After only a few hours of sleep, Roy woke Elaine at 0430 this morning. At first she grumbled thinking it was time for her watch, but then remembered that we had to move Paw Paw off the quarantine dock and, since strong winds were forecast, we wanted to take advantage of the calmer conditions first thing in the morning.

Fortunately we received some help with the docklines from Paul off EZ GO, as we approached our berth, since he also happened to be awake at this ridiculous hour. We've since discovered that Australia doesn't have daylight savings, so we've resigned ourselves to the fact that we'll probably be awake at this time most mornings, through the summer at least. No excuse now for not taking an early morning walk on the beach.

We got through the day fueled on caffeine from one too many cups of coffee, which is generally something we don't do. However, it allowed us to get through quite a number of priority tasks. First was cancelling our USA cell phone and data service with T-Mobile after more than 15 years and after being strong advocates for their unlimited international roaming services which they provide in 140 different countries. Unfortunately, none of these countries include the South Pacific Islands as well as New Zealand, but it definitely includes Australia and most of the Southeast Asian countries we plan on visiting in the next few years. So, for the best part of 18 months, we've paid for a service we haven't been able to use, but expected to enjoy the benefits again once we arrived here in Australia. Well, to no avail. Some bright spark in the boardroom of T-Mobile decided to half the bandwidth of the data service as of July this year without notifying us of these intentions, which has rendered the sevice completely useless to us now, but prepared to upsell us to the service level we previously had. So, plan B, obtain a local Australian service, which has turned into the most bureaucratic process we have ever encountered and, for our troubles, still do not have a service.

Anyway, we enjoyed a morning coffee at the Southport Yacht Club, before commencing our explorations. First we took a leisurely stroll to Tedder Avenue village centre, where we enjoyed a cooked breakfast and wondered around this very pleasant area of restaurants, coffee shops, boutique stores, a bakery, a convenience store, medical services, etc. By this stage we had also worked out the local bus service route. From there we made our way to the closest tram station which took us into the town centre of Southport, where we started the process of obtaining local sim cards, opening a local bank account, getting some groceries and reserving a car to explore further afield.

Since we've banked with HSBC for more than 30 years, we'd decided that that was probably the best option. What were we thinking. They point blank rejected us, stating that, although we'll be legally living in Australia for the next year or more, we don't have a utility bill or an Australian drivers license, apparently a new policy from this year. Using local transportation or Uber and having our utilities powered by solar and wind wasn't enough to convince them. Fortunately the next bank we approached was far more helpful, although, given that all we wanted was a current account and debit card so that we can use the "tap and pay" facilities that are widely used here, as apposed to cash or a credit card, we still had to jump through a myriad of hoops, answering all sorts of questions that really had no bearing on what we required. After waiting two hours for an appointment and another hour answering all the questions, we eventually walked out with a bank account. Of course, th e next challenge is actually receiving the cards in the mail before we leave the marina at the weekend.

Getting sim cards has proven to be far more challenging. After attempting to sign up to the various options, including ones that we discovered were subsequently no longer available, although advertised in the pamphlets and literature we received, or not obtaining approval based on the "promo code" we entered because we had purchased the card in a store and not ordered it online, the latter of which would subsequently be mailed to us, although we have absolutely no idea how this would even be possible without an online service to order a card to begin with, then holding on for hours on a phone line trying to reach their support centre, before giving up and trying the online Instant Messaging support option. At this point there was some progress after providing passport details, birth date and emailing a form of identification to them. But, alas, we still do not have a service. We're still awaiting approval from yet another department we had to correspond with.

Making a car hire reservation was the last straw after receiving instructions on how to collect the car - "DRIVE along the Gold Coast highway and turn left onto Beach Road". Say, no more! We needed a stiff drink by this stage, so we returned to the Southport Yacht Club for exactly that. By the time we got back to Paw Paw, it was dark, we were exhausted and couldn't be bothered to cook dinner, so we settled on going straight to bed after a cup of tea and a slice of freshly baked cobb loaf.

Through this entire frustrating day we did, however, find the time for freshly baked jam doughnuts and more coffee to keep a cheerie disposition and Elaine decided that a reflexology session was exactly what she needed. This is something she has never tried before, but it was definitely heaven on earth for her tired feet and body.

Returning to a degree of landlubber life for an extended period of time is definitely proving to be more challenging than we first thought, especially the background noise levels everywhere we go, but hopefully our frame of mind today was somewhat affected by our fatigue and all will be well in our world again once we've completed all these initial tasks. We are, however, thoroughly enjoying everything else Australia has to offer. The convenient and modern transportation system, the fabulous malls and supermarkets, the beautiful beaches, the cleanliness, the well-maintained gardens and parks, the extremely helpful marina staff with all the services we need at our doorstep and, mostly, the friendliness of the people. A good dose of patience and tolerance should help us deal with the bureaucracy, but of this we were warned!