As told by Supersonic Peach 🙂 Have you got your sea legs yet?

Monday 25th February: Suddenly we were awake and gathering our belongings to set off for the Blue Bridge Ferry Port in Picton. Smiths Farm Camping Ground had served us well, especially when torrential rain governed most of the South Island the previous day and forced us to upgrade to a mobile cabin instead of sleeping in the back of the car. It was a momentous day for 2019 in NZ though with the first consistent rainfall since December. We thought nothing of the downpour especially as it was a very casual reminder of our hometown in England and quite refreshing after 5 weeks of glorious but hot sun.

Sat in our rented Nissan, we waited patiently in line thinking nothing of the tardiness of our vessel, continuing to eat our overnight oats while watching ‘Friends’ on Netflix in blissful naivety. The ‘Refreshing’ downpour from the day before could have been a clue to how the ferry crossing might pan out differently to our previous crossing two weeks before. Our eyes had been fixated on the series of iconic inlets ‘The Marlborough Sounds’, as they appeared slowly on the approach to the Northern most part of the South Island. It had been a spectacular outward journey luring us into a false sense of security.

But this story is not about a picturesque natural beauty… This story conveys an experience like no other, a tale of the treacherous crossing between Picton and Wellington “The Cook Strait”. May I add, it’s one of the most dangerous crossings in the world; with only one route to sail meaning any breach would result in yet another shipwreck and most probably multiple deaths which is definitely an occurrence I felt reluctant to tolerate.

Soon enough we were escorted onto the ferry, finding a comfy place to sit completely unaware of what would happen in the next few hours. Picture this, only 1 hour into our 5.5 hour journey (supposed to be 3 hours), my eyes are tightly closed, my ears undoubtedly open and totally overwhelmed. I remembered a blog I had read about empathy a few days previous which talks about our ability to feel more through our ears than our eyes. Taking this into consideration, my dilemma to keep my eyes open or not did cross my mind. I figured at this point on the journey the last thing I needed was a deep and meaningful connection through sound but there was no way I could open my eyes when the horizon was nonexistent. So as it turned out my destiny was to have a very meaningful experience indeed.

The sounds entering my ears from different directions, stimulus’ and at multiple frequencies made it hard for me to concentrate on my centre of balance, which had undoubtedly vanished at the first extreme roll. At this point my insides had begun to mimic a tumble dryer as they whirled round and round bouncing off of my skeleton, unable to settle. Wild, resounding sobs flowed out of a lady two rows in front as she panicked in between retching and concurrently vomiting into a paper bag. Eyes still closed I began to titter at the horrendous film choice which i’m sure was meant for entertainment but literally added to the all-consumming anxiety that the bulk of passengers were surely experiencing at this moment. The boat began to creak and crack as the bow uplifted slowly before energetically lolloping forward onto the gigantic rolling waves below with a crash that reverberated through my entire body. At this point my eyes had opened to see water surrounding the ferry; at first glance the only question that entered my mind was were we sinking or still sailing? But of course we were still sailing.

Suddenly I realised I needed to work harder if I was to succeed in the goal I had set myself, which was to not end up like the other 95% of passengers on the ferry who were already laid out on the floor, some even contorted into less than comfortable positions, sick bags “neatly” placed all around them!!

In the moment I didn’t say to my self “Right lets whip out the meditation card”… I haven’t ever truly meditated, but that’s what happened. Right there and then I shut my eyes again and began to breath fully and deeply in and then out. I imagined my insides moving up and down beautifully in sync with my in and out breaths; and then similarly as the oscillation changed to a circular motion I focused on taking a full breath in and out whilst moving my entire torso in a circular motion. My insides were dancing fluidly in what felt like an even 4/4 pattern much like the latin style of dance ‘Rumba’. The thought of dancing; gliding and swirling elegantly in my mind were the ticket to staying on track with my goal.

I had never fully analysed and accepted how very powerful and exhausting the sea could be, the demands it made on the ferry were in turn controlling me too. I had to move in a certain way and at a particular time, any deviation would result in my mind slipping out of its concentrated meditative dance and my body eventually succumbing to motion sickness. At times I felt panicked and like the ferry might end up at the bottom of the sea but I had to keep my cool and find a comfort zone deep inside my conscious. I was comforted by one particular man, who had clearly fallen asleep well before the first roll and had continued to purr with a soft snore for the duration of the crossing, it was a very pleasant reminder that there is usually some calm amongst chaos you just have to find it.

My reasons for telling this particular tale are motivated by a realisation of how very very strong minded we can be (me in particular). Quite often the mind is an excellent channel to pursue a goal however big or small it might be or so we think! In actual fact recent events have taught me that you can easily leave your body behind and this is a problem especially when your body speaks volumes for your health too. Of course we all know that the body and mind work together, but do we really harness the deeper power that they create when used in tandem. If you can do it then the results are phenomenal and I know that many people do. In the past I think I have sneakily tricked myself into believing that I listen to my body and mind together but in fact I am still a novice in using the power of my mind and body as a whole. In theory the very act of them working together is easy I suppose, but by the end of this 4.5 hour stint I was absolutely exhausted. Practice is the key to unlocking these skills and the results I expect can be quite profound.

Supersonicpeach xx