Four teenage boys and one adult endured more than they bargained for when a simple bushwalk turned into an overnight hike, culminating in a search and rescue effort on the ground and in the air.
On Sunday morning Orchid Road resident Harold and his son Michael volunteered to take three of Michael’s friend to a waterfall the duo had previously accessed from the back of their property many times.
“The boys had a swim and then we decided to go to the top of the ridge,” Harold said.
Having climbed the ridge the men began their descent – on the wrong side.
“The river got bigger and bigger. That was the first indication we might be on the south side of the hill,” Harold said.
“By this time it was getting late. We didn’t want to walk in the dark. It would have been too dangerous. We realised we were going to have to stay in the forest overnight,” he said.
“It became very personal. We were cuddled up big time just to keep warm.”
Meanwhile police were alerted to the party’s failure to return home and a search ensued. Ground crews were unsuccessful in locating the men so on Monday morning an RACQ-CQ helicopter was launched.
Local controller for Whitsunday SES Mark Conners said the canopy was so thick the air crews could “hardly see the ground for all the trees”, but nonetheless managed to locate the men receiving “a thumbs up from all five people that they were ok”.
“RACQ-CQ Rescue saved us days of walking through the bush,” Mr Conners said.
Mr Conners said the terrain made it impossible to air-lift the men out, so after dropping survival packs of food, warm clothing and lightweight tents the next step was to organise a second ground crew to “walk them out”.
Harold and the boys exited the forest at around 11pm on Monday, escorted by the SES.
Michael and his friends said they could not praise the search and rescue crews enough.
“I’d like to thank them as much as possible. It was just awesome what they did to get us out,” Michael said.
Search and Rescue Co-ordinator Sergeant Graham Pettigrew said the moral of this story was to be prepared and not continue walking if lost.
“The minute you know you’re lost stop and wait for help. It’s the people that wonder out of the search areas we have trouble with,” he said.
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