Brampton: The Complete Story

Alright. I sit here with my cup of tea ready to tell you the full story of my time on the Island. Or... more likely, the short version that I will embellish in later posts. Let's just see what happens.

First of all, I left my Australian home at a really terribly early hour to catch a train. That train took me to another train. I took that train to the airport, where I took a plane to Mackay. I then took a taxi to the marina, where we took a sailboat to the Island. It was during this sailing leg of the journey that I met the people who were running the project, and had time to talk to the other girls on the trip (there was one boy on the trip, a German dude who I think was a little overwhelmed by being surrounded by the rest of us talkative females). It was very interesting. At first, we tried to leave the marina on the boat, but ended up going back because someone had wired something wrong and the steering was rather ineffective. After that hiccup was resolved, we were back to the open ocean. At which point a couple of the girls got sea sick, and the rest of us, sitting at the front of the boat got soaking wet. Little did I know that thi
s would be the start to days of soggy-ness.

Due to the steering problem we finally arrived to the Island just as the sun was setting, and got to set up camp in the semi-darkness. This would have been okay, but my tent mate and I were helping set up the German boy's tent, and were getting very frustrated because we couldn't make the rain fly fit properly (We found out the next morning that the rain fly was actually built wrong, and there was no way to make it fit correctly in the first place).

Anyway, our frustrated selves went over to the cooking area where we made a wonderful BBQ and tea. It was warm and good and wonderful. We went to bed with warm little bubbles in our chests. And then it poured. I'm talking a storm. Our tents sounded like they were going to take flight in the wind. And the rain was loud enough to keep even me awake. For those of you who have ever seen me sleep, you understand that this noise must have been akin to a drum in my ear.

Over the next couple days our routine was somewhat the same. We woke up, waited for a break in the rain, RAN to the cooking shelter, had tea, coffee, Milo (a wonderful Australian invention that deserves it's own blog post), eggs, bacon, and cereal, and waited for the rain/wind to die down enough to do something. During these rainy days we actually accomplished quite a bit. We weeded out some invasive plant species, had the guy who knows everything about everything tell us about all the native plants and animals, got stuck out on the reef in a storm, went on a hike around the island and again got stuck in a storm... see the trend? Storm. Outdoors in the storm. Needless to say we went through a LOT of tea. We were all very cold. It was... special. I did however love everything that I was learning. It was amazing to have someone there who could answer every question you came up with, and the food was great, and I was in little bio-nerd heaven. It made me so happy. Plus, during our hike we saw some wild kangaroos, some really awesome birds, and some fish. However, on one of the beaches we also saw a frightening amount of garbage and plastic (sea turtles eat it and then it gives them infections. Bad news. Please recycle). The trail was also covered in invasive species, since WildMob hadn't had the time to work to that side of the Island yet. But I have no doubt that by the time the Brampton Island project is done they will have made a very notable positive impact.

The last couple days on the Island were quite sunny. We were very happy with this change in the weather, as it allowed for snorkeling, and dry clothes. We were able to walk on the reef during low tide and not get caught in a storm, which meant we could actually see and hear properly. That was amazing. We saw all sorts of corals, had the turtle sighting, saw some crabs, the whole lot really. And then when we were snorkeling we saw sharks, turtles, all sorts of fish (I will save you from the long explanation that I subjected my nemesis to), some sting rays, and a whole mess of corals, plants, and little crabs. It was amazing. However, let me just say, wetsuits are not the most comfortable things I have ever put on, nor are they flattering in the slightest. But there you are.

After this we unfortunately needed to head back to civilization, so off we went on the boat.. then the taxi, then the plane, then another taxi, then a train, and then a final taxi.
Upon my arrival home I had an Easter package from my mother containing some much appreciated chocolate, socks, and a season of Big Bang Theory. I then promptly slept for 12 hours.
I should also note that a couple days later I got another much appreciated box of chocolate in the mail from my grandparents. It made the whole ugh-I-am-back-at-school-not-swimming-with-sea-turtles thing much more bearable. So thank you.

Now, I will finish my tea, and start studying. I hope you enjoy reading about the island.