Arrival in Oz and life in Bundy
Quartermoon
Mike Share & Sammy Byron
Sun 1 May 2011 20:23
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Well here we finally are with Quartermoon in
Australia! Doubtless many of you questioned if the day would ever come, the
same thoughts we have had many times over the last 6 months. It is good to be here yet quite unusual for us to have such a change of scenery, culture, language, faces, worst of all - no patisserie and no baguettes; it seems a bit like a holiday away from our "home" in Noumea at the moment!... Our last blog entry said we were 10nm from reaching
Australia, thereby having crossed the Coral Sea we have also finished our
Pacific crossing. What we failed to appreciate was just what a kicking we would get inside Hervey Bay! We wrongly assumed we would get some protection from Fraser Island but what we got were gusts of 40+ knots, non-stop squalls, wind shifts and a very confused sea for 45nm - which took us pretty much the whole day. You could say the worst conditions of the whole passage but we didn't mind too much as it was daylight and a few cold beers and a steak loomed at the end of the day. Or so we thought... We motor-sailed into Port Bundaberg channel behind a cargo ship and headed to the marina to clear customs/quarantine/immigration. We were very glad to be clear of Hervey Bay and looking forward to a hot shower only to be told to anchor off for the night as everyone finishes work at 16:30. Bugger.     
Anyway next morning we docked in our own private
prison pontoon complete with locked gate and fence! Customs and Immigration
were really fast and relatively hassle free ;-) Quarantine took a little longer but no drama. About 2 days after arriving the gate was unlocked and Bundaberg beckoned! We had a total result in that Customs agreed to put us on a control permit basically meaning we can cruise in Oz for a year before having to leave or import the boat. Never has been handing over the rights to your yacht been so easy...   That night we headed to the local RSL then onto the
pub. 2 fabulously charismatic places with a real buzz, not! At least
the fish n' chips were good and the beer was cold. The heads were a bit sore the next morning when we
had to take Jez to the airport. It was great to have him onboard again
and we will be eternally grateful for his extra pair of hands on a somewhat interesting passage. We would have had a rough time just the two of us after so long out of it. New Caledonia to Australia weren't quite the worst conditions we've had over the last 18 months but pretty close and more unrelenting. Even if always at night and mostly on my watch! We headed into Bundabery proper and really liked
the city. Lots of interesting architecture and a nice feel to the main
street. We took a walk down by the river and although it's mostly cleaned up now, the signs of the recent flood devastation is very apparent. We spoke with several people who live by the water and they had lost entire pontoons of boats, buildings and warehouses. So yesterday we got the boat somewhat ship-shape,
checked out and went back on anchor. This morning we were up before first
light, upped anchor and are now heading North to Great Keppel Island. Yes I did say North, don't worry not for long! We are just going to say Good-Bye to "Go Beyond" and "A Small Nest" one more time before they head back to Norway and Belgium. We will miss them very much, however Gav is joining us on Keppel for as long as Dee can spare him; after that we will stop delaying the inevitable and head south to the waiting cold, rain and maybe even some work! PS: We will probably start to head South in a week
or so - if anyone wants to come join us for a leg or two, feel free. We
are over night passages so will be coastal day hopping when weather allows and hopefully stopping for the good diving and surf spots. QM's rig has been thoroughly tested and if you're lucky, you will even get your own cabin.... |