WEDNESDAY 14th
July 2010
06.00hrs, Another wonderfull start to the day
in Paradise. bright and sunny,
We got the blogs, and emails out of the way
early,
Then we had a slow light breakfast , ie cornflakes
and tea. and went through some of the requirements for Australia,
They are very particular about what you can or cant
bring into the country.
example, no meat, so we must eat it all
before we get there or toss it over the side.
no
honey.
no butter,
no fruit or veg,
no mayo,
no milk ( unless its australian,)
no souvineers
and lots more in the small print...
09.00hrs We did all the clearances at the
office for tomorrows departure at midday.
We were also given tax free certs. so we could buy booze, presents, and diesel,
all tax free.
Aileen then went about seeing how effective the certs were, as only women can do
really well.
Later, skipper and scotty reset the forward port
staunchion, two of the three ss bolts holding it down on the deck had
broken off.
that took about 90 mins,
Then we set about resewing the foot line on the
headsail, all the stitching had unravelled, rather disintegrated, this is
the second time
we had to repair this sail, in Feb. we had to
get the whole leach line redone as it ripped from head to toe.
And these sails are only in use 14 months,,
Aileen sent lots of copy books, pencils , pens, and
colouring pens back to the primary school in "Tanna" as promised.
She will sit at the right hand of god for all the
Good Works,
17.00hrs, we walked up to the other end of town to
the " anchor Bar " for the skippers briefing regarding tomorrows trip of 1180
miles to
Mackay in Australia. following this, we had a
few G & T's before returning to the boat to doll ourselfs up to go for
dinner
in the Grand Hotel next door to the marina,
Dinner was excellent again, we met the yanks there
and joined them after dinner in the hotels " Casino "
This was a change, and most enjoyable, we lost
about 10 euros each, like 2000 local vatu's
Skipper and Bob had a great chat afterwards. before
returning to the boats,
a late night.
Signed :- Stephen Hyde (
skipper )