North West Island

It was at the end of Year 10 that I knew about the mandatory trip to North West Island (in my school, you have to go to the island to do 10hrs worth of field work). Mind you this was extremely terrifying for me. I have never been away from home for more than a night, let alone a week. A WEEK. But I didn't have a choice. I had to do Biology as it is a prerequisite for my chosen degree in Uni. 

However, Year 10 went and came Year 11. Year 11 is a whole new experience. This year, I gained two new friends. Steph and Eva. Steph is really cheerful and everyone seemed to love her at camp. Her and her (annoying) banana song. Eva was the same but different. You see, Eva was an exchange student from Germany. She stayed here in Australia for 6 months. 6 short months. 

Anywaaays, let's get back to my story. The notes for the trip were handed out 2 months before the set date to leave. The list was LONG. But looking at it now, it really isn't a lot. Me and my bestie Kirsty, decided that we would tent together. DUH. I had the tent ready and everything, then Eva came along and voila we got the 'Taj Mahal' tent! 4 people staying in a 10-man tent, we were lucky.

The preparations happened, and before I knew it 2 months had gone by and it was time to leave. Ugh the leaving part was awkward, mum was hanging around and just wouldn't leave but I guess I really don't mind. 

The journey to the island was the worst. The waves were very high. It was cold and it was just plain uncomfortable. I thought I was fortunate that I slept through it all, but as soon as I woke up, nausea hit me and puked. Great, just as soon as we get there I puke. To make things worse, we had to get the other school's stuff in to the barge and our stuff out. And if things couldn't get any worse, we had to sleep on the beach. Literally 20m from the shore. Already this was looking bad. Then I remembered what my very wise  Biology teacher said that this will only turn out good if I had a positive mindset. Of course he was right. 

 For the rest of the week everything was great, although at nights and early morning there was the occasional rain. It's not easy not having your food prepared to you. You need to estimate cooking time and time needed to prepare for it. I remember complaining so much for the first two days about how shit living there would be. I almost feel guilty for saying considering I want to go back again. 


















Living at North West for a week taught me alot of things. That you need to be prepared for what may happen in life. That you need to be responsible for your own priorities. That you will definitely need to adjust to the attitudes of the people you are surrounded. There were only 29 of us but that is enough to cause problems within certain groups.

We saw millions of sea cucumbers, sooo many mutton birds (not that we liked them, look them up they are notorious!), various different kinds of birds, stingrays, different kind of fishes, and the baby turtles which we watched go to the sea as they just hatched. These creatures are so precious. 

The trip also taught me about the importance of not wasting water. The island had no potable water source so we had to rely on the water that we brought with us and we were warned not to use much. This was a challenge, but in the end we were allowed to use as much water as we wanted. 

I also got to experience SNORKELLING IN THE GREAT BARRIER REEF! That will definitely be one of the greatest things Ive done. Granted I didnt stay for very long, I still did it. It was amazing. Seeing all those fish in their natural habitat and watching them move was very fascinating. 

At first, I DID NOT look forward to this trip, however a week later I could not bear to leave it. It was nice to get away from everything for a week. It was nice to get away from technology, the homework, the assignments and the endless problems. It was truly an unexpectedly amazing trip. 

Oh and before I say goodbye, I will leave you with a picture my teacher took of the night sky at North West. There, you are able to see the Milky Way Galaxy. You can only see it if you are very far from the city lights and this is what I love the most about the trip. Being able to just go to the beach at night and stare at the starry starry sky. It was a privilege to have stayed at North West. I will never forget my time there.