Adelaide

1 September 2013

After a beautiful arrival in the outer harbour of Adelaide, with the ‘One and All’, helicopters, lots of small boats and a few dolphins welcomed us to Port Adelaide. On the quayside there were a lot of people to welcome us. It was a warm welcome. We stayed in Adelaide a few days because there was a special event organized for our visit.
It started for us with a big breakfast for 120 people! It was hard work, but thanks to all the compliments it was a lot of fun to do. And luckily there was some left, so we could also enjoy Wouter’s interpretation of a ‘Full English/Dutch Breakfast’.
After this it was time for a big cleaning, maintenance, a welcome reception, crew party, captains’ dinner and more to make us feel welcome. We offer a special plaque from the city of Rotterdam to the mayor of Adelaide. The next day a special delegation came on board to offer a present for the mayor of Rotterdam: a plaque from Adelaide (but don’t tell mayor Aboutaleb this, otherwise it will ruin the surprise).
Yesterday it was the last day and we held an open ship and this was a big success! Literally thousands of people came to see us. There were long queues to enter the ships, but no one was bothered by it as it was a beautiful day with 23 degrees and a nice breeze. A few were so enthusiastic that they even decided then and there to spontaneously book a place on board for the trip to Melbourne and they have arrived this morning to embark!
Meanwhile we already said goodbye and it was even busier than when we arrived. When we departed and set the first few sails and we passed the bridge to get to Gulf St Vincent, we were surrounded by ships in all shapes and sizes. As soon as we could we set almost all the sails and left Adelaide behind us. And also now were accompanied by a group of dolphins.