Dodgy neighbours, shipping containers and getting our land-legs back

A couple of days ago one of our ICA friends – a commander in the Royal Australian Navy who has already headed home – got in touch to let us know the Australian authorities might want speak with us.

Don’t worry Mum, we haven’t done anything dodgy, but it turns out our neighbours at Port Vila may have been very naughty indeed! It seems we were unwittingly parked up next to $80 million worth of cocaine the whole time we were tied up at the dock there. The boat next door to us – called Friday Freedom – was intercepted on it’s way to Queensland from Vanuatu with  300 kilograms of Peruvian dancing dust (Paddy’s term) hidden in it’s hull. It was the fifth largest cocaine bust in Australian history and is all over the news there.

It’s funny, we would never have known. They seemed like quite a nice young Spanish couple. Their English wasn’t that great, but they did manage to tell us that they had just bought the boat. It seemed to be their pride and joy and they were out every day scrubbing and washing it down. One of them even helped fish Paddy out of the water after his rigging mishap! They and a friend of theirs came and went but never caused any problems – the crying baby on the boat on the other side of us was much more irritating! Apparently they had also won a Best Dressed Pirates competition at a welcome BBQ at the port and played with all the kids there. I guess it goes to show that sort of thing isn’t easy to spot. They were allegedly part of a big international crime syndicate the Australian authorities had been keeping an eye on for a while, but I have a feeling they weren’t particularly high up the chain. Apparently the police will be trying to trace their movements so we may very well end up hearing from them.

For those interested here’s the link to a news story about them: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-14/300kg-drug-bust-in-queensland/3664164

The other news we are keeping an eye on is the wreck of the container ship Rena. For those of you not from NZ, this accident has been dubbed the worst maritime environmental disaster the country has seen. Basically a chartered container ship – ran aground on Astrolabe reef off Tauranga, spewing hundreds of tonnes oil all over the area and dropping shipping containers into the sea.

There are so many theories about how it happened, who should pay and how to deal with the cleanup, I could write a blog on that alone. The mess it has made of a wonderful diving spot, the huge amount of wildlife killed and the impact on those who make their living there is absolutely tragic –  and although they have managed to clean up most of the oil, weather is still hampering proceedings. What  yachties are keeping an eye on though are the 1200 shipping containers on the back of the thing. Most of them are still on the ship but a fair few have also fallen in to the water. There is an exclusion zone around Tauranga and a good chunk of the containers have been located, but there are still a few that haven’t been. Most of these won’t be a problem because they are vented and designed to sink, but any refrigerated containers (or reefers) are sealed and will float.

There is a regular maritime safety warning that goes out over the radio daily which I have to admit makes me smile a bit. It says “if you see a shipping container in the water in the Tauranga area please do not touch or attempt to intercept it. Just take down its GPS coordinates and any details you can.”  What do they think we are going to try to do? Lasso the thing! Paddy reckons it’s to stop people trying to salvage them themselves – but that would take some serious determination!

We are keeping an eye on things before we head back down south. At this stage it looks like we will still go down the east coast of New Zealand, but will try to do it as day sails. They are already hard at work removing containers now and there shouldn’t be too many floating by the time we leave.  In such a big ocean the risk should be pretty minimal as long as we keep our eyes peeled. If the ship breaks up before they get the rest of the containers off it will be a different story though. If hundreds of containers end up dumped in the sea, we’ll definitely look at heading round the west coast. Basically we’re just going to be pretty careful and keep an eye on what’s happening.

Drugs and shipping containers aside, we are starting to settle back into life in New Zealand. It’s a strange feeling being back home and for the first week or so I found myself feeling a little displaced, like the whole trip away was just some sort of strange dream. Before we left, six months seemed like forever. I had never had that much time when I wasn’t either working or studying and I was actually afraid I might get bored with all the downtime. On the contrary, it seemed like we were always doing something and those months disappeared in the blink of an eye.

At first it took a little while to get used to not living life on an angle. When we first arrived at Opua marina, I was in the process of making a coffee when Mike politely said “Anna, you are still holding on!”  When I queried this he informed me that I had not let go of the stove until I had one hand on the pantry shelf and didn’t let go of the pantry until I had reached the galley bench. And it really did take a while for my brain to register that I could move from one end of the boat to the other without having to hang on for grim death!

After the initial excitement of remaining upright, guilt free hot showers and being able to use the marina washing machines instead of a bucket, things did start to feel a little flat. People we had been cruising around with for half a year started disappearing in dribs and drabs and we didn’t really know what to do with ourselves. We were suddenly bombarded by newspapers, advertisements, election coverage and bank balances – all those things that remind you that the real world awaits. The world we only managed to get a glimpse of through dodgy internet connections is suddenly there in all its glory. It seems almost indecent to just be able to walk into a supermarket and have everything on your shopping list in stock, and to have several different varieties available instead of having to hunt for substitutes. Everything is the same as it was before we left – but we’re not.

On the other hand we are hearing from friends, we’re able to talk to our family on the phone and I am getting updates on my much missed moggy. We are making plans to catch up with people when we head to Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch for Christmas and I’m really looking forward to that. I’m even looking forward to heading back to work and seeing everybody there. And there are all the little things I have missed –meeting up with friends for coffee, seeing a movie in English (or at least with English subtitles), wasting time in a book store and gardening. So I am sure I will settle back in again fine.

It’s been quite good staying here in Opua for the past week too because there is a yachting ‘rally’ on (essentially a bunch of boating seminars and pot luck dinners) and a lot of the ICA cruisers have decided to stay for a bit to check it out, so we haven’t had to say goodbye to all our friends just yet.

On Sunday, weather permitting, we will be out of here for a bit though. We are heading up North to Houhora harbour where my Dad grew up and where we used to visit my Grandpop when we were kids. I haven’t been there since I was little, but I loved it then, so I’m really looking forward to it. Dad’s filled us in on all the good fishing spots too, so it should be good fun!

PS – I am slowly getting all my photos up on facebook and volcano videos on youtube. Once that’s all sorted I will put up a blog with public links to them so you can check them out