The day started with waking at 4.30am (Tassie time) to do the final packing and getting ready to leave for my time with the RAN at sea. Breakfast and then I got ready for the Feast of Christ the King.

After the morning Mass at New Norfolk I headed off to Ellendale and found that, somehow via a miss communication I wasn't expected but they were happy to see me for Mass.

After chatting with the people there I headed off to Bothwell for a Baptism, stopping at Hamilton on the way to view the Historical Presentation of the Churches in the Derwent Valley and Central Highlands. Actually there were all the Catholic Churches in the Parish listed but the historical presentation was really good days.

There were two little ones being baptised so it was a bit noisy as they had cousins and friends wandering round as well so life was hectic for that time - and a bit noisy.

From there it was back to the Parish House to finish off the things that needed doing before I was collected to be taken to the airport for the trip here to Perth.

The trip over was really uneventful but was long - 4½ hours so I was tired when I got here. Thankfully there was a ship's driver waiting for me so I was able to load my gear into the car and we headed off to the Ship.

Arrived a short time ago and now I'm hitting the rack because, as you can see above, it has been a long, long day.

We chatted for a short time and then headed off to the wardroom for breakfast. I managed to meet a few people who were either on board last night or who were just coming aboard for duty today. It will probably take me most of the next two weeks to manage to get to know the people in the Wardroom let alone the rest of the crew.

Most of the day has been taken up with me getting hold of boots, overalls and anti-flash gear so that when we sailed this afternoon I was able to fit into the scene without looking too conspicuous. Although I must admit that wearing brand new overalls does make you look conspicuous no matter what else is happening.

Just before we sailed from FBW (Fleet Base West)at midday all of the Sea Training Group (from here on known as The Green Team) came on board to conduct the work up exercises that will prepare us for deployment - there are 40 of them and they look like they are going to keep us busy for the next 12 days.

Had a couple of exercises this afternoon to start the training and things went OK but there were a few hiccups so I'm sure that this will be happening in earnest tomorrow.

Now bed as it has been a hectic day and I'm a bit bushed after yesterday.

Breakfast was OK but between breakfast and lunch there were, it seemed, a hundred things going on at once and then we went to action messing - everyone on the line (through the main galley) for meals and a seat where you could find one.

Then there was a major exercise this afternoon that went for 4 hours and highlighted some of the areas where we need to improve some of our procedures - I'm sure we will hear more about that in the next day or so.

Tonight there have been a couple of other minor exercises involving different parts of the ships company but I'm heading for bed and hoping that nothing major hits tonight.

The rest of the day didn't change that much with people going everywhere trying to do their normal ships duty whilst being pushed to the limits (well, being asked to do things quickly) as The Green Team put us through different scenarios in preparing us for what is coming.

By the end of the day I was bushed so I'm about to hit the rack but expect that there will be a further exercise before the day was ended; read tomorrow's story to see what happens.

This morning the extra guy in our cabin, one of the people from DSTO on board to watch some of our exercises was up and about as the ship went through all sorts of normal patrol type exercises as part of our preparation.

Things didn't quite work out the way people had hoped so, in the end, their trip was a non event but it meant that there were fewer major exercises for us to be involved in today.

I have a feeling that it is not all over yet but I'm going to have another try at an early night and this time I'm not going to sleep in my overalls but make the most of it.

At 2330 there was a Toxic Hazard exercise and I must admit that I was a little lazy and didn't get out of bed.

A while later there was a Man Overboard exercise and again I stayed in bed but after that person was recovered the XO piped that a second splash had been heard and the ship went to action stations so that everyone could be accounted for. That didn't work out quite as it should have so we went to leaving ship stations so by the time we got back to bed it was well after 0230 so people are a little tired today.

Slept late - woke at 0630 - and the day started with a few boat maneuvers which seemed to go off all right and then we had another major exercise and lost the XO to a heart attack in the first few minutes as well as a whole range of other key personnel so it became a little bit interesting. I joined the SMETS (the Ships Medical Emergency Team) and helped out.

The rest of the day was busy with plenty of activity including another experience of action messing to keep people on their toes.

Heading for bed and hoping for a good sleep.

Heading for an early night and the hope that I might be able to have a better sleep as most of the Green Team have left the ship because of the work that we are doing for the deployment tomorrow.

Most of the Officers not involved in the resupplying were doing paperwork that has been growing day by day as they have been involved in the various activities during this past week.

I headed for the Galley to help the cooks because I knew that they would be short handed with everything else that was going on and managed to do all the carrots and cauliflower for I don't know when as well as helping to put the toppings on 25 large tray pizzas.

Then when it came time for lunch I helped with the dishing up of the food and saw most of the crew in 20 minutes as they came through for their lunches - the pizzas were especially fast food as they went quicker than anyone could blink and eye.

After lunch I did some work in my cabin and took a bit of a break before celebrating Mass at 1700. I used the Liturgy of the Word for the Divine Service for the crew and then invited any who wanted to stay for Mass to do so - half left and the others stayed and so we celebrate Mass in a small space just near the boat deck.

The rest of tonight has been reasonably quiet so I'm hoping that it might be another early night.

The Green Team are back on board and the exercises have been going on all day so people are tired tonight.

One or two of the responses have not been as good as they could have been so I expect that there will be some more challenging things tomorrow and Wednesday before we head into our assessment period on Thursday and Friday.

Anyway, I'm going to bed in my overalls again because I expect that we'll be up before 0630 tomorrow.

Then this morning there was a man overboard exercise which we did fairly well although there was one little hiccup with the Stokes Litter but there has been some talk about what we might be able to do about that.

Then even before we could go to breakfast there was another exercise called which went for the next three hours so by the time people got to eat it had become brunch and it is expected that we will have 'afternoon tea' which will be a bit different in the context of the week.

Well the day has ended and I'm ready for bed and I'm really bushed and the hard part hasn't even started. I had a nap during the late afternoon and very nearly missed the evening meal but I needed it.

As I hit the rack I have a feeling though that all is not over and expect after last night that there will be some things that happen during the dark hours which will keep us on our toes.