NOT many people can say they can be turned into a different person in just nine days – but that’s what grandmother Glenesse Dyson found when she challenged herself on a voyage on STS Leeuwin.
Glenesse returned from the voyage from Fremantle to Monkey Mia with a new lease on life. “I have less fears,” she said. “This was a major life change. I am a different person to what I was before I left. There’s more to me, and this voyage revealed that.”
The Leeuwin is a working ship where all participants are expected to join night watches, take the helm and belay the ropes, among other tasks.
The first day on board Glenesse climbed the 33-metre mainmast and never stopped pushing her limits.
“Everybody encouraged everybody,” she said. “I never expected the challenge of climbing a sail on the very first day. The Leeuwin cured my fear of heights... I under- estimated the strength in my legs and arms.”
In October, Leeuwin will join the 400-year anniversary festivities of the first Dutch contact with what is now Western Australia at Dirk Hartog Island and Glenesse plans to be on board.
Anyone over 18 can apply to be part of the voyage from Fremantle to SharkBay from October 14-24.
“I want any excuse to get back on ship, throw away technology, climb some sails, eat some great food, be rocked in the arms of grandmother ocean and meet a bunch of interesting people,” Glenesse said.
The Dirk Hartog commemorative voyage is an 11-day return package that includes an eight-day sail up the Coral Coast from Fremantle to Denham passing the Abrolohos Islands, on-board meals, the expertise of resident historian Michael Gregg, the opportunity to take part in the Shark Bay 1616 festival and the return to Fremantle by bus.
The voyage costs $3600.
