A woman found herself deep in the scrub of the plains around remote Yalgoo. Although she was using landmarks to find her campsite, she lost sight of them and unfortunately entered into an eight-hour ordeal. This situation serves as an important reminder to carry a personal locator beacon or satellite phone if you set out to camp or bushwalk.
Lost direction
Sue Buckless had been camping and prospecting with her husband and a friend. They were in bushland, roughly eight kilometres east of the Golden Grove mine site east of Geraldton. She decided to return to the caravan while the others kept prospecting. She began on a trail back to the campsite, but lost sight of those ranges in the distance. Once she realised she lost the track, she started to panic.
Sue called 000, but unfortunately was unable to explain her surroundings as more than “bush and red dirt.” With no landmarks surrounding her to identify where she was and emergency services unable to pinpoint her location through the GPS on her phone, Sue followed a riverbed she thought was familiar. This only led her into the bushland again.
Found via coordinates
Sue was eventually able to share her coordinates with emergency services via maps on her phone. This allowed a police drone operator to pinpoint her location which eventually led to her rescue when. Found at 6:30pm, Sue was three kilometres from her campsite. As the area was inaccessible by vehicle, officers had to hike in to find Sue. Greeted with relief and waiting arms, she was returned safely to her campsite.
Happy ending leaves a warning
Although things worked out for Sue on this occasion, this story still poses as a warning and reminder to carry a personal locator beacon or satellite phone. They’re both compact and lightweight, but most importantly can allow emergency services to locate you when you’re in a dire need of rescue. Naturally, we hope you never come across a situation where you need to use one. It will, however, provide peace of mind and a way to send a distress signal. In remote Australia, we can’t always rely on mobile phones, particularly when it comes to the outback.
Check out rvSafe’s advice on what to do in an emergency to prepare yourself for the unexpected on your next trip.
