In April 2016 I went on my very first cruise. I must admit I was very unsure about how I would go as I suffer from very bad sea sickness, to the point where I feel sick just walking along the sand as the tide is coming in. But it was a cruise that my good friend Jackie White from Being Divine organised and so I really really wanted to go.
The cruise was a Spiritual Transformational Journey of Self Discovery. Who could resist that type of cruise?
So off I went, with 7 other women to transform my spiritual self discovery, totally unsure of what I had got myself into, but willing to give it a go and see what happened.
Day 1
We set off from my house at 6.15am in a mini bus, went and collected the rest of the women who where leaving from Bendigo and headed to the Melbourne Airport. On the way to Melbourne in the Mini Bus, Jackie presented us with a bag of goodies, which was very exciting.
The bag contained – a cap, a Dr Seuss book, a Journal, a pen, a Crystal Pack, an Essential Oil Pack, a Mindfulness Colouring Book, a Chakra Healing Test (to monitor our progress throughout the journey), a puzzle & activity book, a Daily Timetable, Pencils and a little Angel.
Once our excitement from getting the pack abated, Jackie read us a story called ‘Oh, the places you’ll go!’ by Dr.Seuss. It was great to experience.
When we got to the Melbourne Airport, we ventured off to check our luggage and have some breakfast. Checking luggage and going through the security checks is something that I don’t really enjoy doing, in fact I find it quite tiring.
After we had something to eat we made our way to the departure lounge and boarded the plane. It was great to all sit together and the Stewards were amazing. They were very interested in what we were doing and where we were headed.
Arriving at Sydney Airport saw us connect with the 8th person of our group and head to the P&O Transfer lounge, where we boarded a bus to be transferred to the ship.
We had hoped to be boarding the ship at Darling Harbour, but it was not to be and we boarded from the White Bay Cruise Terminal. As this was my first overseas trip it was quite an experience going through customs and 
learning all that we had to do. It was great to have the support of Jackie to get us through it.
Around 4pm we headed through the harbour and out into the deep waters. If you would like to look at some photos of this you can go to my Pinterest Page and have a scroll through.
That evening after we settled in we had a little cocktail party for the 8 of us, just so we could connect and get to know each other further. At this stage I had started to feel sick.
We decided to go and look at the spa and book in our massages that Jackie had arranged for us all. When I got to the spa I really wasn’t in a good way and decided to have acupuncture to help with the sea sickness.
I had never had acupuncture before and so was a little bit worried, but knew that I had to try anything to stop from being sick. When the needles where in, I felt amazing and could have concurred the world.
After the acupuncture we went to tea and had a lovely meal. Jackie then handed around affirmation cards (which we did everyday) and she also distributed to us a challenge that we had to complete for the next day. It was interesting how we all reacted to this, fear, uncertainty, but also quite determined to achieve it.
Each day at dinner time we were given a new challenge for the next day, things like – sit on the deck an have a conversation with a passenger about their childhood – or – give compliments to three people you don’t know. They were all designed to push us outside of our comfort zones and grow a little bit more.
Day 2
The 2nd day wasn’t a good day for me, we all got up and did a dawn meditation, which was amazing. But then I spent the day vomiting. I had an injection for the sea sickness and then swallowed tablets all day. I slept most of the day and missed out on so many activities, but there was nothing I could do about that.
Day 3
Day three I was feeling much better, didn’t get out of bed until mid morning, s
o missed out on the morning activities, but had lunch out on the deck with the rest of the group and enjoyed the afternoon sun.
Around mid afternoon we attended a workshop that Jackie put on for us. She put on a daily workshop, but this was the first one that I could attend. Each day the ‘lesson’ was different, from affirmation writing, to learning about oils and crystals. They were great and informative and really helpful with our spiritual journey.
That evening we went to an Italian Restaurant called Angelo’s, it was great, the food was yummy and the staff were nice and cheerful and entertaining. The ship had 5 restaurants and a place they called The Pantry which had about 9 different places where you could get food from. Everything was included in your price except the top 2 restaurants where you had to pay a surcharge.
Day 4 – Noumea
This day was our first encounter with land since we set sale. As we were getting off there was a welcoming from the native people to Noumea, we then looked through their local market and just generally looked around.
Nouméa is the capital of the South Pacific archipelago and French territory New Caledonia. Located on the main island, Grand Terre, it’s known for its beaches and its blend of French and native Kanak influences. The Jean-Marie Tjibaou Cultural Centre showcases Kanak heritage, and the Musée de Nouvelle-Calédonie has exhibits from across the Pacific region. The Aquarium des Lagons introduces local marine life. – Thanks Google
Then
Jackie had organised a special surprise for us. We jumped in a bus and went up into the hills of Noumea to Cat Davies place – Ayurveda Rasayana. Where we learnt about Ayurveda eating and how to balance our body through eating correctly and being more healthy. We all learnt so much and took so many notes and we are all keen to start applying this method to our lives.
Ayurveda is an Indian health practice thought to be more than 5000 years old. It consists of a number of disciplines, including aromatherapy, diet, herbal medicine, acupuncture, yoga, massage, meditation and balancing of energies. The word “ayurveda” is translated from Sanskrit to mean “the science of life”. – Thanks Google
We finished the afternoon learning hand massage and then we did a meditation, before getting back on the bus and heading back to the boat.
That evening was at another restaurant with awesome food and company and discussions about what we had learnt and how we are going to apply it all.
If you would like to see pictures of our day on Noumea, you can go to my Pinterest Page and have a look
Day 5 – Lifou
Day 5 took us to Lifou. To get onto the island we had to go by tender. Tenders are basically the life boats. When we docked at Lifou we walked down the pier and into their local market. We looked around there before getting on a bus and doing the Malaysian Island Tour.
Lifou is a commune of France in the Loyalty Islands Province of New Caledonia in the Pacific Ocean. – Thanks Google.
The Malaysian Tour was great, we got to see the traditional hut that is used for ‘council’ meetings and smaller versions of these are also used for sleeping in. Most of the places don’t have a ‘house’ but they have several buildings, the sleeping quarters (like the tradtional hut), a kitchen, a toilet/bathroom/laundry.
After looking through that traditional hut and learning about more about what goes on, we then went to an area around the back where we were shown how to cook one of their traditional meals called the Bougna – Bougna is a traditional feast dish of the Kanak people of New Caledonia. The word “bougna” comes from the Drehu word “puhnya” meaning “bundle”, “pack”.
Bougna often contains taro, yam, sweet potato, banana, and pieces of either chicken, fish, crab, prawns or lobster. The contents are wrapped in banana leaves and are then buried to cook in a ground oven, which uses red-hot rocks heated by fire. After about two hours of cooking, the banana leaves are unearthed and unwrapped, and the contents are eaten.- thanks Google
We then got to see inside their local church. We just missed out on seeing a wedding being held in the church. I was a bit disappointed in this as I would have loved to have seen what they wore for a traditional wedding in Lifou.
We then headed back to the marked and the pier, where we were going to go swimming and snorkelling for the afternoon but it started to rain and by the time we got back it was pouring down. So we went back on the boat and did our workshop and meditation on the boat instead of doing it on the island.
If you would like to see pictures of our day on Lifou, you can go to my Pinterest Page and have a look
Day 6 – Mare
The 6th day saw us land at Mare. Once again we got off the boat via a tender and were greeted on shore by a local natives group performing for us.
Maré Island (French: Île Maré) is the second-largest of the Loyalty Islands, in the archipelago of New Caledonia, an overseas territory of France in the Pacific Ocean. The island is part of the commune (municipality) of Maré, in the Loyalty Islands Province of New Caledonia. – Thanks Google
This island was beautiful, although very primitive. The bus that took us to the beach was old and dirty and the toilets had a lot to be desired. But the beautiful beach made everything else seem insignificant.
Here we swam, ate, snorkelled. We did a mediation sitting in the sea and then we did a workshop where we gathered things we could find and created a word that represented us all. Our word was ‘Grateful’.
We had a fantastic time, got very sunburnt and didn’t really want to return to the ship. But back we went and then after having showers we attended our yoga session. We did yoga 5 times during the trip, but as I was sick the first two days I only ended up doing 3.
If you would like to see pictures of our day on Mare, you can go to my Pinterest Page and have a look
Day 7 – Isle of Pines
We had high exceptions for the Isle of Pines, everyone had told us how great it was, that it was the best of all the islands. The weather was awesome, but there was a huge swell so getting to the island via a tender was a bit scary, but we did get there, an hour later than expected, but that was ok.
The Isle of Pines is an island located in the Pacific Ocean, in the archipelago of New Caledonia, an overseas collectivity of France. The island is part of the commune of L’Île-des-Pins, in the South Province of New Caledonia. – Thanks Google
We jumped on a bus, that was much newer and nicer than the one from Mare, and did a tour of the island. This took around an hour and a half. Then we had lunch, swam, snorkelled and just chilled out. We did a meditation under the trees before heading back to the boat.
This was our last island stop, which we were all really sad about as it meant that our trip was coming to an end. We had 2 days left on the boat before we had a day of travel to get home.
If you would like to see pictures of our day on Isle of Pines, you can go to my Pinterest Page and have a look
Day 8
Day 8 was about coming to terms with our trip ending. We did a workshop, meditation, yoga and completed our challenge for the day. I also had a massage. The massage was amazing and made me feel so relaxed.
We sat around talking and connecting and genuinely just enjoying each others company.
Each day of the trip we did meditation, here is what they were
- Dawn meditation,
- then.. (I don’t know as I was sick).
- A meditation with Cat in the Mountains of Noumea
- Meditation in our conference room on the boat – was meant to be a beach one but it was raining
- Sea meditation
- Forest meditation
- Sunset meditation
- Moonlight meditation
Day 9
Day 9 was basically the same as Day 8, yoga, workshop, meditation, dinner. We were all very much aware that this was our last day and we had to spend time packing, buying photos the ships photographer took and spending as much time with the group as we could.
We loved sharing with each other the different ‘animals’ that the house crew left in our rooms each night when they turned down our beds. They were made from towels. We had an elephant, monkey, rabbit and dog.
Day 10 – going home
The last night on the boat was not a good one, they had 6 foot swells and the boat just rocked and rocked and swayed and swayed all night. Things crashed and banged and it was quite scary, but we got through it and were up early packed and ready to disembarked.
This day was the reverse of our first day, we got off the boat, went through customs, caught a bus to the airport, flew to Melbourne, got a bus home to our house. And although we had an amazing time, it was great to be home.
We have all come back from our spiritual journey more connected with ourselves, more relaxed, more focused and ready to take on life and make ours better, happier, healthier and more connected.
If any of you every want to go on a retreat, I would suggest you get in touch with Jackie White from Being Divine and go on one of her retreats, it was truly amazing.