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A Russian Viking ship that sailed half way around the world, is taking a few days out in Tauranga on the voyage back to the Northern Hemisphere.

Instead of sailing under its square sail, the Rusich Pychy is hitch-hiking the return voyage on the back of a shipload of onions, bound for Europe.

The Russian Viking ship that sailed from the Northern Hemisphere is docked in Tauranga today.

Ian McIntosh Plenty Yacht Services welcomes Rusich in traditional style. Photo: Tony Arnold.

The 12th Century replica sailed to Hobart from the Russian heartland on a voyage that lasted two years, culminating with the Australian Wooden Boat Festival in February 2013.

When the festival folded, the Russian Viking crew returned home, leaving the 15 metre long wooden boat on the Derwent.

Transport back to Europe is as deck cargo on the freighter Flevogracht, currently loading onions for Europe via the Panama canal. The Rusich Pychy was loaded on board at Newcastle.

Two Russian brothers, twins Sergey and Alexander Sinelnik, dreamed up the mission to deliver a capsule containing soil from the St. Petersburg grave of the great 19th Century Russian scientist and adventurer Nicholay Miklouho-Maclay to his descendants living in Australia.

Nikolay Mikluho-Maklay arrived in Australia as a free settler in 1878 and married the daughter of the Premier of New South Wales. He was an anthropologist who voiced concern about the Australian slaving habit in the Pacific and the push to colonise New Guinea.

The voyage of the Rusich started in 2010 on the banks of the Volga River and continued onto the Don and the Black Sea, into the Mediterranean, via the Bosphorus, and down the coast to the Red Sea, and the Indian Ocean.

They carried an escort of armed Russian Navy crew for the trip through the Gulf of Aden, but all they got was seasick.

Repairs were made in Oman and Thailand, and in Darwin they were initially mistaken for boat people.

Once the Rusich completed its task, the future of the boat became a financial issue, Sergey Sinelnik was reported saying in Tasmanian media.

"This prototype proved to be quite reliable in all conditions of heat or bad weather and very strong waves,” says Sergey.

'We got stuck on a reef, but the boat successfully freed itself. One can say that a boat like this ancient Slavic sailboat Rusich is quite capable of circumnavigating the globe.”

The Slavic trader is a descendant of the Viking boats that made their way east, from the Baltic through the Russian river systems raiding, trading and eventually settling, to become known as the Rus.

The Rusich is a replica on the outside, but besides the traditional oars, has an engine, and the modern navigation gear required by international maritime law.

Her ride on the ship Flevogracht is scheduled to sail on March 15. Until then she's at the end of B Pier at the Tauranga Bridge Marina.