by Angelina Moore

Created on: June 21, 2008   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

It was the holiday of a lifetime, my family and I was taking our vacation "down under" in Australia. It was going to be three weeks of pure bliss. We planned to have an adventure travelling around, never knowing where we were going to stay next. I was 10 years old at the time and so happy when we finally boarded the plane to mark the beginning of this exciting journey.

Once we had landed in Brisbane, I was on top of the moon. We hired a car from the airport and was about to start the beginning of this exciting adventure. We travelled around for the next week visiting many places including the Great Barrier Reef, where we went snorkeling to see the beautiful fish and coral. It was amazing!

One day we decided to travel from the Whitsunday islands to a beautiful place called Daydream Island. You could only get there by boat so my parents decided to hire a one out. I was so excited.

Finally we were out to sea, I decided to steer the boat although I was not very good, a bit wobbly! I had a hairy experience as I nearly steered the boat into some jagged rocks that stuck out over the sea. Well, that was the end of that and my dad took over, I couldn't be trusted!

We were having a great time; the sun was shining and the sea from glistening from the reflection of the sun. It was true paradise. I could feel the suns rays on my skin; I never wanted that moment to end.

Daydream Island was in the horizon, and then the nightmare began. The steering has stopped working on our boat; we were stranded in the middle of the ocean. My parents tried everything they could to try and get the boat working but their efforts were unsuccessful. It was getting late and it seemed that all hope was lost, we had no idea how were going to get help and we had to get back to return the boat that we had hired, time was getting on.

As a last resort my dad decided to swim to shore and get help so that we could all return to safety. We had brought some swimming gear with us so that we could snorkel along the sea shore, so he put on some flippers and jumped into the water. The Island didn't look too far away; it seemed like the only solution. That left, my mum, sister and me on the boat. We watched my dad swim away as far as the eye could see and then he disappeared into the distance. It was going to be like a waiting game now. We wanted to see if my dad had swum to shore safely.

A few minutes passed although it seemed like hours and a ferry that had a few passengers on the deck was coming in our direction.

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