Bookings slow for voyage to Aust.

Press, 5 March 1987, Page 13

Bookings slow for voyage to Aust.

NZPA-AAP London Modern-day adventurers are showing almost as much reluctance as convicts did 200 years ago to join the First Fleet reenactment voyage to Australia in April.

To date, only 350 people have signed up for the 1400 full berths available in 11 tall ships which will sail from London on April 24. In return for their rough passage — or, as it is promoted, “the most fantastic expedition of our times” — passengers must pay £13,954 ($38,496), although short “legs” can be purchased for £2OOO. Only 56 berths have been bought by the British, most of the rest allocated to Australians and Americans. In Britain, the full fare has been cut in two stages from £23,000 down to £18,238 and finally down

to £13,954 to attract the adventurous but poor. However, Doreen Hamilton, whose company, Rosamunde Bern Associates, is helping a Twickenham-based tour company Twickers World promote the voyage, said she expected a rush of applications for berths closer to the sailing date. “We are looking at a pretty specialised market — the adventurous who can afford the fare, rather than the Spanish package tourist,” she said. The 11 tall ships will first sail for Portsmouth, where the Queen and Prince Philip are expected to wave farewell to the intrepid passengers as they embark on the arduous eight-month voyage. Robin Terry, aged 47, an interior designer, of Ealing, London, has paid £7OOO for two legs — from London to Teneriffe

and from Cape Town to Mauritius.

“I’ve always fancied the idea of crossing the seas in a square-rigger and I’d kick myself if I missed out on this,” he said. An American photojournalism student, Helena Cora, aged 20, said it had “always been my dream to sail round the world,” and that she hoped to produce a book about the rare experience.

The First Fleet reenactment is separate but complementary to the voyage of the New Endeavour — Britain’s gift to Australia for the bicentenary — which will loosely trace Captain Cook’s voyage of discovery.

The New Endeavour, with 24 young Australians and Britons as crew, will sail from Portsmouth in August.