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| Finally made it to Cairns. |
Bad timing again saw us arrive on a Saturday and that meant more money to pay Customs, Immigration and Quarantine to come out from the airport to the marina. No one was allowed off the boat until their clearance. Welcome to Australia - infamous amongst fellow sailors as the most difficult and expensive country to get into. We thought it would be a simple affair for us - after all we were Australian. Boy were we wrong. We had already been checked out by the search plane as soon as we were in Australian waters. They contacted us by radio to query who we were, where we were going and what we had on-board. Then the full assessment began. Firstly, every inch of the boat was looked over - searching for drugs, guns, smuggled passengers and any other illegal contraband. Luckily we didn't have any of these. Then all non-canned goods were confiscated. Meaning all items in the fridge, freezer and cupboards were seized, bagged and thrown out. We had planned for this so not much was thrown out.
Excellent we thought, we have got off lightly. But then the Quarantine guy came aboard. He spent several hours inspecting every bit of wood in every nook and cranny on the boat for termites. Peter followed him around putting everything away, as he turned our boat inside out. He was convinced we would have termites because we are an older boat, we have a lot of wood and we had been to some countries that were notorious for termite infestations. This was going to mean more money to get it sprayed and cleared. So you can imagine our relief when he pronounced the boat clear.
The relief was short lived however after taking a call from a senior Quarantine officer the following Monday morning. The senior officer advised us that the weekend inspection officer was not qualified and another officer would be coming out later that day. They would repeat the process without further cost to us - thank God. After several hours, again our boat was cleared - yeh. Then, in a scene resembling a Monty Python sketch, the following morning the same senior officer rang again. He explained that he still was not happy and that we would need to undergo further testing. This would involve us paying for a sniffer dog to be sent by plane from Brisbane, or a local pest controller with a sensitive listening device, to detect the termites. We went for the pest controller and again our boat was cleared much to the unhappiness of the Quarantine department. We didn't get much change from $1000 from the whole Quarantine debacle.
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| Alann and Michelle. |
We thought we would stay in Cairns roughly one week before setting sail down the coast. So we had arranged for our friends, Nico and Michelle to join us, and they were due to arrive in a week's time. But this time came and went as further issues arose. We had to calculate the amount of CFC's in our old air conditioners, fridges and freezer and then pay around $400 for their disposal at the end of their lifetime, in the unforeseeable future. We spent time catching up with good friends (Nico and Michelle), catching up with friends we hadn't seen for a while (Suzan and Greg) and meeting new friends (Ross, Jeanette, Graham and Amanda). It was so nice to get dressed up to go out and enjoy ourselves, instead of being in our sailing wardrobe.
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| Suzan and Greg. |
Lastly, the importation of our vessel, the national and state registration process, and insurance costs. By this time we were bleeding and Michelle's two week holiday had come to an end. Nico arranged another few days and with his cousin, Ross, we set off south down the coast. We loved Cairns but we were so glad to see the end of it because it meant an end to the endless red tape, paperwork and the money to be spent.
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| Graham and Amanda. |
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| Ross and Jeanette. |
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