After observing the Transit of Venus from Tahiti, Captain Cook opened sealed orders that directed him to search for the fabled Southern Continent. Finding nothing, he turned west, making for the North Island of New Zealand. Overcoming the initial hostility of indigenous Maori tribes, he was able to chart both islands, before crossing the Tasman Sea to Australia. Anchoring in Botany Bay on 29 April 1770, Cook and his crew mapped the eastern coastline of ‘New Holland’, before beginning the journey home, finally arriving back in July 1771. They had in their possession a wealth of new-found knowledge of these far and distant lands.