Trip report: Day 2, In Which Things Start To Get Interesting

The guides that hadn't been on the Endeavour before had to show up at 8.30 am on their first day for a look over the ship. So I left the hotel at 8.15 (cream coloured building in the middle of the photo)

I come up to the intersection,cross over to the river side and then walk down past



to



which is locked. During the times the ship was open the public, there was a guy sitting a shed thing nearby who was, one assumes, unlocking the electronic gate. 8.18 is outside this time and I'm not sure what to do. Another guide turns up and we decide to wait for a few minutes to see what happens. After 5 minutes, another guide turns up. There's a phone at the top of that display panel thing and he picks it up and asks them to open the gate for us. Aha.



Once the gate is open, you go up the overpass, along and then back down. Down would be easier if the steps weren't see through.

Then another walk along the wharf, to the ship.



That's HMAS Perth (Anzac class frigate) at the back, looking quite small from this angle.

Comparison:

	Perth	Endeavour
Launched	20 March 2004	9 December 1993
Displacement	3,600 tonnes	550 tonnes
Length	118 metres	33.3 m (end bowsprit to stern 43.7 m)
Beam	14.8 metres	8.89 metres
Ship's company	About 173	16 permanent, 40 voyage
Sails	None	27 (9 square, 8 f&a, 10 studding)

So we go aboard and then around looking lots for a while, until Caroline turns up. She's the volunteer herder. The order of the tour is the same as it is for visitors. From the gangway, you go down to the waist and around the companionway to the foredeck, then back down the companionway, facing the steps like a ladder. Stop at the fire hearth, then then mess deck (tables), then mess deck (hammocks.) Now you bend down and go through to the midi-mates mess. After looking at everything in here, you go out the other day, up a ladder and through another door into the gentlemen's mess. Keeping going through here into the great cabin. When you've looked around here, you go back out through the gentlemen's mess, up the companionway and back onto the deck. Head towards the stern, which takes you past the tiller and then back to the gangway.

Got it?

9.30 is morning meeting. Here the blue vests are issued every day (not the number and write your name next to it). The new guides are given a water bottle, with a blue strap, which seems a bit long, until I realise that if I put the bottle in my pocket, the neck strap is just the right length. We also have a choice of a hat (with a small brim around it) or a cap (standard visor out the front bit). I take a cap because I need one.

We also get the daily roster. There are various stations which are either traffic control (e.g. at the top of the companionway) or information spots. You spend half an hour in each one, either directing visitors or talking to them. The bell rings, you move to your next rostered spot. Usually, when the bell rings, you move on as soon as possible, but there are a few places where you have to wait for the person relieving you to turn up, and that's where it gets fun.

At 10 am, we go to our places. My first rostered place is at the fire hearth. Next post!