On Monday the 5th of June, at Mackay Marina, Australian Border Force came and woke us up to officially clear us into Australia. This all happened while I was appropriately attired in pyjamas and they wore their great big hob-nailed boots…this made me twitch with them stomping on our beautiful timber cabin sole!
The quarantine officer was next on board (at least he wasn’t wearing boots). I had ensured that we had virtually no fresh fruit, vege or honey in the pantry, so clearance was easy, except for the fiscal shock we received when he informed us that we owed the Aussie Government $460 for the privilege of a biosecurity clearance, plus an extra $45 to dispose of one small bag of garbage! Bloody hell! We’ve cleared into Australia by boat several times, and I’m sure we were never charged to clear quarantine! I needed a cup of tea and a lie down after that! C’mon, Straya…a bit of warning would’ve been nice! That represents a significant percentage of our monthly budget.
We took an Uber to the shopping centre and did a big grocery shop. I was pleasantly surprised at cost, and the variety of beautiful fresh fruit and vege. We ended the day with the burger and a beer that I’d been craving…it was heaven!
Mackay is an unusual place. I was asking the Uber driver about the demographic, trying to understand what people did for a living and for fun. He said, “Well, Mackay is full of cashed-up bogans!” There’s a lot of people here with large disposable incomes from the mines and the associated shipping of coal from the port. Consequently, the marina is full of flash boats, everyone drives a ute and tows a jet ski! When we sailed in on Sunday night there were at least 30 ships anchored off Mackay, ready to be loaded.
Paulie left us on Wednesday morning to fly back to NZ. We loved having him on board. What a great crew member he has been on this passage and on previous occasions. We miss you, Paulie! With all the admin, washing and reprovisioning done, it was back to just the two of us. We wasted no time in leaving the marina, setting sail for Brampton Island in 20 knots of wind. It was 18 very bouncy nautical miles to the white sand and shelter of Mary Port Bay, looking at the abandoned Brampton Island Resort.
It’s a very eerie feeling being at resort that has been closed since 2006. A couple of cyclones damaged some of the buildings, and the golden days of a family resort holiday in the Whitsundays are long gone now that it’s cheaper to go to Fiji or Bali. Apparently the resort was sold to an oil company some years ago for 5 million dollars. The island is a national park, so I’m guessing the infrastructure is what was sold. It’s in a state of disrepair although the air strip is still used a couple of times a month, to fly provisions in for the caretaker.
We’ve noticed that the Australians don’t swim off their boats like us kiwis do. I wondered if they knew something that we didn’t. Apparently, they’re all scared of sharks! I’ve also heard that that it is impossible to be attacked by a shark or a crocodile here in Queensland…but it is conceivable that you could have a “negative shark or crocodile interaction”😳. We’ve reconsidered our swimming habits, and have started swimming from the beach.
Another day, another beautiful anchorage…after Brampton we went to Goldsmith then Thomas. Tomorrow maybe Lindemann or Whitehaven Beach.
Cruising Innocenti 
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