During the July school holidays, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to partake in the 10-day development voyage through the Spirit of Adventure. The Spirit of Adventure is a trust established over 40 years ago.

 It provides young people in New Zealand the opportunity to spend 5-10 days at sea exploring new places, gaining many skills, meeting new people and creating lifelong friendships. The ship itself is a steel-hulled, three-masted vessel and is 42.5 m in length, named The Spirit of New Zealand.

My voyage was voyage #845, departing from Opua in the Bay of Islands, heading south to Auckland city where we would return home 10 days later. On the 18th of July, 39 other young Kiwis (myself included) met for the first time, nervous and excited to see where the next 10 days would take us. Once settled on the ship with the other 53 people (crew and trainees included) we were given a brief explanation of what we were in for and then placed in our watch groups consisting of about 10 trainees. A general morning on the ship looked something like this:

• We would wake at 6.30am, get our togs on and jump off the side of the ship at sunrise before taking a warm, 10 second, fresh water shower on deck.

• We would then head to breakfast usually consisting of some hot food, toast, cereal, and the famous hot chocolate.

• At 8.00am everyone would gather for a morning brief which was called ‘colours’. Here we would find out what the day ahead looked like, what we were doing, weather reports, and any notices.

• Next we would get into our watch groups and go to our cleaning station for that day (which rotated every day).

After our morning work was done, we would head off for an adventure in or around the place we were. Some of our expeditions included climbing to the top of the mast, toasting marshmallows around a camp fire, sailing the luggers (small boats), visiting offshore islands and swimming with dolphins. One particular highlight was the day when we had stopped at Great Barrier Island. Everyone paddled ashore in the rafts, ready to explore the island. We walked up to Mt Healed Hut (15 km return) in the hot sun surrounded by clear blue sky. Once at the top, there was an incredible view of the ocean stretching out forever. After arriving back to the ship, everyone was very warm from all the walking, so we went for a lovely evening swim off the side of the ship. Here we also used the rope swing to swing out and into the cool water, lots of fun.

Over just 10 days I made so many amazing friends, forming meaningful connections with people all sharing the same adventures, which is an incredibly special experience. I had so many laughs and made countless phenomenal memories that I will never forget. I feel as though I have gained confidence, stronger leadership skills and resilience from each day aboard the ship, forcing me to step outside my comfort zone and grow as a person. I am incredibly grateful to have been given the opportunity for this experience and would definitely recommend it to anyone interested.

If you are interested in completing the Spirit of Adventure, the only criteria is that you are between the ages of 16 and 19. There is also no need for any previous sailing experience or knowledge. You can find more information about the all year round 10-day voyages at https://www.spiritofadventure.org.nz/voyages/10-day-development or feel free to get in touch with me if you want to know more.