We arrived at the Rivergate Marina at 12.40pm on Friday 7 September. Thursday night was a pretty rough night, with fairly strong winds from the NW and rough seas. The auto pilot was having some difficulty holding the course for a couple of hours but conditions slowly eased throughout the night. By dawn we could just make out Moreton Island. We weren't sure which channel to use, the NE channel which would save us about 4 hours but wasn't maintained by the Port Authority, or the main NW channel with the entry up near Caloundra. We eventually made contact with the Redcliffe Coast Guard and they said it was OK so we went in the NE channel which runs down the inside of Moreton Island past Tangalooma Resort. Conditions inside the bay were a lot more settled and the shorter route meant we would be able to make it to the marina by lunchtime. We had a slight hiccup when we run out of fuel in the starboard tank as we were entering the main channel into the river with a ship behind us, but Nigel started the Port Engine (separate fuel tanks) and we were able to throw our last jerry can of diesel into the starboard tank and bleed the fuel line and restart the engine about 1 mile from the marina. Rivergate Marina is immediately before the Gateway Bridge and customs has a secure berth at the end of E dock. Two Customs officers were waiting for us and they were fantastic, as was the Quarantine guy who turned up a couple of hours later. We lost some food, but nowhere near as much as we expected. We lost all citrus, seeds, chicken, pork and fresh veg/fruit. We had shells we had collected on the way and these were examined for 'animals'. We were able to keep these when none were found. The quarantine also inspected the sea water strainers for the engines looking for crabs/sea life and assessed the boat as not requiring termite inspection due to the small amount of wood in the boat. All in all a painless experience.
So after 5 months since we brought Liseron through the Panama Canal, 4 weeks sitting on our dots at anchor in Panama City, and then 16 weeks to complete the passage to Brisbane, we are now back home. It took a lot longer than expected, but all in all, we had a pretty good trip, with no major issues and mostly good weather. We will visit family and friends for about 6 weeks then head back to Panama to continue our journey on Five Islands.
