My father has shared with me tales of Indigenous peoples, telling me the first Indigenous people to walk the Noosa land, where my family lives, were called the Gubbi Gubbi people.

My father gave me a speed boat last month for me to explore our oceans and surrounding land. It came with two paddles and an emergency kit just in case I got into a difficult situation. I decided to spend my weekend and use the perfect sunny day to go fishing on my new boat and explore the ocean and land of the Gubbi Gubbi People.

As I sailed out into the ocean, I stopped to do some fishing. As I was fishing, I was thinking of the Indigenous people that were here before us and what they would have used to hunt for their fish and how well they would have known these waters. I wanted to stretch my legs and go for a little walk on an island close by, so I started sailing towards it. As I approached the island, I stepped off my boat and secured it.

The sun was gleaming into my eyes as I began walking in the hot, loose sand. While I was walking, I realised my water bottle did not have a single drop of water, I was thirsty. My mouth became as dry as a
desert when I suddenly heard the noise of flowing water close by. I was eager to follow this sound of flowing water and so I did. With much excitement it led me to a magnificent waterfall with a big fresh waterhole, I was amazed.

Once I caught my breath, I ran down
as fast as I could and as soon as I reached the waterhole, I took a huge gulp of fresh water. My body was instantly refreshed.
I could see a cave behind the waterfall and as I walked into this cave, I could see amazing Aboriginal paintings on the walls. The paintings were of the Gubbi Gubbi people drinking from this waterhole and a creek leading to the ocean.

I decided to follow the freshwater creek that led to the ocean as seen in the painting. As I walked along the creek bed I
looked up to the sky and thought of all the great things Indigenous people have taught us, their hunting skills, their knowledge of what is in our waters, the food we eat and survival.

As I got to the end of the creek bed where I could see the freshwater meet and come
together with the salt water of the ocean. I stopped and thought, here the fresh water
from the waterhole and creek is meeting the salty water of the ocean. They are all mixed in together, like us people. We are all different, but we come together and unite as one just like fresh and saltwater.