Island Survival

Arrive at Brisbane Airport (BNE) and meet your Program Leaders who will be with you for the duration of the program. Jump on a smaller plane to Gladstone (GLT) and head to the hotel to settle in, relaxing after your long flight. Join the group for an orientation discussion about the week ahead, expectations for your adventure, and an introduction to the program.

Spend the morning preparing for your time on the island. Your instructors will teach you essential skills and you’ll go through physical and psychological profiling before dividing into four teams for your time on the island.

Travel by a cargo barge to Rustic Island – a deserted island 45 miles off the coast in the Outer Great Barrier Reef. As the mainland disappears beyond the horizon with the sunset, the sense of isolation will set in and the excitement will build. When the barge pulls up in the dark, we’ll unload our gear onto the beach and set up a basic camp for tonight.

Wake up to daylight that reveals that the island is a coral cay fringed by coral reef and turquoise lagoons. The pure white sands of the island encircle vegetated forest whose only inhabitants are thousands of birds that roost in the trees. The island is an important habitat for birds and seasonally nesting turtles, and the tropical waters are abundant in marine life.

Today you’ll get an orientation to the island and go over important ground rules on how to minimize our impact. Each small team and staff will establish its own base camp around the island using only the equipment that you have brought. You’ll also be given a ration pack of food to help you survive on the island.

These six days and six nights are unscripted. You’ll compete in teams for a series of survival challenges that are carefully designed and overseen by our instructors. Our survival specialist will work with your team to teach you the essentials to ensure safety and proper technique. You will be required to create shelters, cook your own food, snorkel and spearfish, fish with hand lines, and collect and distill water. You can trade and barter supplies and food with the other teams.

During these days, time will also be allocated to learning wilderness first aid skills and completing marine and environmental service work. Contribute to ongoing marine monitoring projects by collecting data on marine life for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. Collect and remove rubbish from the beaches and lagoons, to help preserve this ecologically important environment.

Today, our island adventure will come to an end as we depart our island home. Step back onto the shores of mainland Australia, stay in a comfortable hotel with hot showers and real beds, and rest and recuperate. At the end of each program, students reflect on their experiences and the issues they engaged with, and talk about how to apply this new understanding to their own worlds. During or after their closing discussion, groups participate in Rustic Ties, a unique and powerful activity that allows students to capture the memories and learning moments of their program to process and share with their communities back home.

This morning we’ll take an early flight from Gladstone back to Brisbane. It will be a day full of fond farewells as you say goodbye to new friends and begin the journey home. Your Program Leaders will take you to the airport for your departure as you say goodbyes and reflect on your adventure.