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!