My Spirit of Adventure story starts on the 14th of December, halfway to Wellington airport, on a stormy day. I had just received a message that my flight to Tauranga was canceled, and I was placed on a flight later in the day. My mum and I decided we would go back home since my flight was now 6 hours later. We arrived at the airport, checked in, and walked a loop of the food court, when we heard over the loudspeakers that my next flight was canceled once again. At this point I was stressing out, because I was supposed to be at the dock in Tauranga at 2pm on the 14th. However the next flight I was transferred onto was at 9:30am on the 15th. We soon got in touch with the Spirit of Adventure managers and found out there were 2 others also stuck in Wellington, plus the captain was stuck in Nelson. In a last minute decision, my parents pulled the plug and said they were going to drive me to Tauranga. We got in touch with the two other Wellington students and they were keen to join us. We all headed back to Ōtaki for the night. After a bright and early start, we managed to arrive at Tauranga by midday. Once all three of us passed our rapid antigen tests, we boarded the boat and sat down for lunch.
We sailed from Tauranga to Auckland, stopping at places like Mercury bay and Great Barrier Island. Some of my many highlights include, meeting 52 complete strangers, learning to sail, having a good yarn with everyone, going on the rope swing, singing all the time!, and I even miss the 6 o’clock morning swims. Throughout my voyage I was challenged both physically and mentally. However I am so thankful for the opportunity of Going on the Spirit of Adventure and I wish I was back there now! Thank you to Ōtaki College and to Stuart and Mary Pritchard for providing me with the scholarship which made this possible.