Australian Border Force

Before we approached Australian waters we were hailed on the radio by the Australian Border Force Aeroplane. We were asked:

• to confirm the name of the boat and to spell it;
• how many persons were on board;
• our last port;
• our next port;
• our home port; and
• if we had any pets on board.

We were then read a statement about what we need to do before we entered Australian waters.  It was all very clear on the radio to us and apparently they take also take a photo of your vessel.

When we were nearly at the Great Barrier Reef we emailed Thursday Island Australian Border Force District Office [thursdayisland@abf.gov.au] and asked if we were able to anchor before arriving at Thursday Island, as we were hesitant to sail through the reef at night. Yes they said, no problem. As it was, the reef was quite easy to navigate, but it was good to rest after 11 nights at sea.

We also had some cleaning to do, for four days we were plagued by brown boobies that pooed  all over our solar panels and completely covered the decks. We had no output of power on some of our panels.

Anchoring before entering

We anchored first at Collette Reef.  It looks as if there is no shelter from the rough seas, but when we were anchored it was fairly calm until the tide came up over the reef and then it got quite rolly.

Then we anchored at Cape York, but didn’t enter the bay as it was too shallow. We draw 2.05 metres and it started to drop rapidly down to 2.4 and so we retreated and anchored outside.

Arrival at Thursday Island

We got an early start to arrive at Horn Island by 9.30am just as the tide was slack. We telephoned the harbour authorities and asked about anchoring, there are no public balls to rent and they suggested anchoring at Horn Island with all the other boats. It gets rough at Thursday Island.

We stayed on the boat until  Monday morning when we took the dinghy from Horn Island anchorage over to Fisheries Wharf, where we were met by Customs, Immigration and Biosecurity officials. We walked to the customs office and then the officer drove us to the Biosecurity office and gave us a quick tour of where everything was in the town.

If you are staying longer than two weeks then you will need to go to Cairns within that time frame and go through full biosecurity, otherwise they don’t come to your boat in Thursday Island. You do need to pay at biosecurity but we just left our credit card details. It was $155 for the vessel arrival charge and $37 for  our 15 minute interview.

It was ok going over there in the dinghy, but it looked rough to get back so a local man called Guy and his wife Bev offered to take us over to our boat. We towed the dinghy behind their skiff.

If going over to Thursday Island you can use the dinghy dock at Engineers wharf.  It gets very shallow at low tide, so it is best to go in the early morning and head back before the wind kicks up in the afternoon.

Horn Island Details

Dinghy dock:  The dinghy dock is not great because all the ferries come in here as well as all the local boats. The locals will just move your dinghy out of their way. Best to put it on the end of the pontoon under the walkway.

Rubbish:  There are no recycling facilities, but there are rubbish bins by the dock.

Hotel/ laundry:  We had our laundry done at Wongai Hotel.  Oher cruisers reported that you needed to ring ahead before taking your laundry, but we just took it in at 5pm and it was ready the next day after 12noon. AU$25 a load (large loads) washed, dried and folded . However, I wasn’t happy as mine came back creased and badly folded. I have advised them so hopefully it was a one-off and it won’t happen again. The hotel also had a good restaurant and separate bar area.

Fuel:  There is fuel available at the end of the dock at a self-service machine. It wouldn’t accept our international Visa cards – only Mastercard. But I believe Australian credit cards were ok.

Supermarkets:  There is a super market near to the petrol pump and another, IBIS supermarket, around the corner, a bit smaller than the one on Thursday Island.

Thursday Island Details

You can book the ferry online to take you from Horn Island to Thursday Island, or just pay when you get on. When you get on, they will give you a return ticket, so no need to produce your online ticket again, just the physical small ticket.

Rubbish:  There are no recycling facilities, but there are rubbish bins behind the ferry/ tour office on the wharf.

Provisions:  Thursday Island is very small, no chandlery. It only has a garage, petrol station, Mitre 10 and a well stocked supermarket along side the other small shops. There is also a hotel where you can have lunch and a couple of coffee shops also serving food. You can walk to all these places.

Tour or Taxi:  We got diesel from Thursday Island and ordered a taxi to take us to the wharf: we rang 07 40692888. If you don’t have a local SIM then the petrol station will call for you.  Ask for Bryan, not all taxis will take fuel, but Bryan does.

Bryan also took us on a tour around the island, it only took 40 minutes and cost AU$70 . He was very knowledgeable and we stopped along the way.

ATMs:  There are many ATMs around town, in the supermarket, the hotel and the pub.

Clearing out

When you get off the ferry, the customs/immigration office is to your right, an old colonial building. You should make an appointment to clear out, although they are very flexible as we changed our time and they just told us to pop in when we were ready. Such friendly staff. It took about 20 minutes to clear out. They’d like you to leave as soon as possible after clearance – but within 24 hours is acceptable.

Maria and Allen Wadsworth
SV Jamala

………………………………

About the Authors:

When we set off from England, we genuinely thought we would be back home after five years with our feet up and the telly on – adventure done and some salty yarns in our repertoire to share with anyone with open ears. So sure were we of our timings that we drew up our expected dates in each country on a world map for everyone to see at a party at our home six months before we left. According to that map, we should have been on our sofa glaring at a widescreen in 2022.

Six years on, somewhere between Vanua Levu and Viti Levu, we made it halfway around the world. We have been idling along at less than half speed. If we carry on at this rate, we won’t be back until 2029. But who knows? We certainly don’t. There could be another pandemic; it might be challenging to transit some areas because of political instability, or the weather could become even more unpredictable. Or it might be that we like somewhere so much that we want to stay longer, as with French Polynesia. Or we might get a move on.

We have met people who have taken 20 years to complete their circumnavigation and some who have whizzed around in three. We stand a fair chance of being somewhere between the two. But as long as we enjoy it and can do it, we will continue blundering our way around the world.

………………………………

Follow their voyage at:

www.untilthebuttermelts.com

………………………………