'A gap year? What are you talking about? Your whole life is one continuous gap year.' Parents may be sceptical, but here is an advocate: Barry McStay, currently juggling newfound freedom with responsibility at a school in Sydney.
The Australians have a saying: "We're not isolated from the rest of the world, the world is isolated from us." Who am I to argue with that thinking? The land down under, the antipodean home of the didgeridoo, the kangaroo, Vegemite and Steve Irwin, is one of those destinations that has a certain allure for the British and Irish especially, as witnessed by the high numbers of gap students and travellers from these islands who flock to Oz every year.
A few misconceptions about Australia need to be cleared up. First, kangaroos are not kept as pets and ridden bareback through the streets. Second, most people there find Irwin, aka the Crocodile Hunter, more irritating than losing the Rugby World Cup final to England. Third, savage packs of dingoes do not roam the country by night, seeking out babies to steal. Fourth, Foster's is "Australian for p**s". And fifth, just to confirm it officially, the Australians are the most self-absorbed race on the planet. Very friendly people, but they certainly enjoy rubbing your face in it when one of their own achieves some success, be it major or minor.
I know this because last July I went to Australia for a year. Straight out of Clongowes Wood College, the all-boys boarding school in Co Kildare, I went to work at St Joseph's College in the Hunters Hill area of Sydney. It is a Marist high school of about 950 students, all boys, about two-thirds of them boarding. There were four of us gap students: me, Freddy (also ex-Clongowes) and two Pommies, Fred and Tom. It was a pretty huge step, making the transition from the insulated bubble of a boarding school to having to fend for ourselves 15,000 kilometres from home. What with worrying about work, and maintaining a school-owned apartment at a respectable level of cleanliness, it was a very steep learning curve.
Funnily enough, the Australian kids in year eight (the equivalent of our second year) had their own ideas about our little green isle. On my first night in the dormitory I was asked: "So, are you from the good part of Ireland or the bad part?" Diplomatically, I asked whether he meant the North or the South. The boy replied: "Oh, you know, the bit where they hate the Pope or the bit where they hate the Queen?" I decided against trying to explain 800 years of history.
Another 14-year-old sympathised with me: "It must have been difficult for you to learn English before coming over here." I explained that Irish isn't spoken widely in Ireland, after which another voice piped up: "Yeah, and Irish is only English in a weird accent anyway." By the time I came across two boys who were easily convinced of the existence of a colony of basket-weaving leprechauns in Leitrim, I was beginning to doubt Australians' knowledge of the outside world.
At Joey's, as everyone calls the college, we were kept pretty busy (7am rises for gardening duty were not what we expected), but the work was generally very enjoyable and the pay was good, considering accommodation and food were provided. We coached rugby in the winter, and tried to convert the Aussies to the notion that forwards are equally as useful as backs. You want to know why the Australians are so good at this game? Just see how big and skilful they are at only schoolboy level.
Then, in the blazing summer heat, I passed on my knowledge of cricket to the mighty Under-14Cs, most of who were better cricketers than me. But that's what this gap year is about, giving everything a go. It was a bit daunting at first, having to make the change from student to staff member, and naturally it was difficult to maintain a dual role of responsible disciplinarian and big-brother figure. This was a delicate balancing act that not all gappies can cope with.
Being in Sydney, of course, there was plenty to see and do for the young, carefree 19-year-old. I did the usual thing of getting lost in the city within a couple of days of arrival - there's no better way to see new places. How amazing it was to be able to take a ferry into the city, under Sydney Harbour Bridge, pass by the opera house and land beside the Royal Botanic Gardens. What I couldn't get over was that despite the immensity of the city, its buildings and its population (four million - the same as Ireland), I never got the feeling that anyone was rushing. Australia and its people have a built-in laid-back vibe.
I doubt there is a city with better nightlife. Every gap-student group eventually builds up links with other gappies in the city and meets up in the same pubs and clubs. Scubar on Mondays, Greenwood on Thursdays, Darling Harbour and The Rocks at the weekend, Scruffy Murphy's for any Ireland matches, Kingscross when you're desperate - familiar names to anyone who has been on a gap year in Sydney. And spending New Year's Eve on Sydney Harbour is an experience I will never forget.
Beyond getting to meet the stunning female population of Australia, the gap year is an incomparable opportunity to see places others have only heard of. Byron Bay and Surfers Paradise are the spiritual holiday destination for many gappies. Taking a bus from Cairns down the coast to Sydney is an excellent, and reasonably cheap, way to see the countryside. Canberra, Melbourne, Perth, Darwin: Australia has a host of great cities, each with its own attractions.
Perhaps it's the fact that Oz is so far from Ireland that attracts us to it. Maybe it's the fact that our convict predecessors helped build the country (and Aussies have an American-style penchant for proclaiming their Irishness). Whatever it is, Australia is a fantastic destination for young people, and the gap year is a wonderful way to take a year's break from education. You learn an awful lot very quickly while enjoying yourself. Try everything and regret nothing. It is a year of work and play, new experiences and challenges, which makes the change from teenager to twentysomething that much easier.
Madventurer, a specialist gap-trip organiser based in Newcastle, England, has places available on projects in Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Peru, Bolivia, Trinidad and Tobago and the south Pacific. Madventurer is also running five-week tsunami-relief projects in Sri Lanka, India and Thailand this summer. Madventurer HQ, Hawthorn House, Forth Banks, Newcastle NE1 3SG, England, 00-44-845-1211996, www.madventurer.com. Check out also a new website run by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office for gap-year takers, www.gogapyear.com, and www.vso.org.uk, for Voluntary Service Overseas.