While we were in Lockdown Year 7 & 8 students were looking at survival techniques and wrote stories about being "castaway" on an island.

Hope you enjoy this item from a student.

Castaway

I was in my boat fishing in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, I had caught a lot of fish and I was looking up at the clouds, They looked very dark, the weather was really nice at the start of the day, but after a couple of hours it started to rain and there were extremely high winds and the waves were crashing heavily across my boat making it hard for me to stay still.

So what I decided to do was pack up my fishing gear and head back to shore. That's what I did and I put my anchor back up into my boat and I tried to start my boat but it wouldn’t start then a big gust of wind came and the sea was getting stronger and stronger by the minute.

I tried to start my boat again but it still didn’t do anything. Would I have to swim back to shore? But then this big massive wave hit my boat and went flying out of the boat and into the sea and I didnt have a life jacket.

I was struggling to swim back up. I could see something up ahead. I just needed to keep swimming.It was tough swimming through the bug crashing wavesThen I saw a small little island ahead. I decided to keep swimming so I could get to safety. I swam as fast as I could and finally I reached the island where there was sand so I could lie down on. I did not know where I was and I couldn't see my boat, so I figured that It had been broken because It was only a small wooden boat with no more than two people.

I ran under some coconut, sea grape trees to stay dry because I was soaked and cold. Then I heard a thrush of lightning which scared the living day out of me. Then I started to walk over to a tree so I could sit under it. I was really cold now and I didnt know where I was or what to do.

Then I laid down on the very hard ground which was very uncomfortable and tried to get some rest even though it was pouring down with rain and it was very cold. After about a couple of hours I was dying for water and some food,so I went for a walk to find something but there was nothing to eat.

I looked in the trees and I saw that there were a good bunch of branches there and that I could make a shelter out of them. I picked up the branches and I got some leaves, and I tried to make a hut. It didn't work so well but I still had somewhere to sleep. I made a bed out of sticks and leaves. I was very hungry so I went to look for some food to eat.

I kept looking, then I found some seaweed washed up on the beach so I decided to eat that but it didn't taste very nice but at least I wasn't hungry anymore.

Once I had got some food into me I walked back to my hut to get some sleep. After I woke up it was daytime and I had a great sleep. I was really thirsty and if I didn't get any water soon I was sure I was going to die. So I went down to the shore where I found an old tin washed up on the beach. I scooped sea water up. I started to drink the salt water. It tasted sour and gross. So I thought about how I could make fresh water. I could take off my t-shirt and use it to soak up the steam if I boiled the sea water. I made a fire with two sticks and boiled the sea water in the old tin. I then sucked the steam off my t-shirt. It worked, it didn't taste like sea salt any more which was good. After I had had enough water I went back to my hut.

I had been stuck on this island for about two weeks now and I wanted to go home, back to my little cottage where my dog was. She was a pug, and her name was lola. I really wanted to get back home because I was missing my dog. And plus she didn't have any food. I started to have not much energy and I had this booming headache which was really annoying. I had no panadol so it was the worst.

Then one night I couldn't take it any longer. I was so hungry I decided to try and find something to eat. I started walking up the path but it was kind of hard for me because I had little energy.

I heard something in the distance, I walked closely towards the noise, it was like a possum or something but then I saw it and it was a rat, and it had got caught in the trap that was there. It must have been put there by the people that want to stop the possums from eating the birds. I carefully tried to get it out of the trap so I could eat it and thankfully it was dead but I knew I would have to eat it raw.

I was going to put the trap back but I thought that I could keep it and put it outside my hut so that I could try and catch something else. I went back inside my hut, struggling to sit down on my bed and I took a big bite out of the rat and it was disgusting but it was probably going to save my life.

I went back to sleep. When I woke up it was the next day and I needed to try and get out of here because this was killing me. I tried to think of a solution to how I was going to get out of here but it didn't come to mind. I went for a walk to pass the time so I could think about what I could do.

Then I saw a boat approach nearby. It was a blue boat with very nice equipment in the boat. It had a sticker saying “Salty” on it. I ran up to the boat but since I didn't have much energy I fell to the ground and it hurt. But I got up again and quickly walked over to the water so the people on the boat could see me.

But they didn't see me so I waved my arms around so they could see me but nothing happened, they just kept going. I was so angry with myself that I didn't move. I sat on the rock and I stayed there until it was dark and cold.

I was freezing though, because all I had on me was a T-shirt and shorts, because all the rest of my stuff was on my boat which was probably far away in the middle of the ocean by now.

I went back to my hut and I couldn’t sleep so I just sat there waiting for time to go past and I was planning on how I could get home.

When the sun came up I was sitting on the rock waiting for someone to rescue me and today I think I had a bit of luck because I saw that there were boats coming in from the other side of the sea to go fishing.

I waved my hands around until someone saw me and started heading over to me. I felt a big wave lift off my shoulders as I saw them. I had to get into the water a bit so I could get into the boat. When I got into the boat the man asked me, “How long have you been here?”

I said, “ For about two weeks,” and he looked shocked.

When we got back to the boat ramp the man kindly gave me a ride to the hospital so they could have a look at me because I looked a bit sick. When I got to the hospital they did some tests on me and I had to have a big drink of water. They put a drip in my arm too.The nurse gave me some food. The man who rescued me kindly wanted to be with me at the hospital until I was allowed to go home.The man gave me a ride home and I got to see my dog. She was very excited to see me and I was very excited to see her too. I gave her some food and the man went home. I was okay, but I was glad to be home.

By Rebecca Ralston