My Fishing Misadventure Turned Wild!
     Story by miss Chloe.B And Her Creative Writing Group
              from St John of God And Written by Martin.


It's the long weekend, And you're gone for a fishing trip to the Murray River at Echuca with your younger brother David and your brother-in-law, Charlie. Your brother-in-law Charlie is married to your sister and is about the same age as you. He's a vegetarian, but strangely enough he still likes to go fishing- he just doesn't like to eat what you catch! 
That's no problem for you and your brother 
David- you can't wait to catch some fish for dinner.

You've gone fishing in a little metal boat with an outboard motor called a "tinnie", because that's what it's made of. Even though it's got a motor, you made sure to bring some paddles along in case the engine doesn't want to start, which happens to a lot of these boats. You've also packed your lunches, because you know you'll all be the whole day. In your little tinnie you've got some tinned spaghetti, bananas, strawberries, and baked beans.

This is the first morning of the trip and you've gotten up early, found a quiet spot on the river, and just started fishing straight away. The three of you keep throwing out the net and setting your fishing lines, but mostly you don't catch anything. It doesn't really matter though, because you're all having fun just bring out on the river.

The morning started off sunny and clear, but in the afternoon the clouds start to come over.
It looks like rain is on its way.

"What should we do about the weather?" you ask the others.

"Maybe we should jump in the boat and call it a day before the weather gets too heavy", 
says your younger brother.

But your brother-in-law Charlie has other ideas. "Why don't we wait and see if the weather goes around?" he says. With David and Charlie unable to agree it's up to you to decide what to do

"let's get off that river in case the weather turns really bad," you say. the others agree and you land the tinnie on a sheltered looking bend of the river.

"Why don't we put up a tarp over some trees?" says your younger brother David. "That way we can shelter under it if the rain comes down." This sounds like a good idea and you all get to work.

Suddenly, the storm hits. It's a huge tempest- the skies go dark and thunder and lighting starts hitting all around. The rain begins falling, and it doesn't look like it's ever going to stop. The wind is blowing so strongly, it's almost like a typhoon. 

"Lucky we didn't stay in the tinnie," says Charlie, "otherwise I'd be seasick by now!"

The three of you take cover as best you can under the tarpaulins, but you still get a bit wet because the rain gets blown in underneath the cover. you're all and a little miserable.

"Maybe we can light a fire to keep warm," says your younger David.

"Or I could call the rangers on my mobile phone," Charlie says.

But you're not sure. "Maybe we could just stay here 
and wait until the storm passes," you suggest.

"I'll call the rangers," says Charlie. "They can tell us what to do."

He dials the rangers on his mobile phone. "Hello," says Charlie, "we're stuck on the riverbank in a storm and we don't know what to do! Can you help us?"

"Is anybody injured?" asks the ranger.

"No," says Charlie, "I felt a bit seasick before, but now we've got a tarp up under a tree that we're hiding under. We're only a little bit wet". 

"OK," says the ranger, "I'm on my way. But in the meantime stay warm, and light a fire."

You decide to light a fire to stay warm. But the only problem is that you don't have any cigarette lighters or matches, because none of you smoke! What can you do?

"Why don't we try to use two stones to spark a fire?" asks your younger David.

"But we'll need something dry to burn," says Charlie. "And everything's wet from the rain.
why don't we use our newspaper to start it?"

You start the fire by making a spark from hitting together two stones. The newspaper burns quickly, and you put on more wood. The fire keeps burning. Good work! 

Now, what can you do to pass the time while the three of you wait for the rangers to arrive? You realise you're all getting hungry. Perhaps you can open a tin of baked beans and cook them over the fire. Or, you could try to make spears from tree branches and hunt for fish instead.

You take out the tin of baked beans and put them in a saucepan over the fire. 
Lucky you brought a can opener with you!

But then you remember you don't like baked beans. Yuck!

"I don't like baked beans either," says David. "But I like tinned spaghetti."

"Well, I do like baked beans," says Charlie. 
"I'll have them and David can have the spaghetti."

"And I'll  have the strawberries and," you say. "I like fruit."

The three of you eat your snacks - David has the tinned spaghetti, Charlie eats the baked beans, and you have the fruit. Now you're all feeling better.

As you wait, the storm keeps getting worse. The water in the river starts going up, 
it might start flooding! What will you do?

To make a good spear you need a long piece of wood and a knife to sharpen the point of the spear.

"I'll go look for the wood for the spear," says your brother-in-law Charlie. 
In a few minutes Charlie has found a long piece of wood for the spear. 
He's gotten really wet in the storm, but he doesn't mind.

You find a knife in the toolbox in your boat and start sharpening the end of your new spear.
While you're doing this, David goes off and gets more wood for the fire to keep it going.

Then Charlie picks up the spear and goes down to the river to hunt for fish.
After a couple of tries, Charlie manages to catch a fish. Now you have lunch!

"Yeah!" you say out loud. "We're surviving!"

After a few hours you hear the rangers arriving. They have a with dog with them, 
which they used to find you in the bush.

"I'm over here!" you cry out to the rangers.

The rangers are happy to find you, and take you back to Echuca. 
"We'll come backfor your boat later," says one of the rangers. 
"Once the storm has passed."You'll have to finish your trip some other time.

                                               The End