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The 2 biosecurity officers came early and it took them just over an hour to do the inspection. Note the charge for entering Australia is $100 for our size boat plus the biosecurity charge is $50 per officer per 15minutes on board! Still they are only doing their job and they were very pleasent people.

Once cleared by biosecurity we left the marina, went downriver 2 hours to Brisbane city. After trying to anchor in a couple of spots, we eventually found a great anchorage directly opposite Brisbane waterfront. We crossed the river to the dinghy dock and walked into the city to find data, pick up city info and stock up on some essential food items. Sue and Andrew took these back to the boat whilst Cindy and Wolfgang went for a walk around part of the city including the fruit market coming back with fresh raspberries, blueberries and avocados. They had picked up some info on things to see and do. One of which was to climb the Storey Bridge, one of the bridges we had sailed under to get to our anchorage. Cindy who is scared of heights was talked into getting out of her comfort zone, by Wolfgang.

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Early Tuesday morning we negotiated our way through the Brisbane harbour channel, sharing it with mega tonne cargo boats. Wolfgang thought it was amusing that the SKS Doyle’s container boat which is 820 feet long and 148 feet wide when it was about 500 metres away radioed us as we approached to ask if we had seen them!!

7 1/2 hours after entering the harbour channel we arrived at the customs dock at Rivergate Marina. The Customs entry went smoothly and we then waited for Bio Security. The officer came and did pratique on our food items etc which took about 30 minutes and cleared us for going ashore. However this was not the end of the biosecurity process as we then had to wait for the timber inspection that all boats have to have when entering Australia.

Although Imagine is a fibreglass boat there is a lot of timber work on board so the biosecurity officer advised us that they wouldn’t be able to do the inspection until the following day. The marina let us stay on the customs dock overnight as we couldn’t be fully cleared that day. It was suggested we had as much as possible of the timberwork available for them to inspect . The rest of the afternoon until early evening was spent bagging up everything from the vberth cabin, port cabin and aft cabins along with moving items from the saloon .

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GPS: 26 10.999S 153 19.050E

Run: 115.7nm (209.4km)
Avg: 4.6knts
24hr: 111.1nm

In the late morning we sighted the hills of the Sunshine Coast, Mt Boulder, Australia. In the afternoon we had a huge welcome from a pod of dolphins as we came down the coast to the Brisbane harbour channel. Then at sunset we had a hitchhiker. A bird sat on the bow railing for about 1/2 an hour.

During the night we still made only 1 knot good towards our destination Brisbane. High waves and winds from ahead held us frustratingly back. Everyone at the helm managed to navigate the slalom through the “highway” of big cargo ships and tankers. In the early hours the situation picked up: the waves and winds were moderate and a beautiful sunny day arose! Then, we spotted the first sights of our passage’s target

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GPS: 24 56.932S 154 34.247E

Run: 87.9nm (159.1km)
Avg: 3.7knts
24hr: 88.1nm

Today was an un-eventful day. Having no main sail we put up the trip sail and mizzen to stop the boat rocking from side to side as we motored 30 degrees to the wind and waves. We have been tacking back and forth all day under motor, with a couple of attempts to sail. Under sail the angle was so wide we were only making 1knot towards Brisbane dispite doing 4 or 5 knots boat speed.

Yesterdays events and today’s wind direction mean we will not make it to Brisbane till Tuesday. 

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GPS: 23 59.059S 155 28.869E

Run: 170.4nm (308.4km)
Avg: 7knts
24hr: 167.6nm

This morning brought sunny skies, less than 1 metre swell and 12 knots of wind. Wolfgang who was on the helm was eager to unreef the mainsail and put out the headsail but had to wait until everybody had had their breakfast. Before we had chance to reset the sails it was Cindy’s turn to helm and she noticed a large area of rain on the radar so we decided to leave the main reefed and run with the staysail.

As we approached the rain we could see sheet lightening in the clouds so we turned most of the electronics off, brought in the staysail and turned the motor on. We motored through the rain for about an hour with the wind at only about 12 knots when suddenly the wind changed direction by 180 degrees and within 2 minutes was over 40 knots. Andrew steered into the wind to take pressure off the sails but it was too late, the mainsail was shredded. About 10 minutes later the wind was back to 14 knots and the rain was easing.

With nothing else on the radar we put up the mizzen and staysail to help balance the boat. We left the motor running at lower revs until Sue at the helm noticed the wind getting high again up to 31 knots and called Andrew and Wolfgang to take in the sails and we were back to motoring. A couple of hours later with Wolfgang on the helm and very messy 2m waves we decided to try the staysail again half reefed to give the boat a bit more stability. It’s now 2 hours later with Cindy back on the helm we are running full staysail and motor. The sea is slowly calming down so we’ll see what the moonlit night brings (full moon).

We’ve just enjoyed a very tasty dinner cooked by Wolfgang of pork chops, potato and veggies.

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GPS: 21 53.307S 156 53.476E

Run: 167.5nm (303.2km)
Avg: 3.6knts
24hr: 87.2nm

From hardly enough wind last night where we had all 4 sails up, during the night the squalls came meaning Andrew and Wolfgang had to go out in the early hours of the morning to reef the mainsail and take down the mizzen. Both were safely in their lifejackets, harnessed and tethered to the safety lines as Sue took Imagine into the wind. The swell was about 2 to 3 metres and the sea was quite messy. After they were safely back inside we went back on course.

Cindy had been feeling good the last few days and hadn’t taken any seasick tablets but with the messy sea she suddenly had to lifejacket/tether up and hung over the side to feed the fishes. She has since had some tablets and slept some and is currently on shift.

We’ve been sailing with the mainsail and either the staysail or headsail for the rest of the day averaging 7 to 8 knots this afternoon. We’ve just reefed the mainsail and put the staysail out for the night which will slow us down but make it a better ride for the night as the wind has picked up again. It was predicted that we would get 2 or 3 days of no wind but fortunately we haven’t struck that yet and are making good progress to Brisbane.

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A delicious breakfast on the foredeck this morning, basking in the sun under a beautiful blue, sunny sky and taking in the wonderful view.

After breakfast Andrew and Cindy cleaned the cockpit and windows whilst Sue cut Wolfgang’s hair (glad he wasn’t going to look in the mirror). After reviewing the latest weather report Andrew suggested we leave today to make the most of wind opportunities as to date it looks like we were going to get a few days with very light or no wind (no good for sailing! ).

We had a last refreshing swim in beautiful blue, clear water. Leftovers were on the menu for lunch so another lot of kiwi hamburgers were devoured. After lunch Andrew put the go pro on a pole and took it round the boat so we could hull was clean. After final checks we departed this wonderful place, heading through the reef at this end with Andrew up the mast, Sue on the helm and Wolfgang and Cindy also looking out for any reefs or bommies.

Not a lot of wind, we’ve tried various sail settings and at the moment we are running all 4, the main sail, headsail, staysail and mizzen up making a good 5.5 knots.