The Daily Populous Thursday February 5th, 2026 evening edition
Authored by abc.net.au and submitted by abcnews_au

It was the last day of the summer holidays and Joanne Appelbee and her three children were determined to make the most of it.

They'd been staying at a beachfront resort along Geographe Bay, a stunning curve of coastline in Western Australia's picturesque South West.

It's a calm and peaceful spot, popular with families, especially in the January school holidays, with hotels and other holiday bungalows lining the shore.

The family were keen on one last trip to the beach before making the 280 kilometre drive back to their home in Gidgegannup, on Perth's eastern outskirts.

Conditions seemed perfect on Friday morning.

The family set off from Quindalup Beach, near Busselton.

The sun was shining on a warm 29-degree day and Quindalup Beach appeared calm and flat.

Setting out a picnic rug and bag on the sand in front of the hotel, Joanne made sure her three kids — eight-year-old Grace, 12-year-old Beau and 13-year-old Austin — were slathered in sunscreen.

The family had arranged to rent two inflatable stand-up paddleboards and a small kayak from their hotel from 10am to midday, but by the time Joanne got the kids sorted with their life jackets on, it was about 11am when they hit the water.

With Grace on the back of her paddleboard, Beau in the kayak and Austin on the other paddleboard, the family was enjoying frolicking in the shallows.

"It seemed nice and calm to begin with," Joanne said — but conditions began to change as the wind picked up.

The first signs of trouble began after midday.

First Austin lost his oar, and then Joanne's board flipped when she tried to help him. When Beau came out to try and help with the kayak, Joanne's oar was also lost, leaving the family drifting out to sea.

Clambering into the kayak and lashing the paddleboards to it, Joanne tried to tow the three kids in as they clung to the boards, but this proved fruitless as the little boat began filling with water.

Changing positions, with Austin in the kayak, didn't work.

As their situation worsened, Joanne knew she had to do whatever she could to ensure the family's survival.

So she sent Austin, paddling in the leaky kayak, to shore to seek help.

"It was horrible … it was one of the hardest decisions as a mum I've had to make," she told ABC Radio Perth.

"But I couldn't … leave the kids at sea so I had to make some sort of decision to save us because there was nobody around.

Believing it would take the teenager "about an hour, hour and a half" to reach the shore, Joanne set about reassuring her two youngest children as they waited for help to arrive.

Meanwhile, Austin soon found himself battling choppy seas in a kayak that continued to take on water.

Austin Appelbee has made international headlines after saving his family from drowning. (ABC News: Briana Shepherd)

Geographe Bay, like most of Australia's coastline, sees its fair share of sharks.

The day before the family's ordeal, a three-metre bronze whaler shark had been spotted off the coast just a few kilometres away, while a two-metre shark was reported at Quindalup the day after.

Austin tried to stay positive as he worked out how to get to shore.

"I was fighting rough seas and then I thought I saw something in the water and I was really scared," he said.

"And I was just thinking ... was I going to make it through?"

With the wind continuing to batter the small kayak, which was still taking on water, Austin decided to swim for the beach, removing his life jacket in the process which was hampering his strokes.

The 13-year-old had recently finished a school holiday swimming program — but was not allowed to progress to the next level after struggling to swim 350 metres continuously.

Yet somehow, out in the open ocean amid choppy seas, and with his family's lives depending on it, he managed.

Thoughts of Thomas the Tank Engine

For four gruelling kilometres, Austin used a combination of survival backstroke, freestyle and breaststroke to propel himself to shore, forcing himself to think positively as he did so.

"I've got a girlfriend and I was thinking about her the whole time," he said.

"And at this time, you know, the waves are massive, and I have no life jacket on … I just kept thinking, 'Just keep swimming, just keep swimming.'

"I think at one point I was thinking of Thomas the Tank Engine. You know, trying to get the happiest things in my head, and trying to make it through."

Austin tried to reach land on his kayak before it took on water in rough seas, then swam the rest of the way. (ABC News: Briana Shepherd)

Austin prayed as he battled through the waves.

"I just said 'not today, not today, I have to keep on going'."

Incredibly, Austin made it to shore after four hours, his legs buckling under him as he collapsed on the sand.

But he knew he had to get help for his family as soon as he could, so he ran a further two kilometres down the beach back to his family's picnic rug, using his Mum's phone to call Triple Zero.

"I said, 'I need helicopters, I need planes, I need boats, my family's out at sea," he said.

Back out at sea, Joanne's hopes were fading as fatigue set in.

She had tied the children to the paddleboards using leg ropes, and the trio were doing their best to cling on amid a strong swell and continuous waves that frequently up-ended the boards.

Joanne has also been hailed a hero for keeping her son and daughter together while waiting for help. (ABC News: Briana Shepherd)

She had hoped the hotel she had hired the kayak and paddleboards from would have raised the alarm when the family failed to return their equipment after the allotted two hours, but as the light began to fade, she realised that had not happened.

"Many things went through my head," she told ABC Radio Perth.

"It was the end, it was definitely the end.

"My Mum is in Ireland … I remember looking up at the sky going 'Mum if you can hear me, just light that holy candle for me'."

But Joanne knew she had to comfort her children, so she kept them talking and singing, discussing what they might eat for dinner and scenes from a favourite film.

"We have learned and made up a lot of new songs and changed the words, we talked a lot about [Disney character] Moana … we were looking for a dolphin that maybe we could cling onto and float in on," she said.

Joanne and her family spoke to reporters before school on Tuesday morning. (ABC News: Briana Shepherd)

The waves got bigger as the sun set, Joanne said, and she began to fear Austin had not made it.

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"We were cold, we were shaking, and Beau had lost feeling in his legs," she said.

Then a wave swept the trio off the boards again — and this time the family became separated, Joanne losing her reading glasses in the process.

"Towards the end, a big wave hit all of a sudden, and my little sister and I were like on a weird angle, and it flipped us off, and we floated away from Mum," 12-year-old Beau said.

Miraculously, a rescue helicopter appeared overhead soon afterward, after 8:30pm, followed by a boat which spotted Joanne and pulled her aboard.

Volunteers point out the location of the rescue in Geographe Bay. (ABC South West WA: Madigan Landry)

But the exhausted mother did not know where her youngest children were — nor whether her eldest had survived his huge swim for help.

"When the boat came and picked me up, and I screamed at them that there were two kids [still] in the water … I called for Grace, and I could hear her, and I still couldn't hear Beau.

"I called out to kill the engine, and all of a sudden, I heard this little voice … and we picked them up, and it was the best feeling in the world.

"But I still didn't know about Austin … So it was very, very frightening."

By this time, Austin had been taken to Busselton Health Campus for medical assessment, and feared his mum and siblings had not made it.

"I didn't know where they were or how they were and I thought they were dead," the teenager said.

" I had a lot of guilt in my heart. I thought, 'Oh man, I wasn't fast enough.' "

As it turned out, Austin's courageous swim was indeed fast enough.

A map showing roughly where the family was found in Geographe Bay, and the wind speed. (ABC News)

His heroic efforts sparked a multi-agency rescue operation that saved his family at a critical juncture, with Naturaliste Marine Rescue commander Paul Bresland describing his efforts as "superhuman".

South West Police Inspector James Bradley was also full of praise.

"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," he said.

The family was reunited at the hospital.

Mum Joanne could not be more proud.

"There's no bigger word to describe him other than proud," she said.

"I'm speechless at his efforts ... but at the same time, I knew he could do it.

"We made it, we're alive, and that's the most important thing. And I have three babies. All three of them made it. That was all that mattered."

It is a remarkable survival story that has made international headlines.

"It's been a tough ride, I haven't processed it all yet," Austin told the BBC.

Godloseslaw on February 5th, 2026 at 04:16 UTC »

"You wanna know how I did it, Anton? I never saved anything for the swim back."

Vincent

One_Cantaloupe_9522 on February 5th, 2026 at 02:23 UTC »

It’s nice to actually read good stories on Reddit once in a while, thank you for sharing.

chillguy44 on February 5th, 2026 at 02:03 UTC »

People really should read the article. “The 13-year-old had recently finished a school holiday swimming program — but was not allowed to progress to the next level after struggling to swim 350 metres continuously.” So can’t swim 350 meters (383 yards) without struggling but with his and his families life on the life he swam 4 kilometers(2.5 miles)! Oh and then he ran another 2 kilometers once ashore to get to the phone to be able to call for help. This kid went through some superhero shit those 4 hours, just absolutely incredible what the human body can do when pushed to the brink and determined to keep going. Hero doesn’t do Austin Applebee justice.