Ordering Food

Details about ordering food and having it delivered by barge.

How to get food to Lizard Island

Food is ordered in Cairns and delivered to Lizard Island by barge every two weeks. You can bring small quantities with you as baggage from Cairns but you must stay within the baggage limit of 32 kg per person, which includes cabin baggage.

The following instructions apply only to people who are staying at Lizard Island Research Station. Because the barge is chartered by the Lizard Island Resort, other island visitors need permission from the Resort to send anything on the barge. 

Barge freight

Ordering hints

Space for refrigerator and freezer storage is limited and your ordering should take this into account.

  • Order only enough food to last for the period from your arrival to the day the next barge arrives. You should aim to have an almost-empty fridge and freezer by the time barge day comes around.
  • Limit bulky items that need refrigeration.
  • Think about how much bread you really need - almost everyone orders too much.

Timing of orders

The barge normally loads in Cairns every second Tuesday, arriving at Lizard Island two days later. The schedule is shown below. Dates marked with an asterisk (*) are known to differ from the normal schedule. Dates marked with double asterisks (**) are likely to vary due to public holidays but alternative arrangements are not known yet. 

Send orders to the suppliers within the period listed in the schedule below. Note that the latest time for sending orders is 10 pm on the Thursday before the barge loads. Coles Online does not open for orders until two weeks before the delivery date. 

Some visitors will need to send orders for two barges before they arrive at the Research Station.

Barge schedule

Orders to suppliers before 10 pm on But not before Deliver to Sea Swift before 3 pm on
 		 Barge arrives at Lizard Island
20 February* 11 February* 25 February* 27 February*
7 March 26 February 12 March 14 March
21 March 12 March 26 March 28 March
4 April 26 March 9 April 11 April
18 April ** 9 April ** 23 April ** 25 April **
2 May 23 April 7 May 9 May
16 May 7 May 21 May 23 May
30 May 21 May 4 June 6 June
13 June 4 June 18 June 20 June
27 June 18 June 2 July 4 July
11 July 2 July 16 July 18 July
25 July 16 July 30 July 1 August
8 August 30 July 13 August 15 August
22 August 13 August 27 August 29 August
5 September 27 August 10 September 12 September
19 September 10 September 24 September 26 September
3 October 24 September 8 October 10 October
17 October 8 October 22 October 24 October
31 October 22 October 5 November 7 November
14 November 5 November 19 November 21 November
28 November 19 November 3 December 5 December
12 December 3 December 17 December 19 December

Arrangements for the first barge of 2014 will not be known until mid December 2013. People arriving in early January 2014 are advised to send essential equipment on a December barge to avoid inevitable difficulties with freight over the holiday season.

Supplier options

  • Groceries, including fresh fruit and vegetables - order directly through Coles Online.
  • Alcoholic drinks - order from First Choice Liquor through a consolidated order prepared at LIRS.
  • Any type of supplies - order directly through the specialist shopping service, Cairns Link.  
  • Details on how to order are provided below.

Coles Online

Food must be ordered through Coles Online www.colesonline.com.au. There is a $20 fee for the service irrespective of the order value. Alcoholic drinks cannot be ordered online in Queensland by law. Reference to such supply on the site applies only to other states.

There are two ways to use this site.

1) Create your own account with Coles Online

This is probably the best option for people who will be working at LIRS for many months or making numerous trips over a period of years. This is because your account will contain your own master list of everything you've ever ordered which makes shopping much easier in future. Also, the other option can suffer from congestion at crucial times. The first order will take you quite a long time to prepare because you have to select from thousands of items. Don't underestimate this - you should start ordering way before the cutoff time for delivery. You will have to pay online by credit card if you create your own account. 

a) Go to www.colesonline.com.au and click the 'Shop Online' button. 

b) In the 'New Customers' section, enter the postcode 4875 then choose 'Lizard Island' from the list. (Note: 4875 is not the real postcode for Lizard Island. Lizard Island doesn't have its own postcode - the one in our address refers to a mail centre in Cairns. Coles has chosen to use 4875 to indicate all islands in far north Queensland that don't have postcodes. It is important not to use our real postcode because that indicates a Cairns address and it will result in your food not being packed properly for barge transport.)

c) When setting up a User Name, please use your real name - or something that we will have a sporting chance of deciphering as your real name. Your boxes will come labelled with your user name only and we need to know who owns them. 

d) Register your new account before shopping. In the Delivery Address box, put: "Lizard Island Research Station, c/- Sea Swift, 52-54 Tingira Street, Portsmith Qld"

e) Before you check out, select the correct delivery date - it must be a Tuesday, check the schedule above.

f) Keep note of your order number. You will be emailed a copy of your order by Coles as soon as you have checked out.

2) Use one of the LIRS accounts with Coles Online

This is probably the best option for people who visit LIRS infrequently. It allows you to make your first order more quickly than if you set up your own account. Instead of sorting through many thousands of items, you can choose from a master list containing items that have been ordered by other LIRS visitors and other short lists that might be useful. With this option, you have the choice of paying with your credit card or charging to the LIRS account with Coles.

LIRS has three visitor accounts. If more than three groups want to use a LIRS account for any barge, the same account will be used by two or more groups. Only one person can shop at a time in each account and there can be problems with access close to the cut-off time. Also, drop-outs occur if someone is shopping and another person tries to log in.

a) Email LIRS about two weeks before the relevant barge loads in Cairns and request a user name and password for that period.

b) Go to www.colesonline.com.au and log in with the details provided by LIRS.

c) On the Welcome page, look at the window on the right for the 'Shopping trolley'. If there is ANYTHING in the shopping trolley, it means that someone else is using the account. In that case, you should log out immediately and don't try to log in again for an hour or so. The other person will lose their connection to the site but s/he should log in again, finish shopping and check out as soon as possible. 

d) If the shopping trolley is empty, go to the tab 'My Orders and Lists'.

e) On the default page 'My Lists', you can open each of the lists prepared by LIRS in turn and select items to add to your shopping trolley. This is probably not the best option, though.

f) A better way is to go to the page 'Previous orders'. This shows recent orders made by other people and a Master List showing all items ever ordered by previous users of the account. The Master List is probably the easiest way to shop - open it and select items from it.

g) Whichever list you are shopping from, adjust quantities in your shopping trolley, not in the list.

h) To find items that are not in the lists, you can 'Browse Aisles' or 'Express Shop'.

i) When you have finished shopping, go to the Checkout. DO NOT just leave items in the trolley and log out. If you do, other LIRS visitors won't be able to do their shopping (unless they empty your trolley which would be very inconvenient for you). After checking out, you can change your order later if necessary up to the Friday before delivery.

j) Select the relevant delivery date - it must be a Tuesday, check the schedule above. Then you can choose to pay by credit card or to charge your order to the LIRS customer account. If you select the LIRS account, you agree to the conditions outlined below.

k) IMPORTANT - In the 'Instructions' box on the checkout page, enter 'Please label boxes <your name>'.

l) Keep note of your order number for later reference. After checkout, Coles will email a copy of your order to LIRS and we will forward that email to you.

m) In these shared accounts, your orders will be accessible to other LIRS visitors and vice versa. The account details will also be visible to you and could be changed by you. Everyone's trust and good will is necessary to make the shared accounts work. By changing the password every two weeks and issuing it to individuals only on request, we know who is using which account each fortnight. Please do not open or change anyone else's orders and do not change the account details. If there are any problems with security of the accounts, they will be closed and everyone will have to set up their own. 

Coles Online helpline is available on 1800 455 400, 6 am to 10.30 pm Monday to Friday, 7 am to 6.30 pm Saturday and 10 am to 8 pm Sunday.

Cairns Link

Cairns Link is a small business that will do any shopping you require in Cairns. Cairns Link charges a service fee of $50 or 15% of the order value, whichever is greater. You can pay Cairns Link directly by credit card, or charge your order to the LIRS account and reimburse LIRS later. Please email LIRS in advance if you want to use the account.

Cairns Link
PO Box 215H
Edge Hill, Qld. 4870
Phone: (07) 4053-7792
Fax : (07) 4053-7792

First Choice Liquor

Wine, beer and spirits are ordered from this supplier in Cairns. They require the Research Station to send a single consolidated order for each barge.

You MUST provide credit card authorisation for liquor orders, including the expiry date. LIRS will provide these details to FCL. FCL charges a fee for delivery to the barge yard.

Email your liquor order with credit card details to LIRS by 5 pm on the Friday before the barge loads.

FCL does not provide a catalogue but specials are advertised every week (see below). If you don't want to order from the weekly specials, you can order brands if you know them (e.g. 1 case Coopers Pale Ale, 2 bottles Oyster Bay sauvignon blanc) or generically (e.g. 1 case light beer, 2 bottles NZ sauvignon blanc up to $12 each).

Weekly specials are posted at http://www.1stchoice.com.au/html/whatshot/default_states.asp?state=qld -choose the Regional Queensland flyer. Specials are posted late on Thursdays and LIRS must send the consolidated order early on the Saturday before the barge loads so the time available to view the specials is very short. The dates to which the special prices apply are shown in small print at the bottom of the pdf. To order specials, you need to view the flyer the relevant Thursday evening or Friday and send the order to LIRS by 5 pm on the Friday. 

Payment

When you pay for your supplies by credit card directly to the supplier, you will be charged the amount shown on the final docket. This may not be exactly the same price as shown online when you checked out because actual prices for some things (such as food sold by weight) can only be determined after your order has been shopped.

If you charge your orders to the Station's accounts with Coles Online or with Cairns Link, payment must be made at the Station before you leave or at monthly intervals for long-term visitors. If you repay the Station for your food by cash, cheque or by EFT, the amount owing is exactly as charged by Coles and Cairns Link. However, if you pay the Station by credit card, you will be charged an additional 2.5% to cover credit card merchant fees. Using the LIRS accounts carries an obligation to pay the Station promptly for expenses incurred on your behalf, regardless of any disputes you may have with the suppliers.

Liquor must be paid by credit card directly to the supplier. Show type of credit card, name on card, card number and expiry date on the order that you send to the Research Station. Don't forget to include the expiry date as the charge cannot be authorised without it.


Dr Anne Hoggett , Director, Lizard Island Research Station
Last Updated: