and left Hobart to head up the east coast before the New Year, and as a result spent several weeks re-anchoring (sometimes several times a day) to find shelter with the regular passage of frontal systems. Christmas Day 2006 will always be a perfect reminder of why we should listen to the locals. We dropped anchor in Wineglass Bay just before dark on Christmas Eve, after running with a nasty front that we'd been sitting waiting for in Schouten Passage. We seemed well sheltered down in the southwest corner of the bay, but we didn't manage to get ashore until Boxing Day afternoon. Christmas Day started out fairly gusty, but by early afternoon had settled down to the point that we launched the dinghy hoping to row to the beach for a walk. That seemed to be the signal for conditions to turn really nasty. By 11pm, with torrential rain and the wind a steady 35kts we let out more anchor chain and, tired of bailing out the dinghy every hour, decided to retrieved it to prevent it from sinking. Early on the morning of the 26th some of the wind gusts were well over 50kts - Happy Christmas. Thankfully the 27th was beautiful and made up for the days prior.

Hopefully the Tasman Sea will be more kind to us, and we'll arrive calm and rested after a pleasant 12 day cruise – fat chance.

All the very best
Peter & Lorraine