Planning to Sail to Fiji tomorrow (Saturday the 9th in NZ)

We are finally planning to leave NZ tomorrow just before high tide here, or around 11 local time.  We have about 2.5 - 3 hours to go downriver to Bream Bay south before we can get in the ocean, at which point we will turn north and head for Fiji.  Unfortunately we have to get through a couple of small lows just above the North Island here and will get very wet with some winds in the 20-25kt range.  The lows seem to be travelling fast so we won't be so miserable for too long - may be 12 hours or so.  The trip to Fiji will take any where from 9 to 12 days (1100nm). 
 
Our planned arrival port is Suva, the capital.  Fiji is still under military rule from the latest coup in November or December but is supposed to be completely safe and friendly for tourist and yachties.
 
We need to get out of NZ as it is getting too cold here for us with only a small space heater and a long walk to the toilets and showerd (which are both unheated too).  We have a lot of condensation on the boat even though we are not showering or really cooking that much.  We also have some out and out leaks in the deck which I did not get to fix while we were here but which will be a priority to fix in Fiji.  It will be very chilly on the boat for the first 4-5 days until we get closer to the equator.  We are at 36 south and Fiji is at 18 south - big diff.
 
We did make a big decision to come back to NZ next cyclone season.  We will leave the car here parked at a kiwi's farm outside of town and get it when we get back.  This way we can take more time to explore Fiji and Vanuatu and not rush off to Australia or Indonesia/Thailand, and we can do more exploring in Kiwiland when we get back.  Another unfortunate bit though - the kiwi dollar is appreciating to historic highs against the US dollar which makes everything here that much more expensive.  It is already an expensive place for any parts, food, and other purchase items.  Labor is the only relative bargain here and that will be higher now. 
 
So, that's the plan.  I will try to be more communicative when in Fiji for the blog.  May even send a note along the way.  And, I still plan to put on some notes about our stay in NZ.   (Can't quite tell where all the time goes.)