Alongside her partner Alan Forrest, she travelled on their steel yacht Kiwi Dream, manufactured by New Zealand designer Denis Ganley.
They started their journey from Riverton in 2015 and sailed about 33,000km to 30 countries.
The countries they explored included Vanuatu, Chile and Malaysia.
‘‘We went to some exciting places and there was still a lot of places we had wanted to see.’’
The trip was cut short when Covid-19 concerns began to grow in early 2020.
They were in Patagonia at the southern end of South America.
‘‘We were stuck there for three months not knowing where to go and we were wondering what our next steps were.’’
As countries began to close down the couple were uncertain of how to get their yacht back safely to New Zealand.
As they passed through French Polynesia they were lucky to get a radio response from the embassy which allowed them into Gambier.
‘‘We were very lucky to stop in a good place and it was a paradise.’’
They stocked up on food, water and fuel before continuing their journey.
‘‘We then had 33 days out on sea from Gambia to New Zealand.’’
They reached the port in Opua in October last year.
Ms Pilcher-Gough finished writing the book of their travels four days ago and was now looking for a publisher.
‘‘I’ve decided to call it Ocean Freedom because being out at sea you feel so free. I mean it’s one of the reasons we like to sail.’’
Though most of the trip ran smoothly, there were a few obstacles, including two whale collisions and a rat infestation that damaged the yacht in the Solomon Islands.
Their hopes were to one day continue their trip around the world and they were at present teaching puppy Tess how to be a boat dog, Ms Pilcher-Gough said.
