Topic: Lost backpacker 'got a bit cocky' (Read 7193 times)

Wolf_Larson · « **on:** September 30, 2009 »

Lost backpacker 'got a bit cocky'

By News Online's Sarah Collerton

Posted Fri Jul 17, 2009 2:02pm AEST
Updated Fri Jul 17, 2009 5:40pm AEST
Mr Neale went missing on July 3.

Mr Neale went missing on July 3. (ABC)

A survival coach and former SAS soldier believes a British backpacker's cockiness was probably to blame for his disappearance in NSW bushland.

Jamie Neale, 19, was missing for 12 days in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, before walking out of the bush on Wednesday morning.

Mr Neale went missing on July 3 after he got lost on a day walk around the Ruined Castle site.

The teenager was found by bushwalkers on Wednesday, dehydrated but in relatively good health.

Steven Dunn, who was an SAS trooper for 15 years, says Mr Neale should have been more prepared.

"It sounds like he got a bit cocky, hence he didn't adhere to a lot of the basic ground rules," he told ABC News Online.

"It's inexperienced to not let someone know where you're going. It's the most simple thing in the world.

"It's not a flippant comment to someone who doesn't understand the magnitude of the role.

"They need to make sure you're back and then know what to do when you're not back."

Some have cast doubt on Mr Neale's disappearance, labelling it a hoax. But Mr Dunn believes Mr Neale's story.

"Amazing things can happen," he said.

"There's cases of people surviving far more horrific events then what he went through.

"What he went through would've killed most people ... 80 per cent of the population wouldn't have survived that.

"It's survivable, but it's bloody tough."

This afternoon Mr Neale was discharged from the Katoomba Hospital, where he was recuperating from his ordeal.

Survival

The former SAS trooper says even though it is extremely difficult for lost bushwalkers to survive in an environment like the Blue Mountains, there are still some basic things you can do to help your chances.

Mr Dunn, who runs Sydney-based crisis and emergency firm Dynamiq which provides travel advice to the ABC, strongly advises against eating native seeds as Mr Neale reportedly survived on.

"There's a greater chance for an untrained person to pick the wrong stuff," he said.

"That's just going to compound problems you already have if you start foraging around eating the flora.

"Don't eat stuff unless you know what you're eating."

And Mr Dunn says Mr Neale is very lucky he had access to water, unlike teenage bushwalker David Iredale who died in the same region two-and-a-half years ago.

Gorilla instincts

And Mr Dunn says it is also essential for you to scope out some shelter and it has to be off the ground.

"If you're on the ground and it's cold, it just leaches your energy and your heat... it's unbearable," he said.

"Just cut down some bushes and try and build it up as much as you can.

He says gorillas set a good example for lost walkers.

"Make a nest of foliage like the gorillas do," he said.

"That will stop the body leaching the energy in the earth."

Mark your spot

He also says if you have lost your track it is a good idea to mark a spot, like a certain tree, and walk in various directions from that point to try and find the track.

"If you've done everything right and you've let people know where you're going, then you know someone's going to come down that route to find you," he said.

He says depending on the trip you do not necessarily have to take an emergency beacon with you.

"If you're intention is just to stick to the day trek tracks and you're going to be back in a matter of hours, you don't need to take the beacon.

"But if you're being more adventurous, take a beacon."

But Mr Dunn says one thing that is not optional is making sure a responsible person knows what you are doing.

"You need to hit home to that person that they have to let you know to do something when you're not back," he said.

"For some of us, it's a basic principle, if you're going out by yourself, someone should know roughly where you are."

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Wolf_Larson

Lost backpacker 'got a bit cocky'

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