I was super excited to finally be on end of term holidays in April but knowing that I was going to embark on a whole new journey in the second week made this one extra special.

I’d heard so much about the Spirit of New Zealand in the past from family and friends and the experiences that they had from 6.30am swims to climbing the 30 metres mast which as a person with a fear of heights, did not sound very appealing. But I could not wait to make Voyage 758 up of my own experiences.

I went onto the ship trying to have the most positive attitude and remembered that a smile could go such a long way when meeting new people. Trainees were shaking hands, introducing themselves with the most common question of “what school do you go to?” who knew that in a few days that these people would become so much to me.

With such a variety of knowledge (mostly from the movie Moana) of the sea and sailing within the trainees, we sailed around the Hauraki Gulf, to Coromandel, Great Barrier Island and back to Auckland all in the short time of 10 days. These 10 days did not only consist of us sailing but also hiking, rafting to islands, learning about safety in the water and my favourite part – getting to know each other.

Words can’t explain how much I encourage other students to seek any opportunities like this because it was truly an experience like no other.