A 53-year-old kayaker is attempting to become the first person to paddle from Australia to New Zealand solo and unassisted.

Gold Coast father-of-two Stuart Cleary left from the northern New South Wales city of Ballina overnight and expects to arrive on New Zealand's north island in about 60 days.

Six people have made 12 attempts to cross the Tasman Sea.

Earlier this year, a New Zealand man had to be winched to safety just kilometres from finishing his attempt to become the first solo kayaker to cross the Tasman.

"I am a bit nervous and I'm a bit excited, but I have been training for that long that I think now is the time," Mr Cleary said.

The former deep sea diver has spent almost four years preparing for the Tasman crossing.

"I got interested in it a few years ago when I saw Andrew McAuley's story," he said.

McAuley was a 38-year-old adventurer who attempted the crossing in a modified sea kayak in 2007.

He disappeared within sight of New Zealand.

"I had a look at the equipment that he had and the distance that he achieved with the equipment and I thought, well, if he had the right equipment he might have been able to make it."

Mr Cleary accepts he may endanger the lives of others if he needs rescuing.

"I don't want to put anybody in that sort of position. I don't want to have to set off the EPIRB but you have got to be realistic, there is always that possibility," he said.

Mr Cleary's attempt will be done in a homemade kayak which weighs almost half a tonne when fully loaded.

It has a cabin for sleeping and satellite tracking so his supporters can monitor progress.

Stuart Cleary during a sea trial off the Gold Coast. ( Supplied: Stuart Cleary )

"My kayak has a lot of protection and it's really well balanced," he said.

"It's homemade which makes it heavy and slow but apart from that it's really safe.

"I have been out in some really wild weather and the kayak performed really, really well.

"Most of the attempts people have hit fairly nasty weather and just turned around and come back in the same day, or within a couple of days, or they have had technical issues."

The adventurer has enough food to last 75 days and he will use a desalinator to convert sea water into drinking water.

As a former oil rig diver, Mr Cleary knows he will get lonely at sea.

"You can't spend that amount of time on your own without going a bit crazy," he said.

Mr Cleary's wife Nici and their two children will be in New Zealand if his attempt is successful.