Year 13 student, Amy Wiltshire was given the opportunity to attend Spirit of Adventure; spending 10 days at sea building courage, reaching potential and making lifelong friends. Read on to find out more about her experience and time spent there.

First of all, I want to say thank you to the QMC Old Girls’ Association for giving me the opportunity to go on the Spirit of Adventure. I was meant to go in April, however as my original trip coincided with the first week of Level 4 lockdown, plans had to change. Luckily, all trips were postponed rather than cancelled. It was an amazing trip where I got to try so many new things and met some amazing friends.

During my time, I travelled around Waiheke Island, Great Barrier Island, the Coromandel, and so many other beautiful islands. Every morning we would wake up and jump off the side of the boat for a refreshing morning swim (the water was always warmer than it looked). During the day, we would set the sails and cruise for about half the day. Learning how to sail was challenging, but a very rewarding experience. During the times we were sailing we would play a few games on the ship, do activities, or just sunbathe in the warm weather. When we weren’t sailing, we would explore the many islands we were next to, whether it was beach games, having dinner on shore, going for a walk, or cleaning up a beach, every experience was so fun and it always ended in a swim.

Some of the best parts of the trip came when we jumped of the boat in the hot afternoon sun into what the crew dubbed the “pool” and had a ‘pool party’. During some of the many ‘pool parties’ I got to do some awesome things such as jumping of the bowsprit (the long pointy thing at the front of the boat) and using the yard swing (a swing attached to one of the sails). I even learned how to backflip!!!

Going on the Spirit of Adventure really tested my comfort zone. I tackled my fear of heights when I climbed to the top of the 35m mast, and really pushed my social limit by staying in a tiny little room with 19 other girls where the bunks were stacked three high (it was actually really fun and luckily, I didn’t have a top bunk). I think the key to succeeding on Spirit was to just give everything a try, as you only got back what you put in.

Honestly it is so hard to really express how amazing my time was on spirit and it would be impossible to write down every amazing moment, because if I did, we’d be here for 10 days. Although in saying that, I really want to touch on the best thing that actually happened on Spirit - the people. Especially my Watch Starboard A or ‘Starry A’, I made so many new friends who really made the trip. It was all the jokes and the wholesome moments that really made my time so special on the Spirit of Adventure.

Again, I really want to thank the Old Girls’ Association for giving me the opportunity to go on the Spirit of Adventure because it was an experience that I’ll never forget.