Eden Wharf was alive with action and interest on Thursday with visits from both The World and tall ship, Tenacious.
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The World is a private residential ship, home to only 165 residences for which owners pay anything from a couple of hundred thousand dollars through to a couple of million dollars. That is without annual charges, believed to be well over $150,000.
Launched in 2002, the 644 foot ship continuously circumnavigates the globe and was in Sydney for New Year’s Eve before sailing to Eden.
Natalie Goward of Cruise Eden went aboard The World to offer a number of individual and one on one tours and experiences. In the sky a helicopter was offering tours and had set up just opposite the entrance to the Eden Wharf.
There were plenty of locals and tourists who decided to take a look at The World as it was moored at Eden and also watched curiously as a few people made the journey by tender to Eden. In order to accommodate the residents, staff ensured bikes were carried across to the wharf first to allow an unfettered view of the local area for those who chose to travel that way although climbing the hill from the wharf into Eden can be a challenge for the best of cyclists!
After a while though interest soon switched to the slow and stately arrival of tall ship Tenacious.
Tenacious is the world’s largest operative wooden hulled tall ship, weighing in at 586 gross tonnes.
The tall ship was designed and built by the Jubilee Sailing Trust specifically to be fully accessible for persons with disabilities and was launched September 2000 from Southampton, England.
Tenacious includes special design features not seen on other ships including: wheelchair lifts, a speaking compass and a joystick to enable people with limited dexterity to helm the ship.
Sailed across the globe by a crew of 50 (including 12 professional crew members and experienced volunteers), the trainee crew are generally of mixed physical abilities, including those in wheelchairs.
Tenacious set sail from the UK in November 2015 on an eight-month adventure to Australia where she is embarking on once-in-a-lifetime voyages around the south-eastern coast between Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and crossing the Bass Strait to Hobart.
Captain Barbara Campbell said that after being forced into Eden in 2012 due to weather concerns she was keen to return and see it again.
On board, ex-human rights Commissioner, Graeme Innes, who is blind, explained how the talking compass allowed him to steer the ship while Kylie Forth, an amputee and blind, showed how the moveable seat at the helm allowed her to take turns at steering the ship too. As a world champion sailor, Kylie’s credentials taking the helm were never in dispute though.
