Blimey it's Bundaberg!

After finishing with customs and quarantine, we were finally in Australia officially.

We staggered down the marina pier into the office of Bundaberg Port Marina.  Australians are such a nice bunch.  The office manager greeted us with a big smile and lots of humour.  He let us stay on the quarantine pier overnight (they weren't expecting anyone), so that we could sit back and relax after our long sail.

As a celebration for arriving, we had breakfast at the cafe at the marina.  Eggs benedict for me, and a big breakfast for Gary - fabulous!  

Toodles was still packed to the brim with cans of tomatoes, beans and rice.  We decided to rent a car and donate all the extras to the Salvation Army.  I swear Toodles floated inches higher after we emptied her of cans.

What to do in Bundaberg with a rental car?  Go to the Bundaberg Rum Distillery of course!

Yes, we may have been to a fair few distilleries before, but we thought another one couldn't hurt.  This tour had to be the best we had been on.  We started in the museum, to see the history of Bundaberg Rum, including seeing the Bundaberg Rum Polar Bear.

The museum also had sniff samples of the rum at different stages.  I made myself dizzy sniffing a bit too much rum!

We were met in the video room, which showed all the ads for Bundaberg Rum, by our tour guide.  We were stripped of our camera and watches, and anything else that might cause a spark.  This was new to us.  Apparently the rum fumes are highly flammable!  That hadn't worried the Carribean rum distilleries.  Perhaps we were lucky not to have been blown sky high after taking pictures of the 160 proof rum in Grenada.

The tour was great.  We got a much better description of what was happening and what they are doing, as well as a few taste tests along the way.  

The final stop was the bar for a few more taste tests.  Gary was driving so I had to drink his free samples for him.  Suffice to say, I left Bundaberg Distillery feeling pretty good.

On our way back to the marina we spotted a Kangaroo (referred to just as a "Roo" by the locals).  We took a photo as proof and confirmation that yes, we were definitely in Australia.

Arrived in Australia at Last

In the early hours of the morning, after what seemed like a very long passage despite being only 5 days,  we arrived in Australia.  This passage was the first time that we needed our full wet weather gear for the entire passage.  It had been cold beyond reason, partly a result of us having become acclimatised to 30+ degrees, as well as it being an unseasonal cold snap.

I emerged from down below after hiding out from the 30kt winds and big waves, to see the lights marking the harbour at Bundaberg.  

As dawn began to break, we could see the flat coastline and smell the sugar cane.  That distinctive land smell was like heaven.  We hugged, I cried.  The realisation that we had made it over 13,000 miles from the Caribbean to Australia was overwhelming.  Both of us felt relieved that we had no more ocean passages ahead of us.

Gary told me that as he gazed out at the star filled sky during the last night, he asked himself "will I miss this?".  His answer was "yes, but not for a long while".

We had heard so many horror stories of Australian customs and quarantine, but our experience was fantastic.  We had sent our notice of intention to arrive in Australia by email while we were in New Caledonia.  When we arrived, we called quarantine (AQIS), who knew all about us and arrived in minutes.  They kindly called customs for us so we could sit back and relax.  The quarantine process was thorough, but no more difficult than all the other pacific islands.  Customs arrived on the boat shortly after and we filled out the paper work.  I had a few questions since we were leaving Toodles in Australia.  They answered my questions easily and went out of their way to help us out.

Within an hour we were all legal.

Our adventure hadn't ended just yet, we still had another 4 days sail down to Brisbane ahead of us.  But first a few days relaxing in Bundaberg.