[password]Roberts56;
[position]27 11.138S 153 22.082E
[status]
Image:dolphins1.
Image:dolphins2.
Image hitchhiker.
Image:container boat.
Image:brisbane1.
Image:story bridge.
Image:brisbane2.
Image:story bridge2.
Image:walking around brisbane.
Image:bridge climb1.
Image:bridge climb2.
Image:bridge climb3.
Image:Wolfgang.
Friday 18th October
Yes we have arrived. Sorry for not keeping you up to date.
On Monday 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.

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
. 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.

Wednesday 16th, 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.

Early Thursday morning they were off to the bridge, while Andrew and Sue went back into Brisbane to get their data set up. There was only two other people on the bridge climb so Cindy and Wolfgang got to ask lots of questions, have lots of pics taken and for some unfathomable reason the four of them decided to ask each other trivia questions at the top of the bridge! After the bridge climb they met Sue and Andrew at the waterfront and went for a picnic lunch at the Botanical Gardens. C and W then went on another walk taking in some more sights of Brisbane before lightening, thunder and heavy downpour stopped them in their tracks. It was over quickly then Andrew went across in the dinghy to bring them back to the boat.

Today Friday 18th, we left Brisbane at 8:00am and headed downriver and across to Moreton Island where we arrived early afternoon. W and C went for a walk and to watch the dolphins being fed outside Tangalooma Resort. This is a big tourist attraction and is free to watch (charged if you want to feed the dolphins). Andrew and Sue saw this last time at Moreton Island so stayed on the boat to catch up with some video and photo editing and catch up on the blog.

Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.

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