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Two days’ news in one post today – why? The group’s dynamics are coming to a head and although it’s starting slowly, there are big changes coming…
If you’ve been following this from Day 1, you’ll know that I collect the journals of the 10 islanders every three days, and post them day by day. Of course this means I’m posting news that’s a little behind events as they happen.
Which is why I’m posting two days together here: big changes are unfolding, and I want to pass them on as they happen.
We know the debate between the ‘sitters’ and the ‘explorers’: some want to lie low, conserving energy so as to survive the full 30 days, while the others want to range over the island, looking for alternative food sources. Like true explorers, their feet are getting itchier.
We know Jono has already stated that he will not continue to the full 30 days; and now, on Day 16, Lisa too has written that she has decided to leave.
She justifies her decision as follows: ‘I have done all the adventuring I’m allowed to do within the ‘rules’ and I’m no longer learning new survival skills, as group energy levels are low and everyone is doing the bare minimum to get by. I’m not prepared sit and starve my way to 30 days.’
By Day 17, people are talking openly about leaving the island – if not in their journals, then to each other. Huenu, of course, has vowed to stay the distance, and she’s not impressed with those who won’t: ‘I see any excuse as avoidable at this stage as there are solutions to the food problem, plus lethargy is part of the game. So if you can’t deal with it, it means you simply weren’t tough enough to make it.’
For our survival expert, Hein Vosloo, the crucial flaw in this survival adventure is that the islanders know they need make it only to Day 30 – that’s when their return to real life is guaranteed.
‘I believe this whole journey would have worked much better with no end pick-up date,’ he says. ‘The survivors should have been dropped and then survived until they were satisfied of their achievements or left when they feel they had had enough. This would have changed the whole sitting
dynamics of this journey.’
So life and routine remains the same on the island, and the days are dragging along – for now.
Nick writes: ‘Things are slowing down – our movements, the days, our speech. It’s as though everything on the island is in slow motion. It takes about five minutes to walk 100 metres. Smiles are fast disappearing, even that takes energy.’
But there’s a storm brewing and the dynamics are changing – watch this space…
