Breaking every single (personal) rule I have

BIMBERI WILDERNESS AREA – 25 March 2025
I pride myself on this blog being authentic, whenever I make a mistake, it’s published. So, here’s a story about me breaking ever single rule I have when bushwalking – it’s a story about being complacent and falling into several heuristic traps.  It’s embarrassing, but thankfully I dodged a bullet (actually 2 or 3).

This day trip was put forward (the day before) and sounded fantastic.  We’d be able to drive to the start of the walk then cross relatively flat terrain and then descend a spur for about 600m (vertical descent), over about 1k.  Five very experienced cavers and me checking out a possibly “new” cave.

All went well, we left our accommodation at 8.15 and were at the start of the walk by around 9.30am.

A slight incline walking up the dis-used fire trail before heading off into the vegetation.

The first part of the walk was about 500m on flat terrain; however, the vegetation was knee deep with lots of “holes” and rocks, and lots of fallen trees.  We made our way across and down to the spur we would be descending.

Just before I left the group, looking over the edge to where we would be going, a long way down.

I had already put my helmet on, in case I tripped on something (like a rock), but I was becoming more and more anxious about (a) the trip hazards and (b) I was being so cautious that I was very slow (making sure I didn’t trip), so, I took aside one of the group and told him that I thought it was best that I went back to the car(s), which weren’t that far away.

I’d simply follow a SE bearing on the compass on my watch (that he and I agreed upon) walk up and over the rocky knoll (a high point) and then head for the fire trail.  So, I said good-bye to everyone and said I’d see them at the car when they got back.

I had my first aid kit (and snake bandage), 3l of water, snacks and a warm jumper.  How hard could it be, and what could go wrong?

So, the first rule broken – never go bushwalking by myself.  In my defense, it seemed like it was just a 500m walk.  2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th rules broken – no plb, no phone, no map(s), no proper compass, no fallback plan of what would happen if I wasn’t at the car when they got back, no fallback plan of what I’d do if I got “lost”.  But hey, it was just 500m.  So, I set off.

With all the big rocks, and fallen trees, I was having to meander here and there, but still following the SE bearing, knowing full well that each time I diverted from the bearing I had to quickly get back on it.  After about 30 minutes, I looked at the phone and saw that I’d moved closer to S so tried to adjust.  I look at the terrain and felt that I’d moved too far, so adjusted again.  By now I’m blundering around in the bush.  I looked at the terrain again and decided that I was going down into a valley, and that definitely wasn’t where I should be going.

I then started questioning myself …

• Had the fire trail in this area become overgrown?
• Had I accidentally walked right over the top of it?
• Was it covered by a fallen tree and that was why I’d missed it?
• Was I now paralleling the fire trail?
• Was my watch compass reliable?
• Had I done too many diversions and not adjusted accordingly?

By now I’d been walking for about an hour and obviously wasn’t where I should have been.  So, I made the decision to turn around and try to make my way back to the small knoll and I’d wait for the group to return later in the afternoon (a really dodgy decision trying to find the knoll, like a needle in a haystack).

I decided that I’d walk a back bearing of NW (180 degrees from the SE bearing I was using).  I knew that I was “lost”, and just had to hope I’d find the knoll and that when exiting they wouldn’t walk right past me (ie I wouldn’t see them walk past, they’d be down the slope somehow and they wouldn’t be within voice distance) and what would I do if I was still sitting on the knoll at dusk – that in itself was a bit frightening.  I wasn’t panicking (yet) and hadn’t cried (yet).  So I set the bearing and this time did the right thing and walked from where I was standing to a point in the distance, then taking another bearing and walking to the next point in the distance.  I walked for about half an hour and eventually came to a flat area and so help me God, walked right onto the fire trail!  How did that happen?  Bullet #1 dodged –  I would have fallen down and kissed the ground if I’d had the energy.

SE definitely wasn’t the route I should have taken.

I was back at the car(s) around noon, so settled down to read my Kindle and wait for the others to return.  By 5pm the Kindle battery was flat, so I went for a short walk along the fire trail to kill some time.  At 6pm the youngest of the group turned up and said that the others were about 1 hour behind him … I added another hour onto this time because I knew that a couple of the group weren’t regular walkers, and it was an 600m hill to climb.  He left (as he had an appointment in Cooma) and I made myself comfortable, had a snack and put on a warm jumper and settled in.

By 8pm I was actively looking out into the bush hoping to see lights (after all, they all had caving helmets and lights), then by 9pm I’d made myself a bit of a pillow, found a jacket for my cold feet and decided that I should at least try to get some sleep, it looked like I would be here for the night.  Whatever had happened, or not happened, they had 2 GPS gadgets and a PLB, if anything bad had happened, I’d be hearing a helicopter, I may as well get some sleep.

They arrived around 9.30 or 10pm – in their words it had been a very hard exit, it took them 6 hours!  I was just thankful that no-one was injured, and we were all back together! Bullets 2 (that 800m climb) and 3 (a 6-hour exit), dodged!  The drive out via the very average fire trail (not graded for a couple of decades) and were back at our accommodation at 11.30pm.

Yes, they did find some caves, and looks like we’ll have to go back, but next time it will be a multi-day trip with the whole day dedicated to exiting that hellish spur.

So, I’ve learned some very valuable lessons, don’t fall into heuristic traps, assess every trip you do as if it is your first so that you don’t become complacent!  Will be interesting to see whether or not I get a lecture from anyone in my family … I think I’m safe, none of them read it LOL.