00:00A lot of it comes down to being bushwalkers, we are very well aware of the risks and experienced
00:07people have actually gone through, a lot of us have gone through the ropes of working
00:11up from very basic walks, learning how to navigate, learning what gear can be happening,
00:17learning how to read the weather, learning how to forecast and ultimately learning how
00:21to not only self-rescue but search and rescue for others lost and to see what's been happening
00:28With distressing regularity is people becoming lost or having other misadventures in an area
00:36where they're meant to be enjoying it and extending themselves, so yes it's distressing
00:41and sometimes these are preventable and I guess that's the gist of bushwalking clubs
00:48and search and rescue is that proper preparedness does prevent piss-poor performance
00:55Part of the issue has been over-reliance on technology particularly GPS units and your
01:03smartphones with downloaded tracks on them, I think people do underestimate what remote
01:10actually means, it's definitely something a lot of us yearn for and we wish to go for
01:15and to get offline, however when it comes to an emergency situation knowing what to
01:22do to help yourself or help those around you has to be unreliant upon technology and
01:29look back in the day we didn't have the emergency responses we used to, a former patient of
01:36mine handed me some maps with the words on it, there is no such thing as a day pack because
01:42literally every day walk you went on you had to presume you were going to be left out overnight
01:47potentially with a snake bite and what would you do in those circumstances so yes the over-reliance
01:52on technology I think is probably going to be something that's more a feature of the
01:57reason for some of these rescues. I think the reality is that particularly in Tasmania's
02:03wilderness and a lot of the outback and wilderness areas in Australia the skills necessary to
02:08enjoy a multi-night hike don't come overnight, the skills and experience themselves take
02:14years of development preferably with learning from those more experienced than you and going
02:21out in supervised conditions to practice with the gear first but also in the more remote
02:27areas going with bushwalking clubs and remote area search and rescue volunteers I mean these
02:33are the people who can instil the experience and also the respect for the natural environment
02:39in those of us who then you know may then go out and do these things ourselves particularly
02:44for multi-day walks in Tasmania. My best advice to someone who wants to go out into
02:49multi-walks in Tasmania and doing it with themselves or a group of friends is to get
02:53your grounding with local bushwalking clubs and learn how to use the gear, learn how to
03:00read maps, learn how to use a compass and learn how to use a map and learn how to use
03:06your skills and your intuition without having to rely on technology. Multi-night hikes in
03:13remote areas are dangerous, they are enjoyable but they are dangerous and please do not rely
03:19on social media, videos, influencers, self-proclaimed guides who have been to one place once and
03:26then give a guide online as to how to get there these are undeniably dangerous there's
03:32no shortcut for becoming experienced at bushwalking it's something that you learn year after year
03:40with people who are really experienced and trust the local knowledge. My advice to people
03:44who are wanting to go out into Tasmania in remote area bushwalks without the necessary
03:50experience is to look into some of the many experienced guiding companies you know who
03:56will have local guides experience in the area that's your safest bet.
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