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~STS Leeuwin~
In January of 1998 I went on a twelve day voyage on the Sail
Training Ship Leeuwin. We left Fremantle docks at noon on the
2nd of January, heading for the amazing Abrohlos Islands. It was
the trip of a lifetime, and also the trip from hell. Five days
of sailing bliss, and seven days of spewing up over the side any
peice of food that actually made it into my mouth!
I'm second from the left on the bottom row! We were letting
out the sails, it's not so hard letting 'em out but hauling
them up using both hands and not being able to hold on AT ALL,
is scary (we had harnesses on though!).
Coming in to dock at the end of our trip we all got up there
and did the can-can on the two middle rows....
(they say too long out at sea can make you crazy!)
This was when we reached the islands. This
particular one was called East Wallabie Island where the marine
life is just fantastical!. I am standing in the middle with Flora
from Melbourne on the left and Xaviere from Belgium on the right.
It was just near there when we were snorkelling, experiencing all
the fish and cray's you can imagine, when Xaviere and I came face
to face with a huge red squid, scared the life outa me I can tell
you!!
The two sickest sailors of the lot. Xaviere and I
spend many hours horizontally, basting in the sun trying to
concentrate on not throwing up our lunch. I tried so hard for
three years to win a trip on the Leeuwin and after finally
succeeding, I wondered why the hell for? Actually, I think it was
on the third day when I was feeling like I was going to die that
I wondered that. You would never guess that I was a Naval Reserve
Cadet for five years, would you???
Now this picture actually has nothing to do with my
leeuwin trip, as it was taken more than a year later, but I still
thought it appropriate to put it here. I am patting a tame
stingray named Holley, (because she had an abnormal hole in her
head) who lives in Georde Bay, one of many at Rottnest Island.
This is looking out from being anchored near
Cottesloe Beach on our last night on the ship. All I can say
about this photo is just that Western Australian sunsets are
truly timeless and beautiful.
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