We tied up on the customs wharf at 6am. It was a little stressful as it was pitch black sky and no lights on the wharf. The tide was rushing at a couple of knots with us, which meant we have to be motoring at 4 knots to retain steering. Once along side the wharf, B (at the helm) put Imagine in reverse to try and stop us. I managed to get a mooring line onto a cleat on the wharf and tie off the bow. This kicked the back of Imagine out a little and that was all the tide needed to pull us around. We had no control as the tide turned us 180 degrees. At least now we were facing the tide and could control the boat. We were then able to get three other lines to the wharf and secure Imagine.
We didn’t get any sleep just cleaned up the boat, had breakfast and got ready for Customs. We waited and waited. Eventually they turned up at 1pm. It didnt take long, but they did take all our meat and the remainder of our fresh fruit and veggies.
After we were officially in New Zealand, we left the wharf and anchored across at Russell. Julia was craving a beer, so we headed to the Duke of Marlborourgh hotel were we all enjoyed a cool drink. We strolled around Russell before having dinner at the Thai Restaurant. We returned to Imagine to enjoy the sunset.
