The environmental conservation organisation Darwin200 set sail on the three-masted Dutch tall ship Oosterschelde — built in 1918 — from Plymouth Harbour in the United Kingdom in August last year.
The aim was to re-create the famed evolutionary biologist’s experiments aboard HMS Beagle 200 years ago to measure change and create the next generation of conservationists.
A statement from the organisation said the vessel arrived in Hobart, Tasmania, at the start of this month and it was moored there, in front of the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, until December 13.
It said during its two-year circumnavigation of the globe it would train 200 young environmentalists.
"The aim is to inspire the next generation of environmental leaders with the message that there is still time to change the world and that conservation is about what we still have, not what we have lost," it said.
"It’s not your usual Christmas, but it’s one we’ll never forget."
The crew and guests spent three days in Bluff, "a quiet port with a rich history", before Christmas at sea on route to Lyttelton, they said.
The Ministry for Culture and Heritage website said during Darwin’s nine-day stay in New Zealand in 1835 the evolutionary biologist collected "insects, shells, fish, rocks and a gecko".
"His detailed observations were carefully recorded in his journal of the Beagle expedition, which was published to much acclaim in 1839."
