interview with the BBC<\/a>, Joanne explained the situation escalated rapidly while she was playing in the water with Austin and his younger siblings Beau, 12, and Grace, 8. It started with \u201ca bit of fun\u201d with two paddleboards and a kayak in shallow water at the beach, when the children \u201cwent out a bit too far\u201d.<\/p>\n\u201cThe wind picked up and it went from there,\u201d she said. \u201cWe lost oars, and we drifted out further … It kind of all went wrong very, very quickly.<\/p>\n
\u201cEarly on, we sent this young man [Austin] back in to try and get help because it didn\u2019t look like we were that far from the shoreline,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
While Austin swam for the shore, Joanne and the children drifted further out to sea, soon losing sight of him.<\/p>\n
The sun set and the waves grew increasingly large. Wearing life jackets, they struggled to grab on to the boards.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had assumed Austin had made it a lot quicker than he had,\u201d Joanne said.<\/p>\n
As more time passed, she questioned whether her plan had worked.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf he hasn\u2019t made it, what have I done? Have I made the wrong decision, and is anyone going to come and save my other two?\u201d<\/p>\n
But Austin swam 4km until he reached the shore.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was thinking about Mum, Beau and Grace \u2026 When I hit the floor I thought, how am I on land right now, is this a dream?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter that, I had to sprint 2km to get to the phone.\u201d<\/p>\n
He reached his mother\u2019s bag and rang emergency services at about 6pm local time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said, \u2018I need helicopters, I need planes, I need boats, my family\u2019s out at sea.\u2019 I was very calm about it. I think it was just a lot of shock.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the call, he passed out from exhaustion and was taken to the hospital where he called his father.<\/p>\n
He wasn\u2019t sure if his mother and siblings were still alive.<\/p>\n
Out at sea it was dark and freezing cold. Joanne had been struggling to keep hold of her younger children, and feared the worst.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had assumed Austin hadn\u2019t made it,\u201d she said. \u201cWe couldn\u2019t see anything coming to save us. It was very much getting to that point where we are on our own.\u201d<\/p>\n
The search party found the family drifting in the ocean and clinging to a paddleboard about 14km (9 miles) offshore.<\/p>\n
At the time, Joanne was desperately trying to reach the children, who were floating away after getting flipped off the board by a large wave.<\/p>\n
Joanne heard Grace screaming, but couldn\u2019t hear Beau, until they turned off the boat\u2019s engine and could locate him.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was an absolute nightmare,\u201d she told the BBC.<\/p>\n
Minutes after calling his father, Austin received the news they had been found. He said doctors and police officers were jumping up and down with joy.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a moment I will never forget,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Joanne said she could only relax when the same ambulance worker who picked up Austin was able to confirm he too had survived.<\/p>\n
Austin Appelbee (right) and his brother Beau, mother Joanne and sister Grace (L-R). Photograph: Briana Shepherd\/ABC News<\/p>\n
The family were treated at hospital for minor injuries.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was an absolute perfect ending to have them all well and happy and sore but no injuries,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Austin is still processing the ordeal, but has made it back to school already \u2013 on crutches \u2013 because his legs were so sore.<\/p>\n
He praised the \u201creally quick response\u201d from emergency services and the \u201clovely ambulance crew\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t think I was a hero, I just did what I did,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Austin told the ABC he started swimming lessons when he was four and did VacSwim \u2013 water safety lessons for children \u2013 but had previously found it \u201cquite tiring\u201d to swim 350 metres without having a break.<\/p>\n
Police inspector James Bradley thanked those involved in the rescue mission and said it was a reminder that ocean conditions can change rapidly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joanne Appelbee says asking her 13-year-old son Austin to swim four hours through dangerous waters to get help…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":406710,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-406709","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=406709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406709\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/406710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}