At around 0600, Elaine shouted "land ahoy" and, with that, it was "hello Australia". We couldn't have asked for better conditions to transit the Southport Seaway Channel in completely flat seas. In fact, it was so calm it reminded us of our approach into the Galapagos Islands.

Having contacted the Southport Seaway Channel tower on our approach, we obtained directions to proceed straight down the centreline, even though it was an hour before low tide. Finding our way to the quarantine dock in the Southport Yacht Club Marina was just as straight forward. We had arrived safe and sound and definitely in one of the most sophisticated places we have ever sailed Paw Paw in to.

While we awaited the arrival of the customs and immigration officials, we enjoyed our end of passage celebratory drink even though it was 0900 in the morning. Soon thereafter the officials arrived and completed our clearing i n process which was swiftly followed by the arrival of the biosecurity officials and we are happy to report that we received two separate compliments.

Customs were impressed with the manner in which the Small Craft Arrivals form had been completed, given that there were no omissions and that Elaine had taken the time to complete their section for them, providing the information that the officials would have had to ask her for on arrival anyway before they could complete the form. Secondly, the biosecurity team was so impressed at how organised, neat and clean Paw Paw was, commenting that ours was the easiest inspection they had ever completed and rewarded us by not charging any overtime fees for a Sunday clearance. We were also able to disspel quite a few myths about the Australian Border Force procedure, given our experience. They didn't care at all about the condition of Paw Paw's bottom, dairy products, honey or alcohol and our holding tanks have not been plugged, obviously with the understanding that we follow standard protocol in this regard.

With clearance completed, next stop was the marina office to complete their paperwork, collect our security access tags, obtain some initial information on the location of the various services we need and directions to the nearest restaurant; their very own Southport Yacht Club restaurant and what an unexpected afternoon we ended up having.

A delicious meal was followed by dancing to a fabulous live band, which included guest performances by Chris Knight from "Australia's Buddy Holly Show" and various artists from the "Sixties Show". It was definitely a very festive atmosphere and we learnt that this is pretty typical of the various clubs around the area for a Sunday afternoon.

What was completely fascinating and striking about the entire experience was that the club was packed with s enior citizens, all of whom were slim, fit and trendy, stressed in the latest designer fashions, men and woman alike. We'd also learnt earlier in the day that "Millionaire's Row" was just beyond the bridge from the marina, which certainly explained the demographic of the Yacht Club. Regardless, they were all up dancing and having a jolly good time. It was the perfect setting to celebrate our safe arrival, an excellent passage and the completion of our semi-circumnavigation. It's hard to believe we've sailed halfway around the world.

We topped off our day with a stroll over to the beach and had a good giggle at, what we realised, must have seemed like a completely ridiculous question which we had asked Storm Dancer (Del and Craig) after meeting them in Fiji; were there any beaches nearby? Well, there is nothing but beautiful white sandy beaches everywhere that go on for miles and miles. They truly must have thought we were nuts!