I know what you're thinking. A hovercraft? Yes. What can I say? I like driving interesting things. I mean hell, who doesn't drive a car? Lots of people fly planes too. Buses, ATVs, motorcycles. There isn't much fun involved. Well, maybe a little but not as much fun as driving something no one ever really thinks about driving. And that is where the hovercraft comes in.
Besides interesting driving experiences I have a love of exotic places. So this trip in particular took me to Australia. It's one hell of a beautiful country with a rich culture and wonderful people. I highly recommend taking a trip there at least once in your life time.
While doing the normal tourist stuff I found this shop by the sea that rented everything from water ski's, boogie boards and surf boards to jet ski's motor boats and, yes, you guessed it: hovercraft. And with $200.00 spent for a whopping thirty minutes I was on my way to driving this bad boy! Unfortunately the government safety council wants you to actually know how to drive this stuff so I had to take a lesson in its mechanics prior to actually piloting it myself.
The lessons were unremarkable. It's like a driving course. This thing is such a smooth ride I couldn't believe it. Loud as all hell though. It automatically is propelled forward than you use a pedal for more speed and another as a cut off to the propellers. It has two levers on either side that let you steer. For those of you who don't know a hovercraft is a sort of combination boat and car. It is propelled like most boats and can travel on land as well by being hoisted up on a giant cushion of air.
With the lessons complete it was my turn to take the reigns. The instructor disembarked and left me to my own devices. I had a marked course to stay on and a maximum speed I was allowed to go at. Keeping those things in mind left it to be an enjoyable time for me.
As I sat behind the controls I realized that I really had no clue what I was doing. I started the giant fan and started to move. That was a plus. I was able to turn her and plopped into the water. I went splashing around the shallow bay and a little further out before I decided to turn her around and try it out on the beach. I should have stayed a water baby.
I turned her toward the beach and it was all going well until I got too comfortable and added some speed. Not a good idea on my part as I slammed onto the beach and kicked up some sand. I flew over some towels and destroyed some beach chairs. Something must have happened during this time because I wasn't able to steer all that well and was headed toward some cars. I veered left and to my dismay right over an ATV. By this time I was kind of freaking out and went back toward the water.
Once I made it back in the ocean, eating some more beach towels and such along the way, I turned the monster off (it still is propelled my momentum) and jumped overboard. I swam to shore letting the beast float out there like Nessie. I was fined some by authorities and the rental place nuked my credit card for damages and costs of having to get out there to retrieve it.
Would I do it again? Hell yes!
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