Experiencing weather for ducks :-(

Well the coffee didn’t last too long in the cup. One roll and she was all gone. I was soaked through to the skin, shirt, pants, socks and all. You’re probably wondering what on earth I am talking about and what just happened? I am on the ship at the moment and the weather has just taken a turn for the worst. The ship is rolling side to side like an un-mounted washing machine so placing your coffee cup down even for the slightest second it will end up all down your front. We as Deck Officers are used to this sort of weather and we are trained to work in these conditions and even worse. It’s the passengers though who we feel sorry for. They board the passenger ferry full of excitement expecting a fantastic calm crossing with the chance of seeing dolphins in the Sounds, but little do they know what awaits them outside the heads.
Wind against tide, swell against tide, basically everything was against us. The winds had turned to become a blowing gale from the south, heavy rain was now horizontal, seas were up to 7 metres in height and a temperature which couldn’t be read on the thermometer. Passengers resume the foetal position, faces buried in their laps. Children screaming, teenagers vomiting, the stench created a domino effect from one end of the ship to the other. All those who came on hungry and enjoyed a lovely lunch were now re-seeing all that they ate. The time eventually comes 3 and a ½ hours later when we arrive at the other side I have never seen such relief in peoples faces before when we have reached out destination.

Preparing for rough weather at sea

(From experience)
1.) Batten down your cabin, lock all the drawers and latch all the doors back.
2.) Place desk chair upside down and laptop underneath the desk.
3.) Cameras, glasses, empty coffee cup and plunger – all to be stowed in a drawer.
4.) Use non-skid mats in the desk top and place a towel over all loose items which can roll or slide around.
5.) Place toothbrush away from the soap dish.
6.) Life jackets come in handy to propping your mattress up on a slight angle towards the wall (like a cot)
7.) Anything which creaks, place a piece of folded up paper in the crack.
8.) Last but not least turn on some soft music to drown out the sound of waves crashing against the hull and the pounding of the ships bow into the swell.

Physical v's Mental Strength

Most people under estimate the significance of mental strength when it comes to working on a ship out at sea. Whether someone is away for one week, six weeks or three months, it takes a lot of mental strength to adapt to the change in lifestyle as well as being able to cope with the emotional side of missing loved ones back home. Physical strength comes with the job. You are kept fit by being active while working on board 24/7 as well as by using the ship gym equipment. Mental strength on the other hand takes a lot more to build up. Most people say that this comes with age and develops over time. As you grow older you learn to cope with life’s issues and the curve ball’s, which it throws at you a lot more than when you were younger. So far for me my biggest hurdle has been having the ability to adapt to a change in lifestyle every seven days. One week I’ll be with my friends and family at home, working on the farm, feeding the animals, cooking dinners, shopping and sending time with friends socialising in town. Then the next week I’ll be working 12-16 hour days on a ship at the other end of the country. And I have to be honest it does get really hard at times! As time is passing by I am taking one day at a time and learning techniques on how to manage my life when change occurs. It’s not easy all the time, but that’s just Life! We have to accept what it throws at us and find the inner strength to pull through it.

CURSE THE DELETE BUTTON!!!

I spent 4 and ½ hours in my cabin this afternoon writing for my blogpage after a very eventful week at work on the ship. The moment when I clicked ‘save’ and then went to pull my USB memory stick out of my computer – It deleted my file! I was so upset and angry! Curse the computer!!! I spent the next hour trying to find it and sadly it wasn’t anywhere to be found on my laptop. It was all gone. Now what to do? I could cry and sulk but that wouldn’t bring back my writing or I could do the opposite. And that’s what I did. I made myself a nice hot cup of hot chocolate and then tucked myself away in my cabin for the next 3 hours re-writing everything plus more which I had just lost moments ago. It was hard and it took a lot of patience and time where I could have been doing something else. But the relief came when I completed all my write ups again just before I was about to turn off my light and go to sleep.

Cruising Around The Islands

(My point of view as a passenger)
My partner and I went on a cruise ship holiday over Christmas last year. We cruised to the islands of New Caledonia and Vanuatu in the South Pacific and had a blast. This was the first time for me that I was on a ship and didn’t have to work. It felt really wired to be honest until I wrote a letter to the ship Captain asking if we could meet him personally and have a tour of the bridge. My void was filled. That was the highlight of my trip. The rest of the cruise was therefore spent relaxing, sleeping in till midday, going ashore and sight seeing the villages on the islands, taking photos and snorkelling around the reefs. The evenings consisted of dinners together in the Regency Dining Restaurant followed by entertainment from the cruise staff. Evening quizzes, champagne golf, dance show productions, stand up comedy acts, talent quests and so much more. For us, each night included a visit to the casino followed by an appearance at the social scene centre – Shooting Stars Bar. Cruise ship holidays are supposed to be a relaxing time away, a time not to think about work or jobs which need doing and are lastly stress-free for a fortnight of fun. My partner and I are now planning our next cruise already it’s looking promising for a cruise to Alaska, Canada and the Panama Canal. Oh it’s exciting!

Living A Fulfilled Life

I am not perfect! I’ve made mistake and bad decisions so far but nothing has stopped me from getting to where I want to go in life. I’ve lost loved ones, cried my heart out at funerals, showed compassion in hospitals and moved around houses so many times, even gone from ship to ship, country to country and family to family growing up. I’ve made some awesome long lasting friends for life and one who has also become my partner now. I have best friends throughout the world and quite possibly a bed in every country (my friends are awesome!) I bought a house when I was 21, learnt about the tenancy tribunal and the workings of insurance claims early on. I rote off my first car then bought a bargain. I’ve raised a family (baby chickens and ducklings) which is still growing today. Travelled to numerous countries and have some pretty remarkable holidays away. I acknowledge and accept that my life wont always be easy and pleasant, things are bound to change and pop up when I least expect them to.
Challenges, obstacles, difficulties and budgeting… Smiling and laughing and relaxing having fun. That’s what my life is all about. Living every area to the max and enjoying everyday as if it were the last. Soaking up experiences and storing memories to hold onto. All this is done with the personal satisfaction that I am happy with my life. Love has been the greatest thing of all as it has filled that little empty space inside of me. Now I don’t walk alone in my life.

Change Occurs Over Time

Oh how my life has changed so much over the last 8 years. I used to be known as the sporty girl who would never stop. Every where you looked you would see Megan either working, running, studying, teaching, painting, helping someone out or busy working away at a task. I was unstoppable. My body would function on 3 hours sleep a night (max) and that was all that I needed to get up early again at 0500 to start a full on day. Exercising everyday and running when I could. Sit ups and press ups each night before bed. My routine became my life. The long day would then switch into a long night full up with studies till the early hours of the morning again. This was the kind of lifestyle which I lived for 5 years straight. Adrenaline kept me going, the studies kept me awake and my passion and love for my job and career kept me happy. Over time things did begin to change. My body requires more and more sleep now as I get older so therefore sleep has become a big part of my life. I just love my sleep ins now, not having to wake up to alarm clocks everyday, oh its so nice. I now have what you would call Balance in my life. Balance consisting of work, sleep, fun, friends and family time, relationship and love time and most important of all ME time. Looking back now so much has changed. None of the changes though have been ones with regrets as all have played their part in making me who I am today. Change can be a beautiful thing and it can be exciting as well as fulfilling, all you have to do is be willing to play your part…

Seeing and Comparing...

Everywhere you look you are always going to see someone more beautiful than you are. Someone who’s hair is more perfect and body is more toned than yours. How do you know this though? By gosh she could be thinking the same thing about you! What brings on these thoughts? Surely if you like who you are as a person and wouldn’t change anything about your appearance then what others look like should have no impact on your life. Surely these thoughts can’t be coming from the innocent chick walking past you! These feelings of insecurity and self hate come when you are not happy with whom you are in yourself, feelings created by you. So the only way which you will be able to address the need to compare yourself to someone else is to first start to look in the mirror and identify your beautiful features. This will be hard at first and will take a bit of time, but I honestly can tell you that the more you think about how gorgeous you are the more confident you will become as a woman. Your beauty will radiate to all around you and you won’t feel the need to compare yourself to anyone else anymore.

Picture Moments In Vanuatu!!!

Determining when is the right time to assess things in your life?

Highs and lows are all part of life, just the same as good and bad times occur when we least expect it. This is one part of nature that we can not control. We can not plan to live a plato way of life and not experience any movement from this line, it just doesn’t work like that! I was once told by a really good friend of mine, who was also a Captain of a medical ship I worked on, that we live in a cycle of ups and downs and highs and lows. Some people have steep gradients while others seem to have a levelled out wobbly line. I asked him to explain to me how do we level out some of our highs and lows in our lives, as in bring the highs down and lows up? The best time to work on the times when we are low (down, sad and depressed) is not when we are low but when we are on a high. That way we are able to see a way out of it. It kind of makes some sense right? Say you are depressed, when you get into a deep well you can not see how you can manage to get out and back up again. It’s when you are on a high that you are able to look at how to bring yourself out of the low for if there is a next time. Me personally I wrote it down in my journal and re-read it when I needed to in the future. Good times keep us happy, bad times strengthen us as a person to grow up and take on what life has next to throw at us. So next time you find yourself in a bit of a downward spiral which you are unsure how to deal with, (if you can) wait till you are on your way back up and then take a big look at where you were and you’ll be surprised at how you can see the whole situation differently…

Leading by example...

An inspiring Captain back in the year 2002 once told me:

“You must work as though there is always someone watching everything that you do! You never know who maybe learning from the little things done in your life…”

I worked on a medical ship in Fiji in 2007 where there were a lot of children on board. On this particular voyage in June/July there was a young 7 year old Australian girl called Zakaiya. She was such a gorgeous young girl, so full of life and happiness (we didn’t know at the time that she came from an abusive background and was now being raised by a solo parent who was home schooled when they found time) From the day we joined the ship together in Lautoka, Fiji, Zakaiya took a liking to me. Everywhere I went she would follow, everything I did she would copy, she ate what I ate, wore her hair the same as mine, sat down when I sat down and basically mimicked everything I did. At first I though that this would get a bit annoying until I realised what this Captain once told me. I started to give Zakaiya the time that she needed with being so young. I taught her how to write her name and start to read some small easy reading picture books. She was so excited that she could write: "Mummy I Love You!" and by golly her mum was defininatley excited. Zakaiya was learning from me. I would be working on the bridge doing chart corrections and she would ask to come and sit next to me and promised not to talk or distract me, she was so caring and considerate at only 7 years old. We still keep in touch today. She is now growing up to be a very bright, cheerful and confident young girl which other girsl are admiring and starting to look up to :-) So it just goes to show you that some ofthe little things that you do in your life that you think may not be that significant at all, can actually have a huge impact on someone elses life around you...

<3 Maintaing your Relationships - both with your Love and your Girlfriends <3

A write up from 2009 which was a big part of my life was this one on "Maintaing your relationships both with your Love and your girls!" Recently I have come to that point in my life where I have realised how much it means for a woman to have her girlfriends by her side.
When in a relationship it is so easy to focus all your time and energy on your partner. It sounds draining though, and what about time apart to spend with your own friends? Like a guy needs to have his space and time alone to spend with his guy mates - watching rugby and socialising etc… Likewise a woman also needs to have time to herself where she can go out and spend time with her girlfriends.
Woman love talking – that’s a proven fact! Men are the opposite though. When a woman gets home from work all she wants to do is talk about her day with her partner but a guy when he gets home from work wants to sit down on the couch and relax for the next half an hour or so with no talking. This is just one of the many differences of both men and woman. A woman she needs to have her girlfriends in her life in a different way that man has their mates. For me, I need to have the support and friendships of my girls to fill that little space in my heart. The kind of friendships where you know you can sit down with your girls, be yourself, not be judged or hit on if you were talking with guys and talk about absolutely anything and everything knowing that they will listen and give feedback in return. I love my girls and the friendships that we have together. They are a big part of my life and I am so very thankful that I have some good true girl friends who I can turn too no matter what time of day or night it is! My New Years resolution is to continue to maintain my girl friendships forever!!! :-)

The morning of the Hot Air Balloon visit.

Last week I was woken numerous times before the alarm clock was supposed to go off. First by the dog scratching against the bedroom door. So I yelled at him once, twice and third time he was out outside. The I eventually fell straight back to sleep. The second time I was woken by rustling, this time it was the baby chickens scratching in the bushes outside the open bedroom window. Grhh!!! Eventually I fell straight back to sleep again. Moments later (third time now) I was woken back up again but this time it was an unusual sort of noise, not one I have ever heard before.
It would come in short bursts and sounded like someone saying ‘Whoosh!’ in a very deep but loud voice. I continue to lay in the bed for a couple more minutes trying to work out what it was. The noise then started to get louder and louder until it got to the stage where I sat up to take a look out the window.
Wow! To my amaze I was actually lost for words! There was a hot air balloon flying directly over our house. I swear if I stood on the roof of the house and jumped up into the air I would have been able to touch the bottom of the basket of the balloon. It was amazing I tell you! The ‘Whoosh!’ noise which I was hearing more frequently was the flame being used to lift the balloon higher and higher into the sky. It was so low. I have never seen a hot air balloon so up close and personal like this before. It glided along on the morning breeze over the roof of our house and up over the hills at the back of the farm. What a way to wake up in the morning…

Vanuatu Islands - The Land Of Beauty!!!

In December 2009 my Partner and I flew to Australia to join the Sun Princess Cruise ship for a 12 night South Pacific voyage. The ship departed Sydney and headed North Eastward up towards the islands of Vanuatu and New Caledonia. Well the islands which we went to were pretty amazing to say the least. Our favourite would have been Wala Island in Vanuatu. Here are some of the photos of the beautiful island which we visited...

New Years Resolutions for 2010

I have spoken with many of my friends over the last few weeks about their New Years Resolutions, basically trying to find out the background as to why people set them in the first place. 40% of the people I asked say that they like to keep their New Years Resolutions private and to themselves, 50% like to share them with everyone around them because this gives them strength to achieve them and then 10% didn’t believe in setting NYR. Well I am in the 50%, I like to share my NYR with the people around me and then celebrate when I achieve them.
So far for 2010 I have set 8 NYR in place which I hope to achieve:
1.) Take an hour a day for “ME” time (time to think and reflect)
2.) Gain my Chief Mates FG ticket at the Maritime School and top the class.
3.) Look after my health and fitness and maintain a healthy fit weight all year.
4.) Be more committed to sticking to my word and plans with friends.
5.) Save enough money for our next holiday away on a Cruise Ship (Alaska)
6.) Become a more patient and tolerant person.
7.) Continue to maintain my friendships with my girls!!!
Well that about sums up my New Years Resolutions set for 2010 already, as you know I will be adding to the list every now and then throughout the year.
“Everything is achievable if you set your mind and heart to it!”

Cruise Ship Cruise Over Christmas

Copy and Paste the link below into your web browser to read a write up of our Cruise Ship Cruise over Christmas 2009...

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?ref=profile&id=581810142#/notes/megan-stewart/cruise-ship-cruise-over-christmas-of-2009-sun-princess/395740800316

Round Up Of 2009 :-)

Well we can now finally stop and look back at a brilliant year which has passed. For me 2009 bought many new experiences and personal achievements. 2009 started off with ringing in the New Year on the Rail ferries in Wellington and then after a Cruise holiday on a Cruise ship we watched the New Year round up to an end on the beautiful Darling Harbour in Sydney, Australia. There were many highlights of 2009 for me:
1) Working on a ship in Australia, 2) Learning beginners French, 3) Taking up surfing as a summer sport, 4) Expanding my family (baby chickens), 5) Road trip around the South Island, 6) Reconnecting with past childhood friends, 7) Cruise holiday with partner over Christmas and New Years, 8) Travelled the Islands in the South Pacific and so many more which I am sure I will be including in my book one day. So overall 2009 was a fantastic year for me. With many achievements gained, new experiences tried, challenged faced, fears overcome and goals accomplished what a new year we have to look forward to ahead of us! Wowhee...

Inspiring Moments Over The Last 8 Years... 2008

2008 – Travelling on Tankers overseas

Where do I start when I am asked to talk about Tankers. Do I talk about the ships themselves, the type of people who work on them, the places you get to see of the highs and lows of working in a small confined space for such a small period of time? I don’t know so ill just write about the first thing that comes to my mind… During my time working on the Coastal Tankers I studies Psychology by correspondence.
We worked around the coast of New Zealand, both the north and south islands. Then mid year we headed over to Botany Bay in Australia for a cargo discharge while on our way to Singapore for a dry dock. Crossing the equator for the first time in my life was a pretty neat experience, I was lucky enough to be on the 4-8 watch both on the trip up and trip back to NZ. So of course the best part of my day on the deep sea voyages were definitely getting to see every sun rise and sun set while I was on watch!

Inspiring Moments Over The Last 8 Years... 2007

2007 – Pacific Link in Fiji, 2MFG ticket

Well 2007 for me was full on with studies and exams because in November I was to sit my first foreign going ticket oral exam, talk about being nervous! Half way through the year I had quite a bit of leave owing to me so I decide to join the medical ship the Pacific Link again for a couple of voyages around the islands of Fiji. It was during this voyage that I visited one of my favourite islands in Fiji – Viwa Island. The island which touched my heart in more ways than one… The children, their view on life, the quality of life lived and loved by all on the island, schools, beaches and so much more that I could write on for days on end. After a well deserved time in Fiji we then sailed back to New Zealand on a direct Southerly course bound for Tauranga. Our mission was complete. We were welcomed into the berth by the mayor of the town and by many of the family of the crew and students on board. At the end of 2007 I distanced myself from a lot of people just to get myself ready and focused for the final exams. I stayed in a small apartment in town where I was able to study and sleep as I please with no distractions, and it all paid off in the end. I learnt throughout this year that the more time and study you put into learning something the more easier it becomes at remembering it when the time comes.

Inspiring Moments Over The Last 8 Years... 2006

2006 – Working for Inter Islander Ferries

Inspiring Moments Over The Last 8 Years... 2005

2005 – Aratere Dry Docking in Australia and Pacific Link in Fiji

This is where my sea career really took and upward lead. I made the transition from a small medical ship which works around the Fijian Island to now big foreign going ships. I will write about the Pacific Link in a separate note.
It was a fare bit scary at first, the transition but after 3 weeks on the Arahura (rail ferry) I was transferred to the other rail ferry the Aratere and sent to Australia for 9 weeks, why though - for a dry dock. The most interesting dry dock I have ever experienced. I was involved with many jobs and tasks that took me from the bottom of the double bottom ballast tanks, to the shaft space, heeling tanks, lifeboats and davits, bridge electrical room and then to the top of the mast on the monkey island – What an adventure to remember… voyaging from New Zealand to Australia and back was also a highlight for me. Seeing dolphins around the coastlands and whales in the middle of the Pacific Ocean was just amazing!

Inspiring Moments Over The Last 8 Years... 2004

2004 – SONZ Cadetship

In January 2004 I joined the Youth Development Sailing Ship Spirit of New Zealand in Wellington as a cadet for a 13 month cadetship living on board. Wow what a year ahead of me … Sailing around New Zealand for an entire year on a sailing ship, seeing some amazing sights, meeting 1000’s of youth from all over the world who came on board for a voyage, made some friends for life and realised that this was the start to a wonderful sea career to come. The very first write up on my blog page mentions a little about how it all started. http://captain-megs.blogspot.com/2007/06/it-all-started-on-spirit-of-new-zealand.html I spent my 18th birthday on the Spirit of New Zealand which was one to remember. I learnt everything there was to know about paint, rope work, wire splices, rust killers, treating and preparing wood surfaces for varnishing, how to make blocks and rope ladders and so much more about the wind and sailing. I even got taught a little engineering which was different.

Inspiring Moments Over The Last 8 Years... 2003

2003 – America’s Cup and Outward Bound

This was a bit of a mixed sort of year for me. 2003 started off with my best friend Nikki and I joining the Spirit of New Zealand as volunteer voyages for the Americas Cup corporate sailings in the Auckland Hauraki Gulf. What an awesome, amazing 9 weeks of our lives!!! Seeing the international racing up front and as close as we were was just phenomenal.
When the Americas Cup came to an end Nikki and I had to return back to High School to finish of our last year of compulsory education. Throughout the year I did a few short voyages on the sailing ship which included a buddy on a disabled voyage, a deck hand on a Leadership Development Voyage and numerous day sails.
The end of my school year was coming to an end. I had recently received confirmation that I had got the cadetship to work on the SONZ in 2004. The round up 2003 I did a 21 day Mind, Body and Soul course at Outward Bound in Anakiwa in New Zealand. It was a real tester for me and the other 11 students who were on the course (most of which we are still good friends today)
2003 was a jam packed year for me and 2004 was looking at being a lot of the same… Geewhiz!!!

Inspiring Moments Over The Last 8 Years... 2002

2002 – Japan Holiday then SONZ trainee voyage

The very first highlight which I can remember was my overseas holiday with my grandparents to Japan. It was the first country which I travelled to where English wasn’t the first language. I had been learning Japanese for the previous 3 years so that came in handy for me. Had the experience of seeing snow in Tokyo followed by the blooming of the Cherry Blossoms on the side streets. Japan was definitely and experience that I will remember for the rest of my life. The culture was fascinating and interesting to interact with.
Later on in August 2002 I joined the Youth Development Sailing Ship Spirit of New Zealand as a trainee. Not knowing anyone I boarded a sailing ship as nervous as ever and having no clue how to sail a ship or even if I had my sea legs. After the first few hours on board I was up the mast with three other trainees stowing the sails on the Topgallant mast in a blowing Gale force wind. From that day onward I fell in love with the sea and you couldn’t keep me down off the yards. Made some amazing friends of a lifetime and had such a blast that I didn’t want to leave and go back home to reality!