A delegation from the Dunedin Indonesian community visited the French icebreaker L'Astrolabe at the Birch St wharf yesterday to welcome some of their countrymen to the city.
"We wanted to come along and say 'hello' and make them feel welcome in Dunedin," Rini Pancaningsih said.
"They were here during Ramadan [July 20 to August 18], so we know they would have been missing their families at home." Both groups seemed equally delighted to meet each other.
"It is very good to meet them and I know how they feel," University of Otago student Melvin Salahuddin said.
"I came to Dunedin in 2010 and didn't know anybody and it is nice to feel welcomed in a new community."
The three Indonesian crew members aboard L'Astrolabe gave the group a tour of the icebreaker.
"It is very nice of them to come. It makes me feel very happy that I can meet the Indonesian people here in Dunedin," crew member Lokot Siregar said.
"We spend a long time at sea and it is very nice of them to do this," Zainal Bin Abdul Kadir said.
L'Astrolabe is used for oceanographic research and to transport scientists, passengers and cargo to the Institut Polaire Francais Dumont d'Urville research station in the Antarctic.
The 66m ship has been at the Birch St wharf for the past two weeks, undergoing maintenance, repairs and resupplying.
L'Astrolabe is scheduled to leave Dunedin at the end of September and start its five-trip season between Hobart and the Antarctic from October.
