It was the cheering you noticed first: the relentless cries of “Ben-ny, Ben-ny, Ben-ny” that rose up over the drone of helicopters overhead and were carried along the blue expanse of Sydney Harbour to where Pope Benedict XVI was standing. Initially he had been ushered to an ornate chair on the first-floor deck of the Sydney 2000 but barely moments had passed before he was on his feet again, waving to revellers who lined the foreshores in every direction. At times he appeared taken aback by the extraordinary reception. Shortly after embarking at 2.30pm, he beamed at a group of cardinals clustered on the deck below, raising his eyebrows as if to say, “Is this really all for me?”

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But the answer, if one was necessary, was delivered by ecstatic pilgrims on passing cruisers who rendered the 100m exclusion zone around the papal boat irrelevant with cheers that seemed to echo around the Harbour. On one vessel, a sign that read “The Pope of hope” was unfurled, while outside the Opera House, another said, “We love you, Pope Benedict”.

The mood on board was equally jubilant. In total, 530 people were given clearance to travel with the Pontiff, including 60 Australian cardinals and bishops, 10 indigenous representatives and 220 international pilgrims. On the ground, the assembled crowd of about 300 well-wishers gave an enormous cheer as a convoy of seven cars and a black van pulled up, with the Pontiff emerging slowly from the sedan at the front. He was met there by four Aboriginal performers and as their brief Welcome to Country ceremony got under way, a young girl presented him with a handful of gum leaves, which he carried in his hand as he was led on to the boat.

Australian Navy servicewoman Meryn Rayner was the first of the on-board pilgrims to greet him and came bearing gifts, including a statement of peace “put together last week by military pilgrims around the world” and a gold medallion from the joint taskforce working for World Youth Day. “I pointed out where the military pilgrims would be today down at Garden Island,” she said. “He said he was very grateful that we could explain so much about the harbour to him and that he hoped we were having a lovely day. “I found him very easy to talk to, surprisingly – it was very nerve-racking being there with him.” Resplendant in brightly-coloured Guatemalan national costume, Alejandra de La Roca was equally effusive about her audience with the Holy Father.

“I told the Pope, ‘Thank you for believing in the young people from Latin America – not just Guatemala, but Latin America – because our faith is really important to us,” she said. “You feel so much peace when you’re with him – it’s like the Holy Spirit is with him.” As the boat neared its destination, the sheer scale of the crowd seemed to magnify tenfold. As the cheers and shrieking intensified, the smile never left Pope Benedict’s face, while his bright blue eyes surveyed the ranks of the faithful gathered before him. After his appearance at Barangaroo, the Pontiff got into his bulletproof popemobile – bearing the number plate “SCV 1″ – which stands for Stato della Citta del Vaticano – Italian for the Vatican City State, for his motorcade through Sydney.