Camp Castaway

by Belinda Murrell

  Alex took a few long, ragged breaths. He was still panting.

  ‘Try again?’ suggested Zoe.

  Alex shook the puffer and took another dose.

  Zoe listened carefully. I perched on the bench next to Ariana and watched anxiously. What if we were too late? What if the puffer didn’t work?

  ‘Pippa, could you please go and fetch Nigel?’ asked Zoe calmly. ‘I want him standing by just in case we need to phone for medical assistance.’

  Alex took another dose. I ran again, this time to the furthest tent.

  ‘Nigel. Nigel,’ I called. ‘Zoe said to come quickly. Alex can’t breathe properly.’

  I made sure Nigel was coming, then dashed back to the campfire with Nigel following me. Nigel brought his satellite phone and a lamp so he could examine Alex but the puffer finally seemed to be working.

  Gradually Alex’s wheezing eased until he was breathing normally again.

  ‘How are you feeling now, Alex?’ Zoe asked.

  ‘Much better,’ said Alex, although his voice sounded raspy. ‘I feel fine.’

  Zoe grinned at us both with relief. ‘Thank goodness. You gave us all a bit of a fright.’

  ‘I thought we’d be calling for the flying doctor,’ said Nigel, holding up the satellite phone.

  ‘No,’ said Alex, shaking his head firmly. ‘I’m okay, really.’

  ‘I think it’s best if we sit with you for a while, just to make sure,’ said Nigel. ‘And if you start wheezing again, I’ll call for the rescue helicopter to come and take you to hospital.’

  Zoe packed the puffer away in its Ziploc bag. ‘I can wait up with Alex. Why don’t you go back to bed, Nigel?’

  So Nigel said goodnight, reminding Alex to wake him if he felt at all breathless.

  Alex, Zoe, Ariana and I settled back down.

  ‘Thanks, Zoe and Ariana, for your help,’ said Alex. ‘And you too, Pippa. Thanks for finding my puffer. I don’t know where it could have got to.’

  I squirmed with embarrassment. ‘Well, actually …’

  The others looked at me. I glanced around for an escape. But then I figured the truth would come out in the morning, so I’d better come clean now.

  ‘You couldn’t find your bag because we took it,’ I confessed. ‘The other Turtle girls and I thought we’d play a prank on you boys to pay you back for putting pine cones in our beds, and collapsing our tent, and stuffing our shoes with paper towel. So we stole all your stuff.’

  ‘We didn’t put pine cones in your beds,’ said Alex indignantly. ‘Or collapse your tent … Although we did put paper towel in your shoes.’

  Zoe laughed at this admission.

  ‘Oh,’ I said, feeling foolish. ‘Well, anyway, all your stuff is hidden in the ruins.’

  Alex shrugged. ‘I told you there’d be lots of silly pranks this week.’

  ‘Well, it was very lucky that Pippa woke up and found you,’ said Zoe. ‘Otherwise it might have been much worse. Why didn’t you wake someone, Alex?’

  Now it was Alex’s turn to squirm. ‘I didn’t want to bother anyone. When I couldn’t find my puffer, I thought if I just sat up and concentrated on breathing it would get better. I would have woken you if it got really bad.’

  Zoe smiled at him. ‘Well, it if happens again, wake us up straight away.’

  Now that all the excitement had settled down I was feeling sleepy. But I didn’t want to go back to bed.

  Zoe gazed up at the stars. ‘Do you see that constellation there? That’s Orion the hunter, from Greek mythology.’

  We looked up to see where Zoe was pointing.

  ‘The three bright stars in a row are his belt, and that line of stars form his sword,’ she explained. ‘Of course, from where we are in the southern hemisphere he’s actually upside down, so he looks more like a saucepan!’

  Zoe pointed to another cluster of bright stars. ‘And over there is the Southern Cross. It doesn’t matter what time you look up at the sky, the pointer stars always help you find south.’

  The stars were beautiful but I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer. I must have drifted off to sleep because Zoe nudged me later and sent me to bed. I fell asleep thinking about all the very many good and not-so-good things that had happened in just one day.

  After all the adventures of the previous night I slept in late. I was in such a deep sleep that Meg finally came and shook me.

  ‘Wake up, Pippa,’ she said. ‘We’ve all been for a swim and eaten breakfast and now we’re on picnic-packing duty.’

  ‘Wha’?’ I said groggily.

  ‘And our prank didn’t work at all,’ said Meg. ‘The boys must have found all their stuff early this morning.’

  I remembered back to the events of last night. I think I knew who had told the boys where to find all their belongings. That would be Alex.

  I sat up, rubbing my eyes and yawning.

  ‘And you’d better come eat because we have a super-huge day today,’ said Meg. Her face was alive with excitement.

  ‘What’s happening?’ I asked.

  ‘Mrs Marshall says we’re going to snorkel over the shipwreck this afternoon,’ said Meg. ‘I can’t wait!’

  ‘I’m coming, but I can’t eat until I’ve had a swim,’ I said. ‘I feel disgusting.’

  I changed into my swimming costume and sprinted with Meg down to the beach. Olivia, Jemila and Sienna were already swimming in the lagoon. They swam over when they saw us and wished us good morning. The water was gorgeous as always and I felt transformed. Alex followed us and threw himself in the water. It was obvious he’d only just woken up too.

  Back at camp, everyone had already eaten except me and Alex. Cici was on duty with a frypan.

  ‘What’s for breakfast?’ I asked, sniffing the air. ‘It smells delicious.’

  ‘I asked Mrs M if I could raid the stores and cook this morning,’ said Cici. ‘We were meant to have scorched damper and shrivelled-up eggs, but I decided it would be a much better idea to have Cici’s incredible lemon pancakes. What do you think?’

  ‘Brilliant,’ I said.

  ‘You bet,’ said Alex. ‘I could eat a million of them.’

  I was pleased to see that Alex was back to his normal, joking self.

  ‘Lucky I saved you some,’ said Cici. ‘I had to fight off Connor or he would have scoffed the lot.’

  Cici popped a knob of butter in the frypan to melt, then poured in a swirl of pancake batter. In moments it was sizzling. Cici flipped the pancake, then slid it onto a plate. She squeezed a wedge of lemon and topped it with a sprinkle of brown sugar.

  ‘Tada,’ said Cici with a flourish. ‘Breakfast is served.’

  Charlie poured me a cup of milky tea while Cici made another pancake for Alex. I rolled mine up and ate it with my fingers. It was one of the most delicious breakfasts I’d ever eaten.

  The Turtles were on picnic-packing duty while the Porpoises washed up. Olivia and Sienna were slicing cheese and tomato into containers, while Jemila and Meg were putting crackers, juice boxes and apples into a backpack.

  ‘I won’t be long,’ I said, feeling guilty for still eating while the rest of my team were working hard.

  ‘Take your time, Pippa,’ said Olivia with a warm smile. ‘You deserved a sleep-in after staying up half the night looking after Alex.’

  ‘And it would be a shame to waste any batter,’ said Jemila. ‘Cici’s pancakes are the best.’

  ‘Why thank you,’ said Cici, with a curtsey.

  ‘Any chance of another one or two?’ asked Alex hopefully. ‘I’m still starving!’

  When the cleaning up was done, Mrs Marshall announced that this morning’s activity was rock climbing. Nigel and Zoe had set up ropes and safety harnesses to help us clamber up a steep cliff face to the top of the outcrop, which was the highest point of the island.

  It was difficult, sweaty work, but once we reached the lookout we could see forever. All around us stretched the ocean, right to the distant smudge of the mainland on the
western horizon. We crunched our cheese-and-tomato crackers on top of the rocks, then headed back to camp for our afternoon briefing.

  ‘This afternoon we’re going snorkelling out over the shipwreck of the Aphrodite,’ explained Nigel. ‘It will be low tide in half an hour, which will let you get as close as possible to the old ship.’

  I looked at Meg and the other girls with excitement. Snorkelling around an old shipwreck. What an adventure!

  ‘Over time the wreck has become part of the natural reef, so we can expect to see lots of colourful coral and some fascinating marine life,’ said Mrs Marshall. ‘If we’re really lucky we might see loggerhead or green sea turtles, dolphins or whitetip reef sharks.’

  Meg looked delighted.

  ‘Sharks!’ I exclaimed with a shudder. ‘There’s no way I’m going snorkelling if there’s sharks. We might get eaten.’

  Nigel chuckled. ‘Don’t you worry, Pippa. The reef sharks are far more frightened of you than you are of them. Plus there are hundreds of delicious fish for them to eat, so they won’t want to eat a pile of grubby kids.’

  Mrs Marshall chimed in. ‘Don’t provoke the reef sharks and you’ll be quite safe. Remember, you’re there to observe the animals, not ride them, poke them or feed them.’

  Mrs Marshall pulled out a book filled with photographs so she could prepare us for some of the sights we might see.

  ‘The Aphrodite was a timber-hulled whaling ship that ran aground on the reef during a storm back in 1895,’ she said, showing us a sketch of the old ship. ‘If you look carefully around the wreck, you can see the remains of barrels that were used to store the whale oil, an anchor and chain, and you may even find some other artefacts. The crew survived the wreck, but they lost everything on board. If you do find anything, I must ask you to leave it on the seafloor for others to enjoy in future years.’

  ‘Maybe we’ll find some treasure,’ whispered Cici. ‘Surely we wouldn’t have to leave behind gold coins or jewels.’

  Then Mrs Marshall showed us photographs of the marine creatures we might see around the reef – huge manta rays, whitetip reef sharks, loggerhead and green turtles, massive cods, blue gropers, tiny angelfish and dozens of stunning, colourful reef fish. The photographs were beautiful but we were all super-keen to see the real ones in the wreck.

  Nigel carried over a black tub filled with snorkels, flippers and masks. ‘It’s nearly low tide, so it’s time to go,’ he said.

  We each grabbed a set of snorkelling gear as well as our rash vests and dry towels from the clothesline. Everyone was chattering madly about what marine life we might spy and which creatures would be the coolest.

  ‘I think we should score points for which animals we see,’ suggested Alex. ‘Ten points for a shark, eight points for a dolphin and six points for a turtle.’

  ‘Four points for a stingray and two points for one of those huge wrasse fish or gropers,’ said Charlie.

  ‘Nothing for the little fish because there will be thousands of those,’ said Cici.

  ‘And twenty points for a whale,’ said Connor.

  ‘There won’t be any whales in the lagoon, besides it’s the wrong time of year for whales,’ said Meg. ‘They migrate in winter and spring.’

  ‘Well, twenty points for a giant octopus then,’ said Connor.

  We walked up the beach, carrying our gear and splashing along the edges of the lagoon. We set up a camp on the beach with our towels and hats. The tide was low, leaving a long swathe of wet sand.

  ‘Remember, you will see more if you are quiet and gentle,’ Nigel warned. ‘Any loud splashing or noise will scare off the fish. Enjoy!’

  We splashed into the lagoon and struck out, swimming to the shipwreck of the Aphrodite. The water lapped cool and silky around my skin. It was funny breathing through the snorkel. My breath gurgled and bubbled through the pipe. With the goggles on, I could see the bottom of the lagoon clearly: its dazzling white sand, seaweed and the odd little fish zipping away from us. I kicked lazily with my flippers, drifting with the current. Once I lost concentration and swam too deep so my snorkel filled with salty seawater, making me gasp and choke. I thrashed my way back to the surface and Charlie and Meg popped up beside me hooting with laughter.

  We gently kicked closer to the wreck. Suddenly, Meg grabbed my arm and pointed. Ahead of us was the dark shadow of the Aphrodite. It was about twenty metres long and embedded in the sand, leaning to one side.

  As we explored, we could clearly see the bow, the stern and the snapped remainder of a mast. A huge anchor lay discarded on the seabed with a coil of rusty chain. The sea was gradually claiming the wreck, eroding the iron fittings and rotting the timber hull. Brightly coloured coral in a profusion of pinks, yellows, creams, purple and orange grew on the timber skeleton and seaweed grew around the hull.

  Hundreds of tiny fish flickered in and out of the old cabins. There were striped angelfish, luminous orange clownfish, electric blue damselfish and surgeonfish, pastel green parrot fish and bright yellow butterflyfish. It was like a fairyland of magical colours.

  Charlie grabbed my wrist. A spotted eagle ray floated past, its wings gently flapping like a giant prehistoric bird. I took a deep breath, the air bubbling through my snorkel.

  We floated to the surface and looked around.

  ‘Let’s take a deep breath and dive down closer,’ said Meg. I breathed in deeply and followed Meg towards the hull. A massive blue fish, over a metre long, swam out of a dark cave in the wreck. It gave me such a fright that I spluttered and swallowed water. It looked at me curiously, then followed me like a super-friendly labrador at the park. I shot back to the surface for another breath.

  ‘Isn’t it amazing?’ asked Meg, surfacing a few moments after me. ‘Did you see that gorgeous blue groper? And the eagle ray?’

  ‘That blue groper gave me the biggest fright,’ I said. ‘It was huge!’

  ‘That made me laugh,’ said Cici. ‘You should have seen your face.’

  ‘It’s so beautiful down there with all the rainbow colours,’ said Charlie. ‘It’s like being in another world.’

  ‘Shall we swim over to the other side?’ suggested Meg. ‘I want to see what else we can discover.’

  We kept floating over the wreck, goggles facedown in the water so we didn’t miss a thing. Olivia, Jemila, Ariana and Sienna were on the other side, bobbing on the surface. Tash and Willow were a few metres away. We all drifted in the water, chatting about the fish we’d seen. Suddenly, we were joined by a visitor. A leathery green turtle popped up next to us, looking at us inquisitively as though to say hello. It had wise, brown eyes and a speckled face. Its shell was about a metre long. I couldn’t believe that we were swimming with a wild sea turtle.

  ‘Look,’ said Ariana. Her face was alight with excitement. ‘Isn’t that incredible? I’ve never seen so many amazing animals up close.’

  ‘I wonder if this is the mother of the babies we saw yesterday?’ asked Olivia.

  ‘It could be,’ said Meg with a dreamy look on her face. ‘Maybe she’s come to say thank you for saving some of her hatchlings.’

  ‘Of course she is,’ said Sienna.

  ‘Go, Team Turtle!’ I said.

  Back at camp, Olivia and I were fetching vegetables from the eskies stored in the ruins. We needed Spanish onions, garlic, red capsicum and mushrooms to make kebabs that we were going to barbecue on skewers for dinner. As we packed the ingredients into a basket, we heard voices coming from the other side of the old wall. It sounded like Connor and Rory.

  ‘Tonight we’ll play the best trick of all,’ said Connor in a low voice. Olivia and I looked at each other. I put my finger to my lips and we both froze.

  ‘We’ll put the snake in Olivia’s sleeping-bag while the girls are cooking dinner,’ continued Connor.

  Olivia looked at me in alarm. ‘Snake?’ she mouthed to me. I shrugged my shoulders and pulled an I-don’t-believe-it face.

  ‘Or maybe on her pillow?’ suggested Rory. Olivia shudde
red.

  ‘I can’t wait to hear the screams when she gets into bed,’ said Connor with a giggle.

  ‘It’ll be even funnier than when we made the girls’ tent collapse or when we put pine cones in their sleeping-bags,’ said Rory.

  ‘Saved the best till the last,’ said Connor. ‘But we have to wait until they’re busy so we can sneak into the tent.’

  The boys’ voices faded as they walked back towards camp.

  ‘Now we know who’s been playing all those pranks,’ I said.

  ‘And they’re going to put a snake in my bed,’ said Olivia with disgust.

  ‘Not if we can help it,’ I said, grinning. ‘“Forewarned is forearmed” as my dad used to say. This is the perfect opportunity to turn the whole trick around on Connor and Rory.’

  ‘What should we do?’ asked Olivia.

  I thought for a moment. How could we pay back the boys for their pranks?

  ‘I know,’ I said. ‘How about this for a plan?’ I explained my idea to Olivia and she nodded in delight.

  Olivia and I gathered up the rest of the ingredients and took them back to the others. Zoe set us to work slicing onions, mushrooms and capsicums into pieces to be threaded on skewers with chunks of marinated chicken. Olivia and I kept a cautious watch on the boys.

  We saw Rory and Connor skulking near our tent so we pretended to be busy, laughing and talking loudly. From the corner of my eye I saw the two boys slip into our tent with a bag. A moment later they ducked out again and disappeared.

  While the skewers were cooking, the other teams went down to the beach to play football.

  ‘Rory and Connor have gone to the beach,’ I whispered to Olivia.

  ‘Let’s go,’ she replied.

  The two of us crept over to our tent. We looked around to make sure no one was watching, then we sneaked inside. There, on Olivia’s perfectly made bed, was a huge black snake. It was curled up in the centre of the sleeping-bag, with its skin gleaming dully in the dim light. Even though we were expecting a snake it still gave me a shock.

  ‘Ugh,’ I said. ‘Is it alive? Is it venomous?’

  ‘It can’t be venomous,’ said Olivia. ‘The boys just want to scare us, not kill us.’