‘I went to a Club Med for a holiday and never came home’

I had never been outside of Australia until I was told about Club Med, Noumea. A couple I worked with had gone for a holiday and had returned to Sydney raving about it. I had saved enough money to afford a trip for seven nights and eight days.

I booked my flight, got a passport and headed to the airport. I was dressed in high heels, stockings, a disco dress, and had makeup on. Little did I know what I was in for.

There was a whole bus load of guests going to the same place. I became friendly with another girl and we decided to share a room because the guide asked us to do so if we were single, that way we could have someone to have fun with. Upon our arrival at 11pm, we were greeted with a juice cocktail party, people to carry our bags and a big group explanation of what to do and where to go. The disco was down the path next door to the Casino and it stayed open all night. Oh my goodness, I had been transported to another world.

I was too excited to sleep, so I got dressed into something more comfy and headed to the disco. It was already 1am and the place was rocking and rolling. That was my introduction to the new life of Louise. Within four days, I had secured a job. I rang my mum and said, “I have good news and bad news.”

“You got a job and you’re not coming back,” she said before I had the chance. My mother knew me so well.

By the time five weeks rolled around, I got a contract and began my new life as a Club Med Gentil Organisateur or ‘gentle organiser’. The GO position is quite unique. People who fulfill this role are ambassadors of the Club Med spirit and they uphold the company values. It is considered one of the founding pillars of the organisation, so a role to be coveted. I was 23, young, tanned, single and ready to take on the world.

I was taught French three days a week. I was a quick study. I learned to windsurf, sail a Hobie Cat, teach aerobics and yoga, and lip sync in all the shows that we put on as GOs seven nights a week. People who worked at the club had to spend six months in each location and then were transferred to a different Club Med village around the world. I got to work in The Bahamas, Morrocco, France, Israel, Martinique and the best one of all Moorea, Tahiti. I was in heaven.

I met a lot of wonderful exciting people who thought I was wonderful and exciting! Americans, French, and Japanese people who were all on holiday and ready to make the most of their one- or two-week getaway. After I left Noumea, I was sent to The Bahamas — Paradise Island and Eleuthera to be exact. It was fabulous. The club was situated on Paradise Island in the middle of a busy harbour on one side and a beautiful sandy beach that went for the length of the island on the other .

The Sivananda Yoga retreat was located there. I spent three weeks training there for my next village, which was to be Morocco — I followed the chef du village who was a good leader. In Morocco, it was wild, ferocious and a big culture shock. There were so may things to get used to. The food, the terrain, the people and I had to speak French whilst instructing in archery and yoga. My brain was tired from speaking French at the end of each day. The food left a lot to be desired in Morocco — there was no meat such as hamburger or steak. Milk was powdered and we were told not to eat the produce. I got extremely ill anyway and lost so much weight they thought I had typhoid, but I was a size 5 so I looked good.

I perfected my French and became fluent in the language. However, not to be out done yet, I got to live and work for the next seven months in Moorea, Tahiti. The heady fragrance of the tiare flower, cousin to the gardenia, assaulted my nostrils as soon as I stepped off the plane and onto the tarmac at Papeete. We were met by another GO and taken to the cab. I had spent four weeks in France in the winter and by the time I hit the tropics I was sweating up a storm. It went from about 10C (50F) and snow to 35C (95F) with humidy and heat. Phew! Unfortunately, the airline misplaced my bags with all my summer attire in it, so I had to make do with three bikinis, a few t-shirts and a pareo or two until my suitcases arrived.

I kept going for another couple of seasons and the rest of my life is an open book. I just loved my Club Med days.

Did you used to drool over the Club Med posters? In what year did you have your first overseas adventure?

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