Bushwalker found

I hope she learns from this experience, and never ventures outside the kitchen ever again.

Yo Hero (who has requested that he be shot down)

One afternoon in Namadgi wearing the wrong clothes in crappy weather can kill you, its called Hypothermia. Wearing Jeans is a really bad idea, they are probably worse than ‘thin cotton pants’ because if they get wet they will chill the person very efficiently.

I agree that the Canberra Times struggles for an interesting story frequently. Maybe they are not allowed to print any juicy stuff about Mr Stanhope or his team anymore.

it is great that she’s found, but i never though that a couple of nights in Namadgi would kill her, frankly. (unless she was injured, which she wasn’t.)
i don’t mean to be petty or play down what must have been an awful experience for her but how long will the canberra times front page this? isn’t there any news? and my god, she was wearing “thin cotton pants”?? they should have looked closer at their own photo because those are definitely jeans…
ok, shoot me down 🙂

Ralph,

Firstly, I don’t necessarily think that what she did was “irresponsible behaviour and a public nuisance”. From the newspaper reading I have done it sounds to be at worst a mistake, although more likely misfortune.

Secondly, even if it were irresponsible behaviour and a public nuisance, I would be appalled that anyone would be made to pay for there rescue. The only time I would consider it, would be for malicious, intentional behaviour. I was not directly involved in this search, but have been involved in others. My presence cost some groups money (not me, because my employer gave me paid leave, and the ACT Govt covered the search costs) but I would have done it even if I was out of pocket, and would not begrudge the service offered. Speaking for myself only (ie no implications for Thumper, other SES Vollies, the ACT SES or the Government), I would feel few bigger insults than finding out that the rescued party needed to pay.

This bint should be made to pay for her rescue. Clearly irresponsible behaviour and a public nuisance.

That bit of track does get a little hard to follow these days with the resprouting after the ’03 fires. That said, even without a track there is a limited number of valleys in the area, most of which have tracks in them. In three days she could have walked in almost any direction, found a trail and followed in back to a road. Hell, in three days she could have walked west to the main north-south road through Namadgi. That said, good on her for surviving some nights out alone in the cold!

Sun’s quite good for that, also.

A compass would do that too.

When will people learn to use GPS when bush walking. And it doesn’t have to be one of those $600 specialist bushwalking GPS units. The ones you use in your car are enough to show you nearby roads and places even if the maps don’t cover actual walking trails. It will at least stop you walking in circles of further away from civilisation.

This would probably explain why I saw South Care fly overhead very early yesterday morning.

There’s a joke some where about women and map reading im sure lol.

News.com has a story here that has more details on how she was found etc….

Well this is some good news – I got the feedback from some of the searchers this morning.

I would assume she must have been incapacitated, otherwise she would have been able to move into a clearing when Southcare was cruising overhead.

Kind of amazed that someone would get lost in that area if they stuck to the trails. Though people walking alone should be carrying an EPIRB. Never walk alone further from your car without one than you can crawl in case you break your leg.

^ Tim the Yowie Man would know.

Seriously though, it’s good news. Guess it should serve as a reminder to everyone to plan and prepare for long bush-walks like this. Also better to go with someone who’s more familiar with the area if you don’t know it too well.

Yep, ABC Radio just reported that she has been found and transferred to The Canberra Hospital via Southcare.

There goes my theory of some strange beast from the other world abducting bushwalkers in Namadgi.

That’s quite amazing. She must have had some warm gear with her, as the nights this week have been very cold indeed. She’d better go buy a bunch of lottery tickets! Her luck is in.