Lord Howe

Questionable Logic
Ewan Briggs
Mon 7 Sep 2009 10:21
Position: 31:33.24S 159:04.30E
 
All is well, we're tied up to one of the moorings here. Lord Howe is a stunning spot.
 
Shortly after my last update the clouds cleared and the wind died, all within the space of a couple of hours. We had clear skies and gentle motoring or motorsailing for the rest of the trip, so once again we were made to work for the last 100 miles, but it was all pretty gentle, but still quite cold.
 
Got into Lord Howe this morning and got in touch with the authorities on the radio. Turns out to be one guy, Andrew, who was very friendly and professional. He is the police, customs, immigration, quarantine and health here (and probably park warden etc thrown into the bargain). The local population is only about 350, so I still don't think he's rushed off his feet despite all the different uniforms he has to change in and out of. The Aussies are very particular about their quarantine in particular, so quite a few of our remaining provisions have been confiscated to be destroyed (pasta, noodles, meat, fruit, veg, dairy products, cereals, honey etc). He also found a few weavil type creatures and some fruit fly looking things, so the boat was gassed to try to deal with that, and a few of them were taken off to be tested. So it took a little while, but wasn't a big deal, the top tip really is to try to turn up to Australia with little or no provisions, unless you can show that it is of Australian or New Zealand origin, and still in it's original sealed packaging.
 
Since then we've been exploring the main inhabited part of the island (mostly trying to source some Aussie dollars and restock with some fresh food). We've caught it on a good day, but even so this place is beautiful - photos just begging to be taken everywhere you look. Looking forward to doing some more exploring tomorrow weather permitting.
 
Then it's just a matter of the final 400miles into Sydney. We'll start looking at the weather tomorrow to see when to set off - hopefully into some slightly less hectic, but slower weather this time!
 
Mao is back to his normal chatty self, infact we've been struggling to shut him up at times - all good!