Day 10 – Penultimatum

Ahoy dear readers, tied up alongside Bulimba this evening as I write this, the penultimate log of our fantastic voyage from Gladstone and I must say, it has been a wonderful adventure. Ships staff have completed all post voyage administration, including voyage debrief and a safety team meeting, because we are uber professionals. And now the youth crew are all but in bed… I’m about to shift into pj’s myself and get some much needed (albeit unobtainable) beauty sleep, but let me just recap our day for you…
So, we weighed anchor this morning at 0800 from Moreton Island and conducted happy hour and final rope races on the way into the Brisbane River, which we entered at 1030. We berthed alongside HMAS Moreton at 1310 – Nice parking, Harri. And there, we welcomed back Liam and Dougie who had a lovely little side trip courtesy of a dislocated knee.
Our Youthies then departed ashore with their watch leaders for a final talk to debrief the voyage, and provide us with some feedback. They returned at 1530 and everyone (bar Liam) then proceeded to lay-aloft to harbour-furl the squares. We need to look fabulous for our final farewell tomorrow and fabulous we do look indeed (mental note – wash all the spew off the side of the ship in the morning). Once that was complete, Marcus knocked up some bellisimo pizzas and we had a bon appetito alfresho din din up on the decko. Grazie milo chefo (Yep – fluent).
To round out the evening we had a ships concert, with all watches and the staff, performing skits for our entertainment. Please don’t take yourself too seriously at home, kids 😉 Then a final recapping of the voyage in the form of a photographic slide show, and in song, as the youthies sang a lovely number celebrating the voyage, written by Jess and Percy. 5 stars.
Well, that’s that. This is the final night onboard YE for V11/19. 10 Days ago 27 youth crew from places various, came together to sail this vessel, have fun and challenge themselves. They have not only done that, but have faced and overcome fears and learnt a lot about themselves and each other. Tomorrow they will leave with new skills, improved persistence, resilience and adaptability, as well as generally knowing they are more capable than what they probably thought. And of course, having made great new friends – most probably, friends for life.
It never gets old for us staff members, as we truly love our work.