Big Wet Day Out.

Yesterday felt as though it went on forever... I mean it just kept on going on and on!  First the fencing guy came to the complex and fixed up a fence across from me; and it was very noisey.  And if that wasn't bad enough, a unit over my back fence was installing a large shed just to add to the noise!  It was amazingly loud around my place for that morning; and I would have done anything to get away.

Just when Dad came around and made sure the job was looking good, he offered me a chance to get out.  He asked me if I'd like to go and see the Endeavour - which is being moored on the Brisbane River between April and May this year - and I said I would.  So, within the hour, we were driving out to a ferry at Apollo Street and I had my Go Card with me.  Aunty Helen hadn't used her new one yet and I advised her on how to use it, get it registered and all the loopholes about it.

The trip up the river was lovely; if not a little cool.  However, it was just wonderful to see that little ship moored there at the dock... and it was amazing how tiny it really is!  I'm surprised at how this ship carried 97 people and that didn't include visitors and artists.  Also, you had to count animals too that would keep the crew fed; as well as a cat to keep the mouse and rat population down.  

Mum and I were talked into leaving our bags with the volunteers on land and they were placed in these large metal containers.  I didn't want to leave my bag with them; but they said I had to; that I had no choice.  It really bothered me as I wanted to take notes and be able to put my camera away (also I had extra batteries in that bag for when my old ones died... what was I supposed to do then?  Run off the ship and ask for the batteries and get back on board?).  I really wanted to carry my bag with me.  

Well, we walked around on board and it began to rain.  We took some very quick photos and took off down below decks (Why I brought a hat with me is beyond my understanding; I really didn't need one!) to look around.  It was quite cramped below decks; but being a person who doesn't like small spaces, I did quite well.  I got a lot of photos of all the things below decks with my little camera; and they worked out well.

This controls the anchors - very labour intensive.

We learned a lot about the crew and how they lived, what they ate, how they dealt with sickness, how Capt. James Cook treated his men (which was quite well compared to most Captains who ran ships) and what kinds of visitors stayed on board.  Also, the visitors were people who had a lot of money and worked in particular fields or needed to travel somewhere in particular and were willing to pay the expense of traveling with a crew such as this one to get where they had to go.  

Joseph Banks' desk on the Endeavour

Joseph Banks' quarters.

Joseph Banks was such a visitor who paid this kind of money and he worked hard when they visited particular places.  It was said that he had a Greyhound on board and he had his own desk with books and had his own area to work in at the stern of the ship; near Cook's cabin.  Banks' brought back samples of thousands of things from Australia and many other islands around the South Pacific and named many new species of plants (such as the Banksia).

Capt. James Cook's quarters. For such a tall man, he had a small place to sleep.

While below decks, we heard a thunderstorm pass overhead; and then it turned into a downpour.  It was lovely to hear all that rain on top... and almost none of it got in.  The ship moved just a little and was quite stable when it did move.  However, it took a bit for some people to get used to low doorways and I noticed that others forgot about how low the doors got and how steep the stair wells became.

Once we got topside again, it was pouring rain and we had to run down the deck, up some stairs, around the back of the ship, then down the next set of stairs to get off.  However, we stopped under the life boat to wait for anyone to get onto the ship.  Once the coast was clear, we ran up and off the gangway carefully and onto the pontoon.  I worried a few people by the way I ran, but was cool; I didn't mind it a bit.  

Once under cover - and with Dad and Aunty Helen - I suggested we get our bags.  But nobody wanted to.  I said that I wanted my bag; but Dad said no.  I was really pissed off that I couldn't get my bag from the storage container.  After all I was wet already; it's not as though I was going to get much more soaked.  So, I was talked into having lunch... something I didn't want to have until I had my bag with me.  It gets frustrating when nobody listens to me about what I'd like to do.  I wanted my goddamned bag and I was being treated like I child about it.

Well, while we ate lunch, we saw more rain pour from the skies over Brisbane.  It was amazing.  I had a de-caf latte and ate a vegetarian penne for lunch... very nice until I accidentally bumped some of coffee into my lunch!  How clumsy of me.  Then, I went out to get some more photos of the Endeavour and walked to the toilets when it stopped raining.  When I was returning, I found it was beginning to rain again and told Mum and Dad; and it was a signal for us to leave.  First though, we had to pick up our bags.  

Mum and I showed our ticket and the lady opened the container and pulled out our bags.  As soon as I touched mine, I found it was soaked right through!  I was angry that I had been talked into leaving it with these people - people who couldn't keep my belongings dry and safe - and yet I hadn't wanted to leave my stuff there in the first place, I had kept on saying no to them.  What is wrong with people when they can't take no for an answer?  Now, I'm a volunteer and if somebody doesn't want to leave their bags at the counter of the art gallery, we don't push them to.  But this woman told us that it was a must we leave our bags with them.  I didn't want to; and yet was talked into it.. and now I'm drying out my mobile phone - and other objects - from my bag (as well as having to hang my bag out on the clothes line to dry too) so it gets the air through it as well as the sun on it. 

My bag after we retrieved it from the storage container on 'dry' land.  Not so dry after all; so right through!

When I got home, I e-mailed the Maritime Museum of Australia and made a complaint about how it's being handled up here; and how my belongings got soaked!  Yes, the ship of the Endeavour was amazing to see; but how it has been organised here in Brisbane was dreadful.