Confessions of a ditch-jumper

I came to Australia by boat, vomiting most of the way. It took nine days to cross The Ditch, as the blue bit between Australia and New Zealang is known. The Tasman Sea is a two million square-kilometre expanse of alien territory, as beautiful as it is treacherous. One second you're flying up the peak of a gigantic swell, the next you've dropped into a deep pit, walls of water blocking out the sky. Occasionally a lonely container ship ploughs into view, or a lost bucket floats past. That surreal crossing confirmed the fragility of human life: one slip and you're gone.