Wednesday 22nd June 2016
AM
A Sorong Day…
We got up very early and set off on the bouncy little narrow/long ferryboats into Sorong from Doom Island.
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| The list of rules for visiting Immigration - no bikinis, who knew?? |
First stop – Immigration. People here are obviously allowed to take
their kiddiewinks to work…
Eflin, our local agent, came and helped – invaluable! It would all have taken many hours more without her.
We left her struggling with bureaucracy (bureaucracy
was off praying until10.30; it is Ramadan…) and went to Saga supermartket.
I was SO happy because…cheese, butter, vegemite! Bliss!
And Pete was moderately happy because…beer…but he had
to bring in a cast of dozens to sort out his BeerDeal. It was all wrong, according to him, according
to the specials board… I just stood back
and took photos of the lovely sales staff struggling away with Pete…
In the end, all was well!
All of the sales staff highly amused by the
transaction…
We lugged all of our shopping back to the ferryboats,
onto a bike-trike, then we walked along the cliff path, into the dinghy, back
to 2XS and then – sprinted back into town for more activities.
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| 2XS anchored off Pulau Doom |
Lunch at Sunny Beach with Eflin, Greg, Helen. Then…Customs!
Pete was very cheery about this – last time he had had a lovely time with
young men falling over themselves to make it all easypeasy. It took about five minutes. This time…not so much! They have a brand new program, all on the
internet. We hadn’t brought our laptops,
surprisingly, so they found a laptop for Pete and…the program didn’t work. A whole lot of crestfallen young men stared
at the screen, and said, “But there is no other way. You HAVE to do it on the internet!” It was all very glamorous and new and shiny
in the Customs building. Hushed silence
in the corridors… But, in a back room, a few men were lustily and happily
singing, quite tunefully, to a karaoke machine!!
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| Furrowed brow... |
They said we also had to go to Quarantine – a new
treat. Many miles away, next to the
Swissbel Hotel;, where, coincidentally, Greg and Helen (Waisai-met friends from
WA) are staying. Our lovely John, who
looks after our dinghy on Doom, happened to be at the Sorong end of the
ferries, waiting with a car, to take us wherever we wanted to go! We got to Quarantine at 4pm…and they were all
still there but closing up because it is Ramadan and they have to go and pray.
At this very moment Pete is sitting at his laptop
trying to complete the forms on the Internet.
The Customs people already have photocopies of all of the info but…it
has to be done electronically and it is not really working. What will they do?? Will we have to stay at Doom, rocking gently
on the waves, struggling away with the new system???
John kindly organised a narrow ferryboat to take us
straight back to 2XS with the new lot of beer Pete bought. 50,000 rupiah - $5 for the trip!! We got to the boat in tossing heaving waves
and they managed to load the cartons onto 2XS but then the men wanted me to
leap, like a gazelle, from the wildly rocking longboat onto the wildly rocking
2XS. Ummm…I don’t think so!! The skipper skilfully took us into John’s
little bay where we clambered out and found our little dinghy, bobbing a bit
wildly.
The motor wouldn’t start…it was completely empty of
fuel. I can’t imagine how anyone drained
it – there are dozens of people around this little bay all the time. And a sad osprey with a rope around its
leg…(sigh.) What the motor does – so helpful
– is drain itself, slowly, drip by drip…
So Pete started rowing…NOT fun! The ospreyman noticed we were in trouble and
he loaded a tribe of small children into his strong wooden boat and towed us
back to safety on 2XS.
Exhausted after all of that!
Pete has given up on the internet activity for
Customs. We will have to trudge up the
hill and talk to Mr Hadiyat…again…And go back to Quarantine (maybe visit Greg
and Helen,) and then Harbour Master.
Life is interesting!
PM
All is well; nearly everything is done. We are anchored off the main harbour in
Sorong, waiting for fuel, organised by John.
It is all a bit complicated and I am too tired to elaborate/explain.
Quarantine only took an hour or so, and we were able
to have breakfast with Helen and Greg at their Swissbel Hotel (waffles and poached
eggs, no less!). Then back to Customs…waiting
waiting waiting…
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| Waiting waiting at Customs |
They were very nice about it all but it was very
painful.
 |
| Waiting waiting at Harbour master |
One more bureaucracy moment – Harbour Master! This only took about an hour, and we were
free to go back to Saga Supermarket, where we gave the lovely girls their photos
(thrilled to bits, dancing and waving their arms around, Pete reported to
me. I had left him to it and was off
getting just one more jar of vegemite.)
John was at the ferry area again and he organised
another long boat to take us out to 2XS again.
It wasn’t QUITE as rough but it was very very rolly…I managed to get of
one boat and onto the other, making faint but (unfortunately) audible whimpering
sounds as I did it. I don’t think Pete
is used to me being so sooky…
I am now cooking massaman curry and sitting at the
table, typing away, and awaiting orders from Pete – we will be moving back to
Doom any minute and I have duties to perform.
Tomorrow – off to Raja Ampat! I will actually miss getting into little
yellow Sorong bemos and saying, “Doom, please.”
It amuses me every single time!
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