Bang/Whimper

We're in Bundaberg, so this second Pacific crossing is officially a wrap.

The ending of the trip was a T.S. Eliot sort of affair - it ended with a bang and a whimper.

The bang was the sound of the main backwinding as we were running between the flashing red and green entrance markers for the Burnett River late last night.

The whimper was the sound that Alisa made after her hand ended up between the preventer and its cleat when the main backwinded, so that all of the load was taken by her hand.

After she got her hand out of the cleat, she couldn't move several fingers.  Her strained tendons were bulging against the underside of her fingers and the swelling was beginning.

After sailing all the way across the Pacific with really no mishap at all, our only sailing accident came literally in the last mile.

I think a big part of the blame goes to us making the entrance at 0230.  We were sleepy and much less organized about handling the boat than we normally are.

So Alisa went to the hospital and got x-rayed on her first day in Australia.  Nothing broken, but she still hurts and has restricted mobility.  We're hoping that time will be the cure.  Meanwhile, the only good bit was that it wasn't her dominant hand.

~~

We finally dropped the hook at 0300 and collapsed into bed.

The boys, considerately, woke up at 0450.

Elias started the day overjoyed at the prospect of being back in Oz.  Can I go up and look at Australia? were his first words of the day.

Things went downhill from there for him.  It turns out that his beloved headdress from Nuku Hiva - the one that Yolene gave him, and that he puts on whenever he feels like busting out a Marquesan pig dance - is made of banana leaves.  And nothing made of banana leaves is allowed into Australia.  So Quarantine confiscated it.

The little guy was heartbroken.  Alisa had him put it on to do one more pig dance before Quarantine took it away, but his heart just wasn't in it:

The Quarantine guys were very nice about it all, and were obviously wishing they just hadn't seen the thing.  Of course, after a run ashore on the marina lawn and an end-of-the-passage ice cream, Elias felt much better.

So, that was our first day back in Australia - I'm sure everything will look a bit better once we've caught up on our sleep!