Family Sea Patrol Adventure
22 July 2010 By By SBLT John Gray
On 14 July the ship’s company of HMAS Toowoomba (CMDR Ivan Ingham) welcomed a local WA family onboard for a Sea Patrol adventure prize-day.
Making the winning bid at a fund raising auction for The Senses Foundation Charity, the Kiggin family won the chance to spend a whole day onboard HMAS Toowoomba alongside Fleet Base West.
The Senses Foundation, a not-for-profit charity, provides disability support services to the deaf and blind throughout Western Australia.
The Kiggin’s day started with parents, David and Carmen, and their children, Sophie, Charlie and Ava, being greeted at the gangway by the ship’s Executive Officer, LCDR Simon Howard.
After a short safety brief, the group moved up to the Captain’s cabin for morning tea with CMDR Ivan Ingham.
Afterwards, their tour guides LEUT Fiona Sullivan and SBLT John Gray took their excited guests down to the Galley for a masterchef lesson from LSCK ‘Johnno’ Davey.
After baking lamingtons, the group moved up to the flight deck to work up their appetite with some pre-lunch seamanship and damage control instruction.
ABBM Ashley Cowling and ABET Bungy Williams provided the Kiggin family with interesting and informative brief on RAN survival and damage control equipment, before the family got the chance to try on some of the gear for themselves.
The family were then entertained by a race between AB Cowling and AB Williams to determine who was the fastest in donning full fire-fighting rig.
After a top-table lunch in the Wardroom, the Kiggins were taken on ‘rounds’ of the Engine and Machinery spaces by LSMT ‘Beck’ Caceres.
David Kiggin was fascinated to learn about Toowoomba’s performance statistics and the kids were amazed to see an engine so much bigger than the one on their ‘tinny’.
With the scene set for the experience to come, the group moved up to the upper-deck for a RHIB demonstration in Cockburn Sound.
Afterwards, the children headed down to the armoury where they were entertained by a suitably rigged ‘pirate’ ABBM Cowling whilst POB Chapman recounted some sea-stories and his anti-piracy experiences from the time he spent in the Gulf of Aden last year.
As a final treat, the Kiggins enjoyed afternoon tea with a broad cross-section of the ship’s company.
Everyone agreed that the freshly baked lamingtons were masterchef standard.
After a long, eventful and highly memorable day, the Kiggin family departed Toowoomba weighed with souvenirs, exhausted but delighted.
On crossing the gangway David thanked his hosts telling them that his family had enjoyed a truly amazing experience.
“We had no idea just how much we would get to see and do onboard and how much we would all learn today.”
“It has been an absolute pleasure and a real privilege to meet your people who are so evidently proud of their ship and the work they do in the Royal Australian Navy.”
“Thank you all very much for looking after me and my family,” David Kiggin said.
