Australia - Pacific Crossing Notes: A Sailor's Guide to the Coconut Milk Run - page 464

money to transfer. Therefore, it was a lot of work, but none of us were ever in the position
of being left on the dock with a mountain of gear and nowhere to go. We rented a car for
one day to transport our boxes to the post office in Brisbane, and hitched a ride to do the
same in Cairns.
Many of the crews we knew had scheduled in a period of land travel after arriving in Aus-
tralia, so when they moved off the boat, they moved their remaining belongings into rental
cars or campers as an intermediate step. One crew used a shipping agent to send a larger
quantity of goods home in a small container. That may make sense for sailors with much
to ship and the budget to pay for it, though not for penny-pinching sailors like us.
All of the above crews traded one to two months of cruising time for a cushion in terms of
a sales window. Others cruised right up until their firm go-home date and allotted them-
selves only two weeks after arrival in Australia to get everything prepared: cleaning and
repairing the boat as well as packing their things. Then they departed for their home coun-
tries, leaving the boat in the hands of a broker. Some were lucky; their boats sold fast. A
2001 Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 43 we know sold sight unseen even before arriving in Aus-
tralia, and the family flew home within a week of arriving in Brisbane. This approach did
not work well for a 1975 Wauquiz Amphitrite 43 ketch that was priced too high. It ended
up languishing on the market, and with no one to keep her up, systems started seizing.
That ultimately drove the selling price down to nearly half of the original asking price
eight months down the road.
Many sailors bridge their time between living on board and heading home with a period of
land travel depending on when and where the boat sells. We booked a multi-leg series of
flights home to be able to visit friends and places along the way. Over a period of six
weeks, we enjoyed stops in Indonesia, Japan, California, Vancouver, and Calgary. We then
spent six weeks with family in Maine before flying on to our home in Germany. The price
of that entire ticket (booked through Tickets Round the World [#1] was about US$3,000 per
person, whereas a direct flight would have cost about US$2,000. We feel the extra was
well spent and we were able to keep our costs minimal thanks to various friends who hos-
ted us at each stop along the way. It was a lovely reunion trip, and a great transition time
for us: we were still footloose travelers, but had the chance to get used to land life at the
same time.
[#1] http://www.ticketsroundtheworld.com/