A British backpacker has spoken exclusively to the Cazmanian Times following her unexpected nocturnal descent into the dusty unknown.

Caroline Gough who was sleeping in a top bunk at a backpackers in Townsville explained “When you sleep on the top bunk, you have to take quite a lot of things up the ladder to bed with you and often there isn’t anywhere to put them. I regularly go to sleep hugging a bottle of water, whilst my phone, my room key and some spare earplugs sit under my pillow. The princess and the pea has nothing on me.”

However disaster struck just after 1:30am when Caroline was awoken by the unmistakable sound of a key dropping onto the floor below.

“I used my phone torch to see if my key was still under my pillow,” said Caroline. “And when I couldn’t find it, I realised I was going to have to try and find it in the dark without waking up my seven sleeping room mates. I was getting up early to catch a bus at 6am so it wasn’t as if I could wait until everyone woke up before I looked for it.”

Caroline described her descent down from the top bunk “It was one of those bunk beds that doesn’t actually have a proper ladder,” she said “And the guy sleeping beneath me had put slippery towels and clothes on the metal frame where I needed to put my feet so I had to be careful as I manoeuvred my way down the sheer vertical drop.”

Once safely at ground level, Caroline had the tricky task of shining her phone torch onto the floor to look for the key, whilst at the same time ensuring the light did not wake up her slumbering room mates.

“I couldn’t see it anywhere, so eventually I crouched down and shone the light under the bed,” said Caroline “The key was in the most unhelpful place possible, right at the back by the skirting board.”

Caroline was faced with no choice but to lie on the floor and shimmy under the bed on her tummy towards the skirting board. “I hadn’t actually met the guy sleeping on the bottom bunk,” said Caroline “So it felt a bit risque to be shimmying around underneath him. I was very much hoping that nobody was going to wake up and wonder what I was doing. Luckily I’ve been backpacking for eight months now, so I’ve had quite a lot of practise of being quiet in unfamiliar dark places, although this particular expedition did take things to another level.”

As she ventured further under the bed, Caroline encountered various pieces of litter and a forgotten pair of dusty underpants. “It was clear that nobody else has been under that bed for quite some time,” said Caroline. “My pyjamas and I did an excellent job of collecting several years worth of dust before we were finally reunited with the key.”

Despite being covered in dust, Caroline counts her nocturnal expedition as a definite triumph. “Nobody woke up, I got the key back and did a bit of unexpected spring cleaning at the same time. I’ve never been a human feather duster before. I think I’ll reward myself by washing my pyjamas when I get to Mission Beach tonight.”