Fancy being flown on a tiny joy ride plane to an island with 15 other people and being left there for 2-3 days? Well that’s pretty much what Castaway is – granted camp is already set up including tents, matraze, fire and cooking spot, eskies, and a box which is suppose to be a toilet -no shower! But otherwise you are literally deserted on the island with a bunch of other people you have never met and more creepy animals than you can imagine.

I booked this trip without really knowing what it entailed, having been recommended it by a backpackers girl I met in a Pub in Bisbane one month ago. But it was something worth doing even just for the plane ride – I'll get to that in a minute. I think I paid something about 200$ but it all depends who you speak to, to what price the trip actually costs.

Bruce the pilot is the first person you meet and he lived up to everything I had heard about him! The whole castaway thing was his own idea and is made possible because he owns a plane and leases the land for the island. You are taken to a tiny air field where Bruce keeps his little plane – and I mean little. It has a prop at the front and can only take three passengers plus Bruce, but each trip the plane is always full. I was actually the lucky one who was the co-pilot.

I had heard a lot about the flight but that still didn’t prepared me for what happened after take-off. Flying over the sea towards the ocean and Bruce cuts the engine and plunges us straight down! Being in the front and able to hear what he is saying over the headset I was still not prepared for it and the adrenaline was pumping through all of us. It is a simular feeling as you might know from a free fall tower which every Kirmis have.

He then continued with the silly antics turning sharply to one side then the other, continuously shooting up then dropping down. It was what you’d call a joy ride and omg so much fun! As awesome it was, after the flight I felt sick and to throw out, which I didn't.

The island itself was called Middle Island and during high tide was cut off from other parts of the island to make it 1km by 3km. After landing on the beach, meeting the regulars and grabbing a tent, me and two girls were so excited to paddle in the waves. So we took 3 kayaks and paddled around the corner where we had to struggle with more currents.

After all people of our group arrived which was actually 12 girls and 3 guys (-I can't believe girls are more into survival trips than guys!) we got a short briefing about the island, food, rules and surving tips when you got bitten by a snake or spider. Also we got a knife for cracking oysters. After the instruction most of us were so excited of eating fresh oysters that we headed to the slippery rocks. It was such an experience to crack it with a knife and a stone and also delicious!

After that, equipped with a spear and basket, we headed off to walk around the island to a spot where we expected big crabs (for dinner ;-) We headed on a path up to the lighthouse – feeling like you are being watched by animals every step of the way and with the path slightly overgrown it was a little sketchy. We passed a spider sized of a human handq. Somehow I am more curious than fear this animals :-) We headed down to the creek and that was a beautiful walk – bright red/orange ground contrasted by turquoise blue water and raised patches of white sand. It looks similar to the amazing landscape of the Whitsunday’s Island.

Unfortunately the tide was too high for chasing crabs but Martin found a coconut. He cracked it with spear and stone, when an super disgusting smell came out! But the inside looked good so he tried it and said that it is drinkable. It took time to overcome of the horrible smell, but I tried it and at least I think it wasn't drinkable! Bah!

We were provided with fire pit, which was actually only an annouying smoke, for the evening fun. Three irish girls cooked our dinner of beef stew. These girls were the same who were singing titanic songs in the night next to my tent!

The night was a night of drinking and socialising with the other people on the trip – how good the night is just depends entirely on the group. Our night could have been better but at the same time it would have been a lot worse! I tried two cups of gun (the cheapest wine in the world) and got headache the day after.

The next day a new 'guide' arrived. In fact he is just a backpacker like we all are who had contacted Bruce at a point when he happened to need people to man the island. He get paid in food and self made beer and whiskey, free accommodation. He has already done the trip one week ago and knew the path to the caves. Equipped with a torch, 1,5l water, suitable sandals and a camera I headed with my group through a fantastic landscape of jungle, beach and red rocks. It was only possible to walk and climp up the way because of low tide. Otherwise the path would have been flooded. There was just a small cave enry to discover but the climbing part was just great! We walked back to a high viewpoint to see the amazing sunset. Good I was prepared with my torch to walk back safely.

Overall the trip lived up to everything I had heard – especially the plane ride and the nature. My highlight was definitely to crack and eat fres oysters, climbing on the rocks, noises of creepy animals and the nature of this unique island!