I dream of sailing on the Spirit of New Zealand, a tall ship built in 1986, when I'm older. Unfortunately, the youngest age they will accept into the youth development program to help run the tall ship for ten days is 15, so I have a few more years to wait. Nevertheless, when the Auckland Tall Ship Festival happened this weekend, my family and I drove to the harbour of the largest city in New Zealand, me with camera in hand.

The first we saw of the tall ships was a mast peeking out over Voyager, the maritime museum building. Quickly finding our way onto the harbour, we stood for a moment marvelling at the size of the Spirit of New Zealand. Even after over 25 years, she still stands tall and proud, her glossy paint looking like it had been finished yesterday. The phrase 'a picture is worth a thousand words' is so true sometimes, and this is the case now.

The Spirit of New Zealand in the harbour, visible behind a much smaller boat.

We were not the only ones who wanted to see more of this locally built ship- the queue seemed to stretch on and on as we took our place at the back. Luckily, it moved rather quickly and we were soon walking up the gangplank onto the Spirit of New Zealand.

The queue to board the Spirit of New Zealand. I love how this picture captures both the modern building on the right and the classical ship on the left. The contrast makes a lovely bouquet of time.

Once on the ship, I began to notice the smaller details, the accuracy that can't be seen when looked at as a whole.  I realised that there are so many different ways to take pictures of what a ship looks like, and I wanted to be creative in how I did it.

A coil of rope on the Spirit of New Zealand. I love how it's done perfectly, and I believe that whoever did it enjoyed making the coil as much as I loved taking a picture of it.

A boat cleat on the upper deck of the Spirit of New Zealand. As shown in the picture, a cleat is used to secure rope. I like also its contrasting colours , and how the rope crosses over itself..

It's interesting how the metal wire appears to go between the two white ropes in this single pulley, but if you look carefully you can see it actually goes behind the pulley.

I love how this chain goes into the darkness of a hole. You can spend so much time imagining where it might lead.

Looking up from the bottom of the back mast. I like how the sunlight seems to shine off the black paint of the mast, and lights up the rest of my picture.

I soon found one of the adult volunteers at the bow of the ship, an adventurous woman named Kathy. She told me that teenagers from their fifteenth birthday to their nineteenth birthday could join the crew for ten day programs, even if they have no experience with sailing beforehand.

Mum took a picture of me talking to Kathy at the bow of the Spirit of New Zealand.

Kathy made the adventure sound so exciting, and I can't wait till I can sail aboard the ship. She couldn't even deter me with her least favourite part, jumping in the water at 6:30 every morning to wash off, unless it's snowing. I forgot to ask her about these flags, so I researched it when I got home:

Flags have meanings, and these are no exception. The red and white flag at the top of the picture means the letter 'H', and the yellow flag with the black spot means the letter 'I'.

Well, hello to you too, Spirit of New Zealand. Or should I say goodbye for two years, until I'm old enough to sail on you?

Sarah Albom is a member of the Youth Travel Blogging Mentorship Program

All photos courtesy and copyright Sarah Albom