Sailing from New Caledonia to Brisbane in Australia.

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SAILING TO AUSTRALIA

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November, 1993
We left New Caledonia, sailing for Brisbane, Australia, 728 miles away. The first day we did better than 120 miles, so we figured that we were going to have an easy 6-day sail to Brisbane. Boy, were we wrong. The wind died, and for six days we had light, light winds - when the yacht speed dropped under 2.5 knots we turned the engine on, but with only 40 gallons of diesel we couldn't motor very much (we knew that we'd have to motor a minimum of eight hours up to the Brisbane River, so we had to watch our motoring time very carefully), so we were lucky to make 60 miles a day. Since it was so comfortable, we weren't complaining, just very bored. When the wind finally picked up, however, it did so with a vengeance - the storm coming up from the south coast of Australia did a good job of raising large seas, and with 40+ knots of wind, we dropped our headsail, eased off the sheets on our triple-reefed main, and ran with the wind and seas. Fortunately we were finally going downwind - had the wind been out of the west we would have just turned around and run back rather than try to go over those 18 to 20' seas. So for two days we ran, and the weather cleared just as we were approaching the entrance to Brisbane Harbor (the Harbor is 40 miles away threading through the shifting sand bars that are all around the Brisbane River. The river itself is not nearly as wide as we had expected, with a rather narrow channel up it, but limited fuel meant we had to sail the whole 40 miles in light winds.

We had heard so many horror stories about the problems of clearing into Brisbane that that the reality was a pleasure. Although Australia is strict, they are not nearly as officious or burdened with paperwork as the other countries (except Vanuatu and New Caledonia) that we've visited this year. It's their food restrictions that cause all the problems and misconceptions. Even though I can see their point, to a degree, I can't believe that they think that I'm going to plant my popcorn or wild rice rather than eat it. The greatest problem was that they took all our dried beef (no s--t on a shingle for Peter, ever again). I'm sure that they were wrong to take it, but how does one argue? They charge $Au86 for the privilege of taking your food. It is obvious to us that, as with most places we've been, the official's treatment of the entering yacht is related to the attitude of its crew, and so we had no problems, and enjoyed the visit. They were certainly full of information on where to go and what to do now that we were in their wonderful country. So, anyway, we cleared easily.

We have been overdosing on civilization - I've bought about 20 books, almost as many magazines, and all kinds of "stuff" we've managed to live without for so long but which is suddenly terribly important to us. Brisbane is a lovely city - sort of a younger and more orderly Boston. It didn't start growing until about eight years ago, and now the skyline is studded with modern glass-fronted skyscrapers (although I doubt if anything is taller than about 60 stories).

We've brought 'Melon up to Mooloolaba (the Aussies laugh at how we pronounce their town names) to have her hauled and worked on. We're going to rebuild the scoop on the stern - extend it a bit and make it a more useful appendage, with storage for our propane tanks (serves two purposes - one, gets the propane completely out of the boat, so there is no possibility that a leak could get into the engine compartment; and two, it enables us to put in larger propane bottles, finally. Peter has finally come to the realization that we don't carry enough propane for me to cook all the things that he wants - if this Pacific trip did nothing else, it brought that home to him). Labor costs here are about 40% higher than New Zealand, but materials are better and cheaper, and more available, there's not the high sales taxes there are in New Zealand (according to the Kiwis we've met here), and the weather is much better. Then, the head needs tearing out and rebuilding (there's more rot in the bulkheads, and it's no longer practical to just repair - better to make a good and permanent (?!) fix. So, we will be on the hard for as long as two months. Also, Peter has gotten a good price on a new engine, so we're going to replace the engine (because it's 12 years old and it's a BMW, for which parts are difficult and expensive to obtain, and we're heading for truly uncivilized places after Australia). Lot of work, wouldn't you say?

Australia is a bit of a culture shock. Television is a trip. They import a lot of U.S. sitcoms - terrible ones, like The Simpsons, etc., and a few good ones (but not many). Lots of U.S. movies (natch), but the experience is watching Australian late night TV. They say nasty things on the air and get away with it. Then there's the problem of language - American and Australian are quite different dialects, in addition to accent. "Chips" are French fries (and "potato crisps" are chips), "tea" often means dinner rather than the beverage, "jumper" is a jacket, "tucker" is food, "tomato sauce" is put on hamburgers (so is beetroot - poor Peter). Culture disorientation is national news - three days when one of the lead items on all radio and TV news broadcasts was the results of a survey - 60% of Australian mothers used cloth nappies (diapers) rather than disposable nappies - which prompted a half hour segment on morning television on the relative merits of cloth vs. disposable nappies emphasis on the environmental impact of each. November 13 news brief in the local paper: "CANBERRA: The national capital's brothels will be open to non-paying adults on Sunday during Canberra's annual Brothel Open Day. Celebrations will include a sausage sizzle and stalls giving safe sex information." An Australia vs. New Zealand cricket match has been going on for the past three days (one game - hundreds of runs scored) - confusing and boring. The most popular children's program is "Bananas in Pajamas", followed closely by "Zucchinis in bikinis".

"Made in Australia" is an often heard sales pitch on TV ads - nationalism is one of Australia's most striking characteristics, we hear it everywhere. It's interesting, because many foreigners we've met comment that Americans' most notable characteristic is how we complain and criticize our own country; here Aussies matter-of-factly tell you that Australia is the best country in the world - and they probably are much better-traveled than any other nationality we've ever met - Australians know far more about the U.S. than Americans know about Australia: without looking at a map, can you tell me what the smallest state in Australia is? An Australian I just met knew that Rhode Island was the smallest U.S. state; and most people here know that Boston is in Massachusetts - I sure didn't know what state Perth or Melbourne is in. Impresses me.

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