The ocean has figured heavily in my life this week. Two nights ago I was sleeping beside it, on the wonderfully named Friendly Beaches (above) on Tasmania’s Freycinet Peninsula, sleeping like I haven’t slept in weeks, lulled by rhythm of the waves and the sea.

Tomorrow I’m heading off to a larger slice of the sea as I journey into the middle of the Pacific Ocean – to the Cook Islands – to meet a guy named Tua Pittman. In 2011 and 2012 Tua sailed for 30,000 kilometres around the Pacific Ocean in a traditional vaka canoe, using no modern navigational equipment. The stars were his GPS. Come Sunday I’ll be in a vaka with Tua, sailing off from Rarotonga towards the impossibly perfect lagoon at Aitutaki. For four days it’ll be an adventure of the mind as we sail once again without any navigational equipment except the heavenly variety. My extensive knowledge of the Southern Cross and little else will surely be an asset.

* Tua Pittman and his company, Island Discoveries, will be running vaka voyages from Rarotonga to Aitutaki once a month, carrying just six passengers. Information is available by emailing bookings@islanddiscoveries.co.ck.