A BUSY DAY

Hi Everyone,Welcome to day 28 of our voyage. It was not a day of rest for our World Voyagers today with fridges, pantry, flour store, engine room and bilges to be cleaned plus a de-rust scrub done of the upper deck and bright work polished so it has been a busy day and the ship is starting to look pretty good with a little more work still required tomorrow to have us looking good for our arrival in Fremantle.Besides all this work everyone has taken advantage of the warmer weather with shorts a t-shirts making an appearance and thermals starting to be packed away. These conditions have also given those that wished the opportunity to sit out on the bowsprit (some getting a little wet) and others the chance to achieve that final goal of climbing to the top of both masts.The wind gods have been against us for most of the day with moderate headwinds which has slowed our boat speed considerably. That said, just before I started to write this log the wind veered to the ESE which enabled us to set fore and aft sail and thankfully we are now back achieving good speeds again, because to be honest I would hate to be late for our welcome home reception.Currently we are located 240nm WSW of Fremantle motor sailing in light to moderate ESE winds which are expected to veer to the south overnight.Kindly volunteering to write the second last Captains Log for this voyage is Jamie and Alice, please enjoy!Until tomorrow, take careYours AyeCaptain GavCAPTAIN’S LOG – 20 DEC 15Ahoy!Hello from 250 nautical miles off the Australian coast! Given it’s now the 20th we only have three days left of our voyage, which is leaving everyone with very mixed feelings. There’s the excitement of seeing our loved ones, having proper showers and properly washed clothes, as well and the fact it’s so close to Christmas! However these feelings are tempered by disappointment that we’re all going to have to return to the real world and say goodbye to this magnificent ship.Unfortunately the winds are currently against us meaning we have to motor sail as the priority is getting to Fremantle on time. Apart from this, however, the weather has improved remarkably – shorts and t-shirts are now more common than five layers of thermals underneath wet weather gear. It makes a really lovely and a very welcome change. Today gave us lots of lovely sunshine, with the occasional moments of rain – just to keep us on our toes! As a result, bowsprit riding is now very popular, though it’s not without its dangers, especially when Capt Gav is on the helm. There seem to be a remarkable number of people who’ve got soaked! It’s a testament to how much fun it is that people keep going out there anyway.We’re all now really getting into preparations for arriving back in Australia, which today meant lots and lots of cleaning, and even more polishing, with more to come tomorrow. As it turns out happy hour isn’t the only happy time of the day with each watch splitting up to conquer a different part of the ship, for the Reddies this meant cleaning the engine room and the bilges.Aside from all the cleaning people continue to achieve the goals they set themselves at the start or part way through this voyage. In the last 24hrs both Jamie and Alice V made it to the top of the main mast, which is a really huge achievement for them. Today we also had our final round of Rope Races (better known as ‘ropies’), which went very well until the bonus round when the egg and spoon race got somewhat out of control and had to be called off mid-race. We also had our final Shithouse Production which somehow ended up with Taylor hanging from the roof of the bridge, pretending to be a cannon and spitting out muesli at people as Adam held a sparkler to her head and Gav shouted ‘Bang!. It was a sight to behold.Jamie has come to the conclusion that a voyage can not be complete without having multiple substances spilt/thrown on you. This includes the vomit shower you may have heard about earlier in the voyage, numerous foods in the galley and more recently BBQ sauce. At lunch time today Claudia was trying to get back at Matt C. and used BBQ sauce as her weapon. Unfortunately Jamie was sitting in the firing line and got hit by it. Beanie, hair and shirt, at least she had time for a shower!Today Jenko and his master chefs, Matt C, Tammy and Josh (an enthusiastic bunch for sure!) cooked up a storm as per usual – despite the limited amount of fresh produce! Jenko, we really don’t know how you do it, you must have some super powers! Either way the youthies and staffies are very grateful to still be enjoying every meal.That’s it for tonight (finishing just in time to see a glorious sunset!).With inspiration from Capt. Gav, here’s a quote;Smile because it happened not because it’s over.Jamie and Alice.SHOUTOUTSHey Neeks, just want to know how it feels to lose at chess all the time because Desmond has been beating us so much and we need some coping strategies. Yours in stratagem, World Voyagers.Merry Christmas to everyone. Dr Nick.Hello my love and our future mini human James…..nearly there. See you soon. Brett.