Becca Vs The World

Tuesday, 18 July 2017

Ahoy!

Things are going well from here at the Dawn! The weather has been beaut (warmer than winter in Sydney at least). and the seas have been pretty flat.

Not too much to update, same old same old. Work is going well, man, kids crack me up. After having 6 months off I forgot how much fun working with kids is. It's real nice to not have any "responsibility" looking after them, but just making sure they're safe on my activities and having fun.
We've been responsible and having fun too.. of course.

Crew bar has been buzzing, the other day we had an animal party and last night we had a beach party. (photos to follow).

We're currently on a week long North Queensland cruise, taking us up to my favourite place, Cairns.
On the way here as well we were lucky enough to see about 1000000 whales. Every time you looked you looked out at sea you could see them blowing water and we had some about 200m away from the boat, a family with a baby and a massssssssive one full on jumping out of the water. I've never seen anything like it, but not having a phone at work has its cons and I haven't got any photos. But trust- it was sick.

I haven't been able to get off the boat as much as I'd hoped since joining the Dawn. Partly for training, partly for In Port Manning (aka having to stay on the ship for passenger: staff ratios). But I managed to get off at Lifou the other day, that was real pretty.

so close to this dude

That's all for now. Still waiting for the outcome of my return to the Jewel. But hopefully I should know that in the next couple weeks. But I did find these piccies of the team, don't scrub up too bad, eh?

us and little Olivia, sassy and sweet. total legend.

TEAM JEWEL

Monday, 10 July 2017

It's a new Dawn, it's a new day!

10/07/17

#TeamJewel

Being torn away from my partner in crime :'( :'(

New ship, same shi-

Ahoy all! this current post is being typed from the Dawn somewhere en route through the Pacific Islands from my new ship, Pacific Dawn. My job is still the same, Spartan kicking children off the Flying Fox Zip Line, and laughing at fat people falling off Segways.

Pros and cons to the move;

Pros:
-It's identical to the Jewel, so I know where the trusty Kilo staircase is.
-I've been promoted to a Deck 5 cabin, from Deck 4. No change in room, other than it's one less staircase to the shop on Deck 12.

Cons:
-I've got a whole new crew to leave unimpressed with my terrible foosball skills (or lack off)
We're based in Brisbane, which is way sunnier than Sydney but our port is right next to Dominoes Pizza, which is a blessing and a curse, even more so when the pizzas only cost $5.

We've got a great team here, Abi T who is ex-In2 (my Tenerife job!), Danny who's a bagpipe-playing Liverpudlian and Oli, he's sound and he's also new so makes me feel like I know what I'm talking about!

I've been making the most of my Deck Privileges, after watching my mateyboy from Crew Bar do a comedy set and the Hypnotist on the Jewel we watched the guys in Live At Charlies and they were so good. Makes me feel super untalented, mind.

I'm absolutely in love with the job. It feels so strange waking up in the morning without having a slight headache and making sure my breath doesn't smell like a pub. Last cruise we were lucky enough to have a proposal on our Titanic (she said yes!) and we put a blind lady down the Flying Fox.

My time on the Dawn might be short, but it will most certainly be sweet and I've already got a "classic Becca" story. Defo one for another day, let's just say it involves cake and a closet.

Monday, 3 July 2017

03/07/17

Big update since my last post!

The ship has terrible (and expensive) wifi so getting online isn't very easy. So I'm currently sponging off all the airports free wifi and doing a monster blog!

After a chilly visit to Tassie (where I forgot to say we ran into Australian Batman) we headed up north to the place I've been homesick for since the day I left in 2015....and the origin of my Zambrero addiction.

Good old Jimmy indulging in his first burrito

It was a real bittersweet coming back to my old stomping ground and seeing all the old haunts, remanising about forgotten nights in Woolshed and the cheeky Ali Baba Kebab (without the devil salad), and lazy days by the lagoon. I was lucky enough to catch my old adventure partner Stef on her day off!

And of course, when in the adventure capital of Australia it would be a shame to leave without throwing yourself off a 50m platform (and dragging the team along).

Ajusting to ship life really well, apart from how terrible I've realised I am at foosball. What I don't get is that I can get food on a SHIP in the MIDDLE OF THE OCEAN, but not in Edinburgh. The cruise was wicked though, with only one bad weather day (not bad considering we were passing a mini cyclone). I've got in some training, some of the guys did a skydive in Airlie Beach, squeezed in some shopping in Brisbane, defo didn't get in trouble with ARD either (story for another day!) and we had some hilarious kids...

"I'm gonna cut the rope when you're on the Zipline"

"Cut the rope, I'll cut your throat"

Pipe down Troy!

"That's wishful thinking"

"Na, I'm Rambo mate"

Wayne and Robyn have reached the ends of their contract now, so there's been a big team changeover. Which is great because we have a new girl from California, Hailey. And my mate Kayleigh from the old summer job is joining from one of the other teams. It's not great because each team can only have 4 people so it means I'm abandoning ship (if you pardon the pun) and I'm heading up to Brisbane to join the Pacific Dawn.

Which leads me to why I'm currently sitting at the airport sponging all the free wifi! But bring on the Pacific Dawn and their adventures.

Monday, 19 June 2017

B vs Sea

22/06/17

I can finally confirm my newest adventure, the latest shindin is an outdoor activity instructor, leading LASERTAG (big up Laserhub), Segways, Ziplines, Rockclimbing as well as load more... on a giant Cruise Ship! It's been a couple of years since the last time I was on this side of the world and it's safe to say I've settled back into it nicely dropping "too easy mate!" and "no dramas" into every sentence.

My flight landed here on Tuesday (12th) morning local time, and after leaving Gatwick at 10pm Saturday night, it was fair to say I needed a nap. Trudging through a very foggy Sydney city to the most essential part of my trip here...ZAMBRERO BURRITOS. They have been holding the key to my heart in the form of a 12 inch tortilla wrap for the past 18 months. God bless that guacamole goodness. After this, the rest of the day aint all important, apart from how lush my apartment was, burrito number two and some cool light show on the harbour.

Wednesday was go time. Climbed aboad my cruise ship and my team mates said to me ""WEEEEREEE GOINGGGG THI-". Naa! My team are wicked, there's only 4 of u and they've made me feel really welcome, we're all getting on really well...and we're all fans of Pokémon. Everyone is really friendly, the cruise is really diverse. Ship life just feels like a big village really.

After *almost* falling asleep in my induction (can you blame me?) I started my training with Edge. I welcomed in my new job by setting sail from Sydney by being at the highest point on the ship and going under the Harbour Bridge dancing to Kool and the Gang with just a small audience of the entire ship, and then Ziplining over their heads. Did you really expect anything less?

My first night here welcomed me in with early 00's Pop Punk tunes, it's almost like they were expecting me. My first cruise was a 6 day visit to Hobart, Tasmania for Dark Mofo festival.It reminded me loads of Shangri La at Glastonbury, light shows, art installations and a big food market.
I'm a couple of days in now, and it's all going really well.

Sunrise over Hobart from Mount Wellington

Cruise 1 was a success, very quiet but a great chance to try and orientate myself around the ship. There's loads to learn, faces to remember (mostly who I need to avoid to stay out of trouble, and who I need to smooth talk to get some freebies!), a whole maze of stairways and corridors (down KILO staircase to the Crew Bar, I know that one) but I'm getting there step by step and in no time I'm sure I'll be pro.

Quotes:
"I'm going to take a Seal-fi" - James, Edge.
"It was a wild night, crazy stuff was going on everywhere...I was eating a loaf of bread" - Myles, KC.

Friday, 2 June 2017

WEST SIDE

Who would've thought I could have this much fun on the Motherland?

After an early and unexpected arrival home from Spain I sent myself over to Falmouth to catch up with Daisy and Adam from my ski season! They're working as Water Sport Instructors and are living the easy life in their refurbished van. Cosy as anything and I am totally jealous! Despite the weather not being 10/10 we were lucky to have flat seas, so headed out for a bit of Coasteering (aka jumping off cliffs into the sea).

Exploring some caves

Coasteering crew

When the weathers not great and there's no surf we had our next stop was Healey's Cyder Farm, home of Cornish Rattler.

Got a bit boozy, well when in a brewery you have to.

Starting off with a cheeky cream tea and pretending to be civilized, despite wearing my PJ's.

after a few free ciders oops.

On the tractor ride "any questions at the end" "quick once before we start- how much of my pint do I need to finish so I wont spill it?"

DJ Daisy Dear on the Decks

"I'm a mermaid" ...apparently....

After having a fab time over in Falmouth I set off over to Lynton to see my old housemates Danny and Josh from Tenerife. With it being a bank holiday it proved to be a bit tough to get from Barnstaple through Devon so I resorted to putting out the thumb and hitching the way. After catching a ride with Tobias and his girlfriend from Truro, I jumped in with a gent. Really interesting guy in music publishing, however he was saying his reason for travelling over to the west was that his 15-yo son died that weekend. It really hit me hard, his story. I don't really know what to say for once either, but it was very eye opening and I wish the guy the very best.

My hitching spot for almost 2 hours before a Mum picked me up

Then once I got to Lynton it was only a brief visit (and I didn't get any photos) but it was wicked to catch up with my boys over a glass or two of wine. It's good to hear they are adulting well after all of our very un-adult lives in Tenerife. Danny even thought it would be a good idea to microwave his pants the other day because they were still wet from the wash! (and I wondered how they'd look after themselves without me...)

Next up was a visit up to London to pay £80 for a Doctor to say I'm healthy, yay. But it did result in some retail therapy, Bombayrittos and bevvies with my girl Louise after we've been apart for about 2 weeks haha

It started of with a cocktail pitcher each (or three) then we was then lucky enough to be joined by my old mates Layla, Dan and (eventually in typical fashion) Ant for some bevvies. One thing lead to another and next thing I know it's 2am, I'm on the train home. I blink and wake up in Luton at 5am.

Nothing says a great night like riding the train for 5 hours and getting home at 7.30am.

After the night before's shenanigans a quick trip up to Hayes to see the Grandparents and for some of Grandma's famous Bread and Butter Pudding was in order.

Really been enjoying a (small) spot of British sunshine. Now I'm waiting for my visa to come through before the next adventure hopefully begins this weekend!