30 young people, 1 paradise campsite, 3 days of survival. Is it heaven... or hell?

Somewhere in the middle of the Victorian coastline lies the nicest campsite you are ever likely to see. Surrounded by the clearest turquoise water and wineries, Greyfriars is an inexpensive heaven nestling in the Mt Eliza part of the Mornington Peninsula. From this campsite Channel 23 brings you a unique television event. Getwrecked is an observational documentary series about thirty people, all under the age of 250, who have been left to survive on their own for 2 nights, 3 days. With limited food and alcohol the castaways have to rely on each other to get by.

Journal of Getwrecked... days 1 to 3

Friday, 6pm

On their arrival, many of the 30 'wreckers (as they came to be known) were cheerful, full of the expectation that their time here was to be a simple cruise through the weekend.

Friday, 7pm

To pass the time, a few people started board games.

Friday, 7.30pm

"This is a breeze", says Erin. We can handle this all weekend, how hard can it be. "So you're not worried about the breakdown of law and order?" "Oh hardly, we're civilised people after all."

Fri, 11pm

Ken and Emma are concerned about the amount of food disappearing from the meager stores, and perform a quick stocktake - the results are not reassuring.

Saturday, 9am

Some of the 'wreckers have grown bored with playing boardgames, and wander off to find something to do.

Saturday, 10am

The games have been going all night, and for those who have remained at the tables the stakes have risen. After the stocktake of available food was made, toast suddenly rose to being worth as much as gold. Some of the 'wreckers are getting tense.

Saturday, 10.30am

However, the more resilient 'wreckers are still fairly nonchalant about the whole situation, sitting and chatting about normal day to day things.

Saturday, 12pm

To take their minds off the possibility of being forgotten by the world at large, it is proposed to visit the nearby beachfront. The majority of the 'wreckers gasp at this act of bravery, but some gallant fools traipse down to the shore, ignoring the bright sun and lapping waves.

Saturday, 2pm

Once the weather turned a bit duller, even the beachgoers were forced to return to the campsite. Tempers are starting to fray, and it is announced that lunch was to be the last full meal - from now on, everyone is on 1/2 rations until they are rescued. People collect in small groups, but unlike this morning, chatter is limited and the long silences start to stretch out.

Saturday, 4pm

The last cigarettes for 20 kilometres are smoked. Kyle: "This isn't funny any more. Its like its not a game any more."

Saturday, 5pm

People are no longer sitting about because they are enjoying the break from their civilised ways. Instead they are now sprawl across pathways on their own, conserving energy and looking speculatively at passersby.

Saturday, 6pm

Cooking dinner requires some concentration and supervision to reassure people that nothing is being wasted. Ian is concerned that Danny might spill some of the peas. A scuffle breaks out when Ian hits Danny for dropping a shrivelled pea on the floor.

Saturday, 6.30pm

"I don't believe this is all we have to eat." The true nature of the 'wreckers predicament is starting to make itself felt amongst some of the 30 strong group. Up till now, it was a game, or an adventure. Bellies are seriously empty now, and some are beginning to get desperate.

Saturday, 7pm

Sarah has turned to drinking to take her mind of their situation, and she is not alone. The 'wreckers begin to grow more morose and introverted, lost in their own despair and the hopelessness of it all.

Saturday, 8pm

Suspicions grow that the cooks are hoarding food for themselves.

Saturday, 9pm

Unconstrained by the weight of social convention or the pressure of the expectations of their fellow civilised beings, some of the 'wreckers are reverting to primitive behaviour, bizarre mating rituals, strange artforms and efforts to make someone die from blushing. This behaviour begins with one or two of the 'wreckers, but quickly spreads through the social chains. It does not bode well for any of them surviving the weekend with their sanity intact.

Saturday, 10pm

Kate appears to snap quietly under the strain of this ongoing trial. She begins to develop a plan to control the population of the campsite herself, becoming a feudal lord of some variety. She is spotted moving from room to room and smiling in what was later described as a proprietry fashion.

Saturday, 11pm

The reversion has reached a new low - fire worship, and the reverence of those who can create and control fire. Groups of 'wreckers gather out on the open plain near the campsite, and taking advantage of their heightened state, Kate works them into a frenzy (presumably as part of her effort to conquer these barbarian lands), before ordering storming the kitchen and making off with much of the remaining food. Those who have kept their veneer of civilisation eventually fight them off, but at the cost of a number of deaths on both sides.

Sunday, 1am

Foraging through the bushland in the dark, Richard comes across some berries that he insists are edible.

Sunday, 1.20am

As their hunger overcomes their fear that they may be poisoned, Benji and Anthony try some of the berries.

Sunday, 2am

An angry Erin bursts in to the main room, demanding to know who has stolen some of her clothes. "Maybe it blew away in the wind", said Ken, shivering above the suspiciously well-burning fire. "Do you honestly expect me to believe that?", accused Erin.

Sunday, 3.30am

Half starved and poisoned by the hallucinagenic berries, Anthony and Benji sneak up on the sleeping Richard and, in their own words "take the badness out".

Sunday, 5am

Ken and Julian are relieved from their nightwatch on the kitchen. After the riot at Sat 11.30pm, no one was allowed within 50 metres of the food except these two, and the need to stay alert has obviously worn them out.

Sunday, 8.30am

Ken: "No one cares, they're not coming to get us, it doesn't matter if we die here. To everyone else, we may as well not exist."

Kate: "We're like ghosts or something."

Sunday, 12pm

One last ember of sanity bursts into flame as some of the 'wreckers start to seriously plan their own rescue from this idyllic hell-hole. They are eventually able to construct a small wooden vessel for the survivors, and feasting on the flesh of those who fell in the attack the night before, they survive the harrowing 60km trip across wild, open surburbia to return home.

Page last updated: 14 February 2001
Maintained Badly by: Monash University Roleplayers
What lies below here is all evil lies and half truths.