Nearly a year into its voyage around the globe, the Hokule‘a is pushing into the unknown.

Hawaii’s original voyaging canoe of the modern era set sail Tuesday from New Zealand’s North Island for Australia — a journey that will take it out of the Pacific Ocean for the first time in its 40-year history.

Hokule‘a’s 14-member crew, led by captain and "pwo" ("master") navigator Bruce Blankenfeld, expects to land in Sydney by way of the Tasman Sea sometime in mid-May, according to a Polynesian Voyaging Society news release. The Oahu-based voyaging group is bringing Hokule‘a around the world on its three-year Malama Honua ("Care for the Earth") worldwide sail.

While in Australia, the Hokule‘a will visit Brisbane, Townsville, Cairns, Thursday Island, the Great Barrier Reef and Darwin, weather and safety conditions permitting.

The Hokule‘a’s departure from outside Aurere, New Zealand, represents a key point in the canoe’s global sail to promote environmental stewardship and cultural harmony. PVS president and navigator Nainoa Thompson has described the voyage’s initial stops throughout the Pacific as a symbolic chance to bring many of the region’s inhabitants together in approval of the Hokule‘a’s mission — and then to help send the canoe off into unfamiliar waters.

During Malama Honua’s first 11 months, Hokule‘a crews received pledges to better protect ocean resources from the presidents of Palau and French Polynesia, as well as the governor of American Samoa. United Nations Secretary Ban Ki-moon also went aboard in Apia, Samoa, last year to sign the Hokule‘a’s "Promise to ka Pae‘aina," a pledge to be better stewards of the world’s resources.

The Hokule‘a and its escort vessel, the Gershon II, are slated to head into the Indian Ocean via the Torres Strait this summer. Thompson and other PVS leaders have pegged the volatile waters there as the most dangerous stretch of the voyage.