The distance between there and Perth, on the far western end of the country, is around 4,300 kilometers, or 2,700 miles. 
 
 AUSTRALIA Kendall Broken Hill Perth NEW SOUTH WALES Great Australian Bight Canberra Melbourne Indian Ocean 500 Miles AUSTRALIA Kendall Broken Hill NEW SOUTH WALES Canberra Melbourne Indian Ocean 500 Miles 
 
 How far is that? It’s similar to the drive from New York to Los Angeles, which is a little more than 2,800 miles, or from Ottawa to Edmonton. 
 
 A quick reminder: The boy is 12. And while it’s common for young people in Australia and all over the world to drive tractors or other vehicles at young ages, this boy managed to drive on major roads for an entire day without being found out or being harmed. The police said he was stopped at 11 a.m. Saturday, which means he spent a night alone on the road. 
 
 So how far did he really go? 
 
 The distance traveled doesn’t look like much on a map, particularly given Australia’s size, but the 800 miles that he drove — again, alone, as a 12-year-old — is about the equivalent of making the long and annoying drive from San Francisco to Los Angeles, back and forth, with a few dozen more miles thrown in for rest stops and food. 
 
 Or, for our non-American readers, it’s like driving from Paris to Prague, deciding that’s not far enough, then deciding to head for Vienna. 
 
 Averting Danger 
 
 Road trips in Australia are a little different than road trips in many other places. The police said the boy had clear and specific plans, but to complete his intended journey, he would have had to drive through the Nullarbor Plain, a flat, desolate, hot and largely empty stretch in the south that is about four times the size of Belgium. 
 
 Those who have made the drive warn people to pack extra gasoline and car parts — in addition to ample food and water — because gas stations are so far apart from each other. 
 
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 The tourism board advises that people take six days just to get across the Nullarbor. Driving at night is not advised because of the risk of hitting stray emus, kangaroos, wombats or camels. Yes, camels: About 100,000 wild ones are there, the descendants of animals imported to help build inland railroads. 
 
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 Online, just a mere mention of the drive across Australia often elicits references to something even more frightening: “Wolf Creek,” a well-known Australian horror film about murders in the outback. 
 
 Lingering Questions 
 
 It should be noted that the boy is safe. He was released into the care of his parents on Sunday, and the police said they hoped to speak with the boy and his parents on Monday. An investigation into the incident is continuing, and the police have not said much beyond that. 
 
 “It’s pretty unusual,” a spokeswoman for the police said in an interview Monday. “It’s not something that occurs every day.” 
 
 Online, Australians reacted with awe and inquiries. Several people seemed impressed that the boy managed to avoid getting a speeding ticket and that he would even take on such an expedition. Others raised a series of questions, some of which various reporters are also sharing, including: 
 
 • How did he pay for gas? 
 
 • Who taught him how to drive? 
 
 • What compels a 12-year-old to do something that drastic? 
 
 • Did his parents report him missing, and if so, when? 
 
 • What kind of punishment does the boy face from the police or his parents? 
 
 • Is anything deeper or darker going on with this story that we’re unaware of? ||||| This article is over 1 year old 
 
 Child was stopped in Broken Hill, New South Wales, having seemingly driven across the entire state from Kendall near Port Macquarie 
 
 A 12-year-old boy was stopped by police after attempting to drive solo across Australia, having already covered 1,300 kilometres of his journey. 
 
 The boy was stopped in Broken Hill, an isolated mining city in the far west of outback New South Wales, on Saturday morning. He had already driven across the entire state of NSW from Kendall, on the east coast, and was heading for Perth. Police believe he intended to complete the 4,000km journey alone. 
 
 Broken Hill highway patrol officers stopped the 12-year-old’s vehicle around 11am on Saturday when they noticed its bumper dragging on the ground. 
 
 
 
 Girl, 12, arrested for driving at 122km/h in Tasmania Read more 
 
 “Officers from Broken Hill Highway Patrol stopped a motor vehicle on the Barrier Highway due to defects which made the vehicle hazardous,” the spokesperson said. 
 
 “Checks revealed the driver to be a 12-year-old boy travelling from Kendall NSW on his way to Perth.” 
 
 
 
 The gruelling journey between Kendall and Perth takes around 40 hours by car and involves driving through the arid desert of Nullarbor plain. 
 
 
 
 Australia’s official tourism site advises visitors to take a full six days just to cross Nullarbor, on a motorway famous for its unbending trajectory through the barren scrubland. 
 
 Questions remain over how the boy travelled thousands of miles, and refuelled the car, without being noticed. Drivers taking the route are advised by the tourism board to take caution and “carry extra petrol and plenty of water and food”. 
 
 Police confirmed the boy was arrested and taken to Broken Hill police station. Inquiries were continuing. ||||| French fishing boat rescues stranded Calif. teen 16-year-old Sunderland's yacht broke in storms featuring 30-foot waves Tweet 
 
 AP 
 
 THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - A French fishing vessel rescued a California teenager Saturday from her crippled sailboat in the turbulent southern Indian Ocean, bringing relief to her family but ending her around-the-world sailing effort. 
 
 Laurence Sunderland, the father of 16-year-old Abby Sunderland, told reporters outside his home that the Australian Maritime Safety Authority had contacted him to confirm the rescue more than 2,000 miles from the western Australia coast. Her boat abandoned, she’ll spend at least a week on a series of boats headed for Reunion Island east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. 
 
 “She got out of her vessel with the clothes on her back, and we are just really excited and ecstatic that Abigail is in safe hands,” he said. “She was in good spirits ... She talked to her mother.” 
 
 “It was incredible to hear her and to hear she was still in good spirits,” Mary Anne Sunderland said later on NBC’s “Today” show. 
 
 Sunderland has been stranded in heavy seas since Thursday, when she set off a distress signal after the mast collapsed, knocking out her satellite communications. The elder Sunderland said the family was not going to elaborate on the problems that led to the emergency. 
 
 The Australian group said the French ship Ile De La Reunion brought Sunderland on board from her stricken craft Saturday afternoon at the site (about 2:45 a.m. PDT). 
 
 French authorities called it a “delicate operation” and at one point the fishing boat’s captain fell into the ocean. “He was fished out in difficult conditions” and is in good health, said a statement from the French territory of Reunion Island. Laurence Sunderland said the crew used its dinghy in the transfer. 
 
 He said her boat will now likely be sunk because of the difficulty towing it a great distance. 
 
 Sunderland will leave the French fishing boat in about two days to board a maritime patrol boat that will take her to Reunion Island, according to a statement from the office of the French Indian Ocean island’s top official. The transfer will take place off the Kerguelen Islands, with the exact timing depending on weather and ocean conditions. 
 
 The island’s Regional Operational Center for Surveillance and Rescue said Sunderland likely would not arrive for at least a week. 
 
 Despite a lag in getting to see her, Laurence Sunderland said the family is “just ecstatic that she is alive and well and survived the ordeal.” 
 
 Sunderland set out from Los Angeles County’s Marina del Rey on Jan. 23, trying to become the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe solo and nonstop. 
 
 Soon after starting her trip, Sunderland ran into equipment problems and had to stop for repairs. She gave up the goal of setting the record in April, but continued, hoping to complete the journey. 
 
 Zac Sunderland, her brother, held the record for a little more than a month last year until Briton Mike Perham completed his own journey. The record changed hands again last month, when 16-year-old Australian Jessica Watson completed her own around-the-world voyage. 
 
 Outside the family home early Saturday, news crews gathered to hear word of the rescue from the family, which had been receiving updates by telephone from Australian rescue officials. Eight pink balloons were tethered to the white picket fence in front of the single-story house and beneath them was placed a large, hand-painted sign that read: “Thank God Abby’s alive.” 
 
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 A gator victim who got a new high-tech hand; a mom who woke from a coma; a police officer who flatlined twice. Learn how all these people and others came through life-threatening situations. 
 
 She had been keeping in contact with her parents through satellite communications and had made several broken calls to her family in Thousand Oaks, reporting her yacht was being tossed by 30-foot (9-meter) waves — as tall as a 3-story building. An hour after her last call ended Thursday, her emergency beacons began signaling. 
 
 Rescuers in a chartered jet flew from Perth on Australia’s west coast and spotted Sunderland’s boat, Wild Eyes, on Thursday. She was able to radio to the plane to say she was in good health and had plenty of food supplies. 
 
 Her parents have come under criticism from some observers for allowing the high-risk adventure. 
 
 Veteran sailors questioned the wisdom of sending a teenager off alone in a small boat, knowing it would be tossed about for 30 or more hours at a time by the giant waves that rake the Southern Hemisphere’s oceans this time of year. 
 
 Her father defended the voyage. 
 
 “I never questioned my decision in letting her go,” he told reporters Friday. “In this day and age we get overprotective with our children. If you want to look at statistics, look at how many teenagers die in cars every year. Should we let teenagers drive cars? I think it’d be silly if we didn’t.” 
 
 She was contacted by rescuers in a chartered Qantas Airbus A330 jet that made a 4,700-mile (7,600-kilometer) round trip from Perth to Sunderland’s boat, which is near the limit of its range. 
 
 They spotted Sunderland on the back deck of her boat. Its sail was dragging in the water but Sunderland appeared to be in good shape. 
 
 She told searchers Friday that she was doing fine with a space heater and at least two weeks’ worth of food. 
 
 Family spokesman Jeff Casher said her vessel so badly damaged, her attempt to circle the globe was over. 
 
 “This is the end of the dream. There’s no boat to sail,” he said. 
 
 The Australian maritime authority did not say how much the rescue mission would cost but said it would not be seeking compensation for the search, which initially fell just outside of Australia’s search and rescue region. It was not immediately clear if the French vessel would seek compensation. 
 
 © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. 
 
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– The journey from Australia's eastern New South Wales coast to Perth on its west measures about 2,500 miles. A 12-year-old boy set off to drive it alone, and got ridiculously far. The Australian Associated Press reports the boy was stopped about 800 miles into the drive around 11am Saturday, having essentially traversed the entirety of New South Wales from his starting point in Kendall, near Port Macquarie, over the course of 24 hours. The New York Times gives some American perspective, saying the distance covered "is about the equivalent of making the long and annoying" round-trip drive from Los Angeles to San Francisco, "with a few dozen more miles thrown in for rest stops and food." The child was stopped in Broken Hill due to a dislodged bumper, which was dragging on the ground. Police tell the AAP the damage suggests he was involved in some sort of accident along the way. "He'd taken the family car," police said Monday. "His parents reported him missing immediately after he left home" shortly after 11am Friday. The child is in the custody of his parents, but will likely face charges including driving without a license and not paying for gas; Sky News reports he fueled up around 6am in Cobar. As for how he managed to not raise suspicions for such a long period, Sky News reports the 6-foot-tall boy looks much older than 12. Indeed, the manager of the gas station the child stopped at thought he looked "19 or 20."