Brisbane to NZ ( Opua) advice?

[Heg]

Hi
We are undertaking our first ocean passage at the end of November. Excited and apprehensive.
We had planned to check out of Brisbane and make landfall in Opua ( top end of the North Island, east coast) however some folks have advised that we should travel further south down the east coast of Au before starting our crossing.
We'd love to hear from anyone that has actually done the trip with regards their starting port (and any other advice )
I'll add that we are planning on getting a weather report from a weather routing service too...
Thanks