Aussie teen swims to save family
The Appelbee family, visiting from Perth, was using rented kayaks and paddle boards near Quindalup in Western Australia around midday Friday when strong winds and rough seas dragged them farther from shore. 13 year old Austin Appelbee initially tried to paddle for help on an inflatable kayak, but abandoned it when it began taking on water. Austin recalled ditching his life jacket so it wouldn’t restrict his swimming before he set off alone on a nearly four-hour-long, 2.5-mile (4-kilometer) swim that saw him battle huge waves until he ultimately reached shore and triggered a rescue that saved his mother, Joanne Appelbee, 47, his brother Beau, 12, and his sister Grace, 8, police said.
“The waves are massive, and I have no life jacket on.… I just kept thinking, ‘Just keep swimming, just keep swimming,’” Austin said on Tuesday. “And then I finally I made it to shore, and I hit the bottom of the beach and I just collapsed.” A search helicopter later found Joanne and the two younger children clinging to a paddleboard while wearing life jackets around 8:30 p.m. They had drifted about nine miles (14 kilometers) from shore and spent up to 10 hours in the water, police said. “The actions of the 13-year-old boy cannot be praised highly enough — his determination and courage ultimately saved the lives of his mother and siblings,” said Police Inspector James Bradley. Joanne Appelbee said sending her eldest son for help was the hardest decision she has ever made.
A search helicopter later found Joanne and the two younger children clinging to a paddleboard while wearing life jackets around 8:30 p.m “One of the hardest decisions I ever had to make was to say to Austin: ‘Try and get to shore and get some help,’” Joanne told Australian Broadcasting Corp. She said the group tried to stay positive as conditions worsened, but fear set in as night approached and help had not yet arrived. “We kept positive, we were singing, and we were joking, and … we were treating it as a bit of a game until the sun started to go down and that’s when it was getting very choppy. Very big waves,” she said. By the time rescuers arrived, all three were shivering, and Beau had lost feeling in his legs due to the cold, his mother said. When the rescue teams found the family, they were pulled from the water and returned to shore in a volunteer marine rescue vessel. “Thankfully, all three people were wearing life jackets, which contributed to their survival,” he said.
Awesome Aussie Absurdities
I just watched an Australian cooking show and the audience cheered when the chef made meringue.
I was surprised…usually Australians boo meringue.
What is the difference between yogurt and Australia?
Yogurt has some culture.
Did you know that camels aren’t indigenous to Australia? The Brits shipped them there.
Oddly enough, they shipped the Australians too.
A man walks into an Australian shop,
“G’day, do you have any endless expansive desert?”
“Not sure” says the shop clerk, “I’ll have to check if we have any outback.”
February 4th Birthdays
1989 – Dallas Lovato, 1984 – Natalie Krill, 1996 – Aimee Lou Wood, 1913 – Rosa Parks
1945 – David Brenner, 1906 – Bonhoeffer, 1746 – Tadeusz Kosciuszko, 1987 – Andrew Gray